In the fall, we lost our beloved Mai Yu Qiang (卖鱼强) after a long battle with cancer. Unfortunately, the pandemic separated him from his family and beloved wife, and he had to fight the battle mostly alone. Remotely, the family leveraged all cutting-edge treatments available, no matter how expensive, including one using a gene-edited HIV, which cost USD $4k per shot (25 total shots), but which miraculously held the aggressive cancer at bay for two years.

Then, when travel bans were lifted, his daughter, wife, and granddaughter rushed to Foshan to help. Over the next year, his last, he lived mostly in the ICU & ER, pin-balling between various treatments, surgeries, interventions, and their complications & side-effects. The ladies took turns staying with him in the hospital, tending his wounds until he proceeded to his final, well-earned rest. It was long, hellish, and extremely expensive.

This YEAR in hospital, combined with the treatments, surgeries, and round the clock care erased his nest egg, and much of the savings of his sons and daughter. The family will likely be paying off his medical bills for YEARS to come.

We have brought his cremains back to the San Francisco Bay Area, to be closer to his family and his son's active community of martial artists. However, rather than put him in our house on a shelf, we want to give him a place where his students and the public can also pay respects.

To that end, we are asking for help to afford his final resting place. The options are all quite expensive, and thanks to the pandemic, and then dad’s health struggles, times are tough. All help is appreciated, and hopefully soon we can announce his final home for all to see.

About Him:

Mai Yu Qiang studied kung fu for 80 years, and taught for 70, becoming a legend in Foshan, China & overseas. His schools in Foshan, his son's schools in the USA, and his students' schools all over the world have taught generations (truly innumerate) the beauty, utility, and fitness of traditional Chinese martial arts.

He earned his nickname "Fish-seller Qiang", during the cultural revolution, when poverty and famine struck China. Food was scarce, so during the day he worked at market selling & preparing fish, and at night, when the market converted to an illegal fight club, he would earn with his fists. He also spent time as a political prisoner during the revolution, but weathered all of that to build a school, a family, and a reputation that has lasted for many decades.

In addition to Martial Arts, he became a cultural attache, sent around the world to represent China. His Lion Dance teams competed globally in the Chinese diaspora, attended and performed at auspicious events like the opening of the Burj Al-Arab hotel in Dubai, and celebrated the start of numerous government and business endeavors. There are many TV specials and articles about him, and later, his family's story of emigration and establishing traditional schools overseas in the USA.

His impact was truly global. Rest in peace, champ.