Where we share information about Hung Gar Kuen and TCMA
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Frank Bolte
Frank Bolte was born 1970 in Detmold, Germany. At a very young age, he already had passion for martial arts which started when he watched several kung fu movies.At this time he started to learn Judo in a small club. When he moved to Wolfsburg, he continued Judo and then later on changed to Karate.
In 1984, he heard about the Chinese master named Shi Shun Fok who taught his own style called Tank Hop Mu Do Kwan, a mixture of several southern Chinese kung fu styles. This was Frank’s start on his long Odyssey for Chinese combat art. Shi Shun Fok, during the 80’s, was a coach of the national team of the German Wushu Federation.
In 1990, Frank Bolte met a cook named Lee Wai Siong from Hong kong who worked in a restaurant of Shi Shun Fok. Lee was an avid Hung Kuen practioner and from him, Frank learned the famous tiger and crane form and the butterfly knives form.
Then in 1991, Frank spent 3 months in Hangzhou, China where he trained with the Zhejiang Wushu team. There he learned Nan Quan style which has many elements of Hung Kuen. It was at this point when Frank decided to dedicate himself to the study of Hung Kuen.
At a seminar in London, Frank met the Hung master Mark Houghton. He is a direct pupil of Lau Kar Leung. Lau Kar Leung is famous for many films such as Jackie Chan’s drunken master 2. Mark Houghton accepted Frank as his pupil and invited him to come to Hong Kong to learn. Frank followed Mark to Hong Kong and trained with him for several months.
In 2005, Frank went to the Philippines to study Shaolin Iron Palm and strength training for four months with Grandmater George Ramos (Hung Fut Philppines) to refine his kung fu.
After his training, Frank went back to Germany and started teaching Hung Gar at Master Heinz Goeris’s Circle of martial arts kampfkunstschmiede in Hannover. However, this lasted for only five months.
In the middle of 2006, Frank went again to Hong Kong where he spent several more months training with Sifu Mark Houghton.
Later that year, Frank flew to the Philippines to meet his fiancé. In the Philippines, he was given the opportunity to teach Hung Gar at the Chi Ching Wushu Associaton where his number of students grew to 50.
After teaching in Chi Ching Wushu Association for 8 months, Frank decided to open the “Lau Family Hung Martial Club Philippines”, a school where he teach Hung Gar. For the first few months, Frank was teaching in his own small residence.
In the summer of 2007, Frank met Sifu Henry Lo who invited Frank to teach Hung Kuen in his club, the club was hardly used that time so it was an ideal opportunity. Thus, Frank moved the school to Han Athletic Club.
Since September 2006, Frank lived in the Philippine and traveled 2 to 3 times per year to Hong Kong to continue learning and refining his Hung Kuen.
In March 2008, Frank met the master Ng Bing Kuen, who is the second generation of Wong Fei Hung. Ng Bing Kuen’s master was Hon Shui Hoi .Hon Sifu first learned from Lam Sai Wing in Canton; however when Lam Sai Wing moved to Hong Kong, Hon continued his training with Wong Fei Hung and learned the highest form of the Hung Fist system, the Tit Sin Kuen (Iron Thread Fist) form,later,after he also moved to HK, he learned from Lam Sai Wing again. He passed on his Tit Sin Kuen to Ng Sifu and Frank Bolte was happy enough to learn this classic version from Master Ng .
With the passing of time, Frank developed a large network of relations and made close deep friendships with Hung masters around the world. He was invited to the 100th birthday celebration of great Grandmaster Lam Jo and performed there the 5 animal form of the Lau family.
In 2009, Frank was also present at the Dang Fong Memorial celebration.
In 2009 also, Frank and his club were invited to join the VFCK (www.vfck.de), a federation that made it its duty to promote, preserve and uphold the traditional Chinese martial arts.
Aside from these, Frank also had a 45 minute television special in the Philippines entitled = “Fit and Fast”. In this show, he presented the Hung Kuen Chinese Martial Arts.
He also wrote several articles for the Rapid Journal, a Philippine based combat magazine. In the October 2008 issue, he was featured in the magazine and was the cover story.
Several articles about him and his school in the Philippines was featured in a website named www.chinatownology.com which is located in Malaysia.
Unfortunately, in August 2009, Frank Bolte and Sifu Mark Houghton parted ways. Frank Bolte now teaches Hung Kuen exclusively from Ng Bing Kuen sifu. But of course, the handwriting of Sifu Mark does not remain hidden and it will still be highly recognized and respected.
After a long 3 years of staying in Asia, Frank returned to Hannover, Germany to teach and spread Hung Gar Kuen