Shi Yan Ming

Shifu Shi Yan-Ming defected to the U.S in 1992 while on the first-ever Shaolin Temple Monks tour of the United States. On the last date of the tour in San Francisco he slipped out of the hotel in the middle of the night and escaped to the new world.

Speaking no English he got into a cab and directed the driver using hand signals to an unknown destination. Frustrated, the driver dropped him off where they were, in the middle of nowhere, and called the police immediately. Shifu showed the police a copy of his passport and some newspaper articles featuring him. The police requested that the driver drop him off at a Chinese restaurant where they thought he might find someone to assist him. However, at the Chinese restaurant, not a single person spoke Mandarin, they all spoke Cantonese dialect, so that all communication had to be written down since Cantonese and Mandarin share the same characters. Once the people at the Chinese restaurant understood, they helped Shifu phone NYC where he had a friend. This friend in NYC, having learned of Shifu's arrival, called to have someone pick him up at the restaurant. For one week, Shifu hid in a basement, with only bread and cereal to eat. The newspapers and TV were constantly announcing that a Shaolin Monk had escaped. It was after that first week that Shifu decided to come to New York City, "the capital of the world."


In New York, Shifu founded the U.S.A. Shaolin Temple and currently teaches authentic Shaolin martial arts or Chan Buddhism. The USA Shaolin Temple has six satellite branches internationally in Austria, South Africa, Trinidad, Chile, Argentina, and Mexico.

Shi Yan Ming has appeared on the cover of "Inside Kung Fu" once, the cover of "Qi Gong Wushu" Magazine twice, the cover of "Black Belt Magazine", the cover of Shaolin Tai Qi magazine, and in Wu Lin and Wu Hun (martial arts) magazines in China. Shifu has appeared in over one hundred articles and more than fifty nationally and internationally broadcast TV shows including MTV Europe, the BBC twice, MTV USA three times, National Geographic, Discovery Channel three times, TLC’s “The Ultimate Ten Martial Arts”, CNBC, ABC Morning Show, PBS, The History Channel, the film Ghost Dog directed by Jim Jarmusch, soundtrack produced by the RZA, as well as "King of the Jungle" with John Leguizamo, Rosie Perez, and Annabella Sciorra, directed by Seth Rosenthal, and more.

Additionally he has been in commercials including Nike Shoes Asia, IBM twice, HP computers, Hallmark, Chase Manhattan Bank, Gaiam, and many more. Students of Shi Yan Ming include members of the Wu-Tang Clan, Bokeem Woodbine, Tricky, Kadeem Hardison, Michelle Forbes, Rosie Perez, John Leguizamo, Bjork, Wesley Snipes, and many others.

Shi Yan-Ming is a 34th Generation Shaolin Temple Warrior Monk.
 
Read about the Generational Lineage of the Shaolin Temple