Fred Wu (Wu, Ming An) (1916-2000)

Dr. Wu Ming An was the inheritor of his family's tradition of Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts. The family members were medical practitioners by profession, who utilized both Chinese and Western techniques. Dr. Wu himself received a Bachelor of Science degree in Horticulture from the University of Nanjing in 1940. After winning a scholarship from the Chinese Nationalist government, he came to the United States in 1947 to pursue his graduate studies at the Ohio State University. He earned a Master of Science degree in Horticulture in 1950 and a PhD in Plant Biochemistry in 1957, also from OSU. This relationship with OSU would continue throughout his life as Dr. Wu was a prominent member of the Ohio State University Alumni Association Chinese Culture Club. He also taught at OSU and other various schools such as Antioch College, Kenyon College, Wittenburg University, Wright State University, and the University of Dayton. Although Dr. Wu also had experience in industry working for the American Chemical Society throughout the 1960's, his greatest impact on the world has been through the martial arts.

Dr. Wu began teaching Chinese Kung Fu in 1957 at Antioch College. Having studied not only from his family but from several noted instructors in China, he taught many different styles of kung fu and qigong as well as the application of chinese philosophy in the day-to-day world. Dr. Wu remained an avid student of Taoism, Ch'an Buddhism, the I Ching, and I Ching astrology throughout his life. He was the head of the Guang Hua Mountain Ba Gua Zhang school in the western hemisphere as well as in Europe and he was the founder and president of Dr. Wu's Chinese Kung Fu & T'ai Chi Ch'uan Institute in Columbus, OH. He continued to teach the martial arts actively until his death in September of 2000.