Chee Soo

According to an interview with Marilyn Soo who is Chee Soo's widow, during the 1980s he moved to Coventry and spent his time writing and teaching courses in Lee-style t'ai chi ch'uan and Feng Shou Kung Fu at the Alderman Callow School in Coventry (now called The Westwood Academy) and other locations around Britain, as well as visiting some of his students overseas in places like Australia and around Europe. Chee Soo was the author of five books published during his lifetime and one book published posthumously about Taoist philosophy. He died in Ebbw Vale on 29 August 1994 as a result of an abdominal aneurism caused by Deep vein thrombosis probably aggravated by several long haul plane flights during the previous two years.

In 1977 he was interviewed by Brian Hayes on LBC radio and talked about Lee style T'ai Chi Ch'uan, meeting his teacher Chan Kam Lee and Reincarnation.

Chee Soo's books were first published in hardback by Gordon and Cremonesi from 1976, then by Aquarian Press (Thorsons/HarperCollins) from 1983 who published reprints throughout the 1980s which topped the best sellers listings for several years. They have been translated into various languages including Portuguese (Brazilian), Polish, German, French (distributed in Canada, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal), Indonesian, Spanish, and Italian and published throughout the world. His books are now published by Seahorse Books.

In 1975 Chee Soo was filmed by the BBC at his Feng shou kung fu class in Seymour Hall in London and subsequently appeared in a documentary broadcast for schools entitled Scene:Looking for a fight. His soft style kung fu self-defence class was contrasted with boxing and hard style kung fu.

Chee Soo appeared in a BBC Nationwide TV interview on 21 September 1973 where he demonstrated Kung fu self-defence techniques and inner power live in the studio with presenter Bob Wellings. Chee Soo talked about the history of Kung Fu and the difference between Northern and Southern kung fu styles in China and how it differs from Karate.

During the 1970s he ran a Chinese Health and Herbal clinic in London.

According to a British Movietone News documentary filmed on 21 May 1970 at Guildford in Surrey – UK, Chee Soo had over 2000 students studying Wu Shu in Britain as part of the British Wu Shu Association, and was one of only three men outside of Beijing qualified to teach Wu Shu.

Chee Soo was also involved as a fight choreographer with the cult TV series The Avengers during the 1960s as is evidenced by publicity photographs of him with Ray Austin (himself a Black Belt third dan Kung Fu Master and pupil of Soo's) and Diana Rigg probably taken around 1967. He brought Kung Fu before a western audience years before Bruce Lee had even been heard of. The Guinness world record site states that "In 1965, Dame Diana Rigg (UK) became the first western actress to perform kung fu on Television when the combat choreographers Ray Austin (UK) and Chee Soo (UK/China) worked elements of the martial art into her fight scenes on The Avengers. Certificate presentation was done on The New Paul O'Grady Show."

Chee Soo's daughter Lavinia Soo-Warr adds that Chee Soo began learning Judo and Kendo in London after World War 2, and followed this up with training in Aikido with Kenshiro Abbe after his arrival in London in 1955. This history states that Chee Soo "switched back to the Chinese arts", possibly influenced by his negative experiences as a Japanese prisoner-of-war during WW2. Lavinia states that Chee Soo began teaching a small group in Dunstable in "Ch'i Shu". This is probably the Aikido-influenced system which Chee Soo demonstrates and is called "Qi Shu" or "Chinese Aikido" in contemporary Movietone footage. The history says that later "as the Chi'Shu and Kung Fu systems became more popular, he introduced Taijiquan and the Chang Ming Diet", which suggests that Chee Soo was not teaching Tai Chi up to this point. Lavinia's history says that Chee Soo changed his teachings fundamentally "at least three times" during his teaching career.

According to Chee Soo, Chan Lee died in the winter of 1953–4 off the coast of China, near Canton, when the ship he was travelling in sank in a severe storm, and he was asked to take over the leadership of the association. Since then the association has grown in The British Isles, Australia, South Africa, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Mauritius and New Zealand.

In 1937 Chee Soo joined the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Tank Regiment part of the 7th Armoured division known as the Desert rats. During the Second World War, he was promoted to Lance-Corporal and Corporal in 1941, then to "Acting Serjeant" in 1942. He was awarded the Military Medal after the Battle of Beda Fomm in Libya in February 1941, part of Operation Compass. After his regiment were transferred to Burma he was captured by the Japanese on 19 April 1942 during the Battle of Yenangyaung and forced to work on the Death Railway as a POW where he contracted Malaria, he was later classified as a war crimes witness:

The author Rupert Croft-Cooke who was Chee's friend from 1938 provides us with some biographical details of this period in Chee Soo's life in his book 'The Dogs of Peace'.

Chee Soo (born Clifford Soo, also known as Clifford Gibbs, 4 June 1919 – 29 August 1994) was an author of books about the philosophy of Taoism and in particular Lee-style t'ai chi ch'uan, Qigong, Ch'ang Ming, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Feng Shou 'Hand of the Wind' Kung Fu.

Born on 4 June 1919 in All Souls, Marylebone, London, Chee Soo was the son of Ah Chee Soo, a Chinese seaman and a pastry chef at the Westminster restaurant. His English mother was Beatrice Annie Alice Gibbs. They lived in Westminster. Although he enlisted in the British Army under the name Clifford Gibbs, his mother's maiden name, in later life he took his father's name and was known as Chee Soo. In a 1977 LBC radio interview Chee Soo described meeting a Chinese Martial Arts teacher from Shandong called Chan Kam Lee in Hyde Park when he was fourteen years old. Chee Soo said he was invited to Chan Lee's class in the summer of 1934, and this was the beginning of his martial arts training. Chee Soo said that Chan Kam Lee adopted him as a nephew, and taught him the arts whenever his work and time permitted.