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Master Shepherds Year of the Sheep
by Tim Sullivan |
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Master Lu practices the art of Tai Chi with his students during Chinese New Year celebrations in Salt Lake City.
(Julie Caine/The Salt Lake Tribune) |
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| Some years, Master Lu cooks it spicy, others, not. Since this is the Year of the Sheep, he explained, he decided on mild potstickers and chicken with black bean sauce. While most of the 100-plus people who came to Cheng Tsang Lu's Chinese New Year celebration Saturday night knew their host was a master of tai chi and kung fu — a "national treasure" as one longtime student put it — they had no knowledge of his history as a chef three decades ago in Taiwan. But Lu's mastery is holistic, and so are the lessons he teaches to his 100 students. Like the Yin and Yang symbols that line the walls of his State Street health center, the calm tai chi and the aggressive kung fu balance each other and create what Lu seems to value most — good health. "If you move, you're healthy," Lu, 53, told the audience. "If you don't, you're sick." Add in the informal Chinese lessons that come with martial-arts classes, and Lu's students receive a complete cultural package. "This is a lifestyle," said Mark Ray McDonald, a teacher who has been a student of Lu's since he opened the health center in 1976. McDonald said some karate students burn out, but with Lu's approach, "he hangs onto a lot of people." |
For the celebration, which has been around almost since Lu founded the health center, the master spent eight hours preparing and cooking the food in a huge wok he brought from Taiwan. Then he disappeared, changed clothes and returned in the same red-trimmed white shirt his students and teachers wore and prepared to emcee the dances. First was the Lion dance, a several-thousand-year-old traditional New Year ritual. Afterward, Lu did tai chi performances with his students, who range in age from 5 to 82. "For our students, it's really good for them to perform, to build confidence," said Tye Hao Lu, the master's son, who teaches alongside his father. His mother, Elaine Lu, is a physical therapist, making the health center a true mom-and-pop operation. "We've been drilling them pretty good," said McDonald, watching the synchronized dances. "They have the most discipline of all the clubs." And in addition to the health, balance and discipline on display Saturday night that called forth good luck in the new year, Master Lu also pays heed to another continuum. On a wall in the back of his martial arts studio are four photographs. They go chronologically from a scratchy daguerreotype of a robed master petting a tiger, Yungtzou Chan — Lu's master's master — all the way to a recent color shot of Lu's first student to achieve master status, T. Pat Leary, making for a proud grandmaster. |
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