It was extremely fortunate that Jimmy had left mainland China when he did, for the Japanese would have awarded him with the same fate as his Great Uncle and the other San Soo practitioners rather than allow a possible resistance corps to remain.
Jimmy carried the art to America and kept it alive while many of the other early Chinese fighting systems were destroyed by the Japanese. Mao Tse Tung later eradicated many of the other martial art styles, training books and monasteries when the communist Chinese took over power from the Japanese at the end of WWII.
He left on the steamship Queen Elizabeth II and arrived in Mexico, stayed for a year of two, and got into America in 1935 after getting married. He worked many varied jobs as he became acclimated to his new home in LA's Chinatown District. He originally learned produce from his mother and father and his love for fresh fruit and vegetables stemmed from his long hours as a produce manager in a market. He loved to cook and owned 3 restaurants, one of which was his fathers in Glendale, CA.
But his first love was teaching SAN SOO. He began teaching privately to close relatives and friends. Later, he was the instructor for several years at the Sing Kang "cousin club" - a social/recreational organization. He also acted as security/police for the residents and business owners in the area and some times as a body guard, the only unarmed one in the area.
In December of 1962, Jimmy officially held the grand opening for his martial arts studio in the Midway Shopping Center in El Monte, CA. In the early years, he called it "Karate-Kung-Fu" because no one knew what kung fu was at that time. In January of 1984, following his retirement from daily instruction, Jimmy H. Woo became Grand Master (Lau Sifu) when his Grandson J.P. King, earned his black belt.
J.P King marks the seventh generation of a SAN SOO instructor-level practitioner in Jimmys family. J.P. reached the level of SAN SOO Master in January of 1993. Jimmy H. Woo taught his instructors' class two Saturday's a month until his death in 1991 totaling nearly 46 years of teaching Kung-Fu SAN SOO in America.
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