Wu Ta-k'uei

Who was Wu Ta-k'uei?

Wu Ta-k'uei or Wu Dakui was a Chinese t'ai chi ch'uan teacher of Manchu ancestry. The oldest son of Wu Kung-i, he was born in Beijing, raised in Shanghai and spent most of his adult life teaching in Hong Kong. Wu Ta-k'uei was active in the resistance to the Japanese invasion of China, yet he later taught martial arts in Japan after the war.

Wu Ta-k'uei was reputed to be a fierce fighter, and known as always ready to accept a challenge match. He is reported to have never been defeated, and to have been famous for badly injuring and taunting his opponents in those matches. An attested story circulated about Wu Ta-k'uei was about a fight that started in a Hong Kong dockside bar between an unarmed Wu Ta-k'uei and "over 30" stevedores armed with clubs and boathooks. The dockworkers eventually fled to a local police station for protection from the enraged Wu. Interviews with dockworkers and the police records of this fight led to sensational newspaper headlines in Kowloon and Hong Kong.

Wu Ta-k'uei assisted his father and his uncle Wu Kung-tsao to set up academies in Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore. He also sat on the Advisory Board of the Martial Art Association in Hong Kong and taught martial arts in the Kowloon Police Force.