Instructors
Toni Amato (安純義)
Toni Amato, who was born and grew up in Brighton, England, has studied martial arts for more than thirty years and spent more than twenty years living in Taiwan. He started to learn martial arts in 1973 beginning with Shotokan Karate and then Shaolin Boxing. For a time he was a member of the Professional Karate Association, which began the promotion of kick boxing as it is known today.
In 1981, a year after graduating from Leeds University with a degree in Chinese Studies, he travelled to Hong Kong and then Taiwan. While in Taiwan he learnt Northern Shaolin Longfist (北少林長拳) with Master Zhang Chang Gen (章長根), Southern Shaolin White Crane (南少林白鹤拳) with Guo Jia Cai (郭家財)(pictured above right) a student of Master Zeng Jin Zao (曾金灶), Pakua (Bagua) (柔身連環八卦掌) with Lu Shao Dong（呂紹棟) a student of Wu Jin Yuan (吳錦園), Yong Chun Quan (詠春拳) and Taoist Qigong (Chikung)(武當派乾坤門陰陽二斬氣功) with Master Lian Guang Quan（廉廣全) (pictured right).
During a two-year break back in the UK in the eighties, he taught Shaolin Longfist and Qigong and opened the Chien Kun Institute of martial arts in Brighton. After that, he returned to Taiwan and only returned to the UK in 2002. However, he still travels to Taiwan every year to continue his study at the Shen Long Tai Chi training centre.
Since 1994, he has been studying the Traditional Tai Chi Chuan and is a member of the Taiwan Shen Long Tai Chi Chuan Association (神龍太極拳學會). He has since been formally accepted as a “closed door” student of both Yang and Zuo (Tso) schools by his teacher, Master Wu Kuo Chung. He is an officially qualified instructor for the International Shen Long Association in the UK.
During his time in Taiwan he also studied Chinese Medicine and became a licensed Tui Na (massage) practitioner. He is now a practitioner of Complementary Medicine with a BSc Honours degree in nutritional medicine and a post-graduate certificate in Research, specialising in nutrigenomics.
In 2005, he began classes on Traditional Tai Chi in Brighton with the permission of the International Shen Long Tai Chi Association and established an official branch in the UK.
Pearl Wang (王鳳珠)
Pearl was born in Keelung, Taiwan, and has been studying Tai Chi since 2003. She is also a formal student of Master Wu Kuo Chung. In 1989, she married Toni Amato in Taiwan and returned with the family to the UK. She still spends time back in Taiwan furthering her study with Master Wu and his wife.
