Sifu Kong started studying martial arts when he was 6 years old in his native Hong Kong. Two years later, he began studying Hung Gar with Lam Jo, providing a direct link to the origins of Hung Gar and to the famous Wong Fei ­Hung, popularized in such movies as Drunken Master and Once Upon a Time in China. In his teenage years, Kong moved to Hawaii with his parents and continued to practice Kung Fu tirelessly. By 1961, he became an American citizen and was drafted into the army where he taught hand to hand combat to U.S. soldiers in Korea. Returning to civilian life in 1963, Kong opened his first school in Hawaii and became one of the first to teach traditional Kung Fu to non-Chinese practitioners.