Corey Hopp

Corey Hopp is an American student who has been training with Master Yuan in short stints since January of 2008. Before that he attended Tufts University in Boston Massachusetts, where he studied architecture.

Aside from his studies, university was the opportunity that brought Corey back into touch with martial arts, which he had not trained in many years. He was soon practicing many hours each week, both with the student run Tufts Tae Kwon Do club and at Aikido Tekkojuku of Boston, and martial arts quickly became a vital part of Corey’s life.

This growing interest led Corey to study the Mandarin Chinese, and he resolved to spend a year in China after graduating in 2007. He found work teaching English at Maanshan Technical University south of Nanjing, and was exposed to Taijiquan through a group of Chen style practitioners who trained in a park nearby.

During the long Spring Festival holiday of 2008 he chose Wudangshan, somewhat at random, as his destination for a few weeks of travel. Corey arrived in Wudang in the midst of a blizzard, unsure what to do with himself, and by purest chance ran into one of Master Yuan’s senior foreign students in the street. Introduced to the school, he instantly fell in love with the setting, the intense training, and the sense of instant camaraderie he felt with the people he met there.

Though he had to leave after just five days, every day thereafter was spent plotting and planning how to return for more extended study. A year and a half later, Corey was able to begin studying with the traditional class. After months of training, his initial enchantment with Master Yuan’s school has deepened into a strong and sober affection for traditional Daoist kungfu and all those who every day help to make him stronger.