Actually, he arrived in Melbourne in August 1988, intending to stay six months to a year, at most to finish his training under Grandmaster William Cheung. "I started with the Grandmaster back in 1983. I studied modified Wing Chun as a teenager in Boston, and thought it was the best style I ever studied. I didn't know at the time that there was more than one version of Wing Chun.

"All I knew then was that it (modified Wing Chun) worked in the fights we had in Chinatown. I studied hung gar, northern praying mantis, and some karate styles before, but Wing Chun was the best", Sifu Wong says. "My original Wing Chun teacher was a guy from Hong Kong who learned at Yip Man's school as a kid. His name is Gilbert Lum, and he worked with a schoolmate of mine at a Chinese restaurant to help pay his university bills. My friend talked him into teaching a handful of us what he knew, and we started a small, exclusive club in Boston's Chinatown.

"It was quite an honour then to be studying Wing Chun, because that was "Bruce Lee's style", and nobody was really teaching Wing Chun publicly at the time (1970). What I didn't realise at the time was that there was more than one version of Wing Chun. I don't think anyone knew, until Grandmaster decided to pass his knowledge to the world."

Sifu Wong studied modified Wing Chun for over six years, but stopped training altogether for about six years, while he attended university, then started working graphics upon graduation. Although he wasn't actively training, he continued to read martial arts magazines and books, and thats how he came upon Grandmaster Cheung.

"I was feeling real out of shape, just working but not working out anymore", he says. "I read about Grandmaster and one day thought he might have a friend or student in America I could train under. So I wrote him a letter way back in 1982". A letter came back from Australia, and as it turned out, started a whole chain of events that no one could have predicted.

"I was all excited when I saw the postmark and stamps on the letter that day", Sifu Wong recalls, "I really didn't expect to get a reply." And what a reply it was. "Not only did this kung fu legend write me back, he also wrote that he would come and teach me myself! I sat down rubbed my eyes, and read the words again, and sure enough, that's what it said. I could not believe it, wondering how I could've been so lucky to have something like this happen to me".

For the next five years, Grandmaster Cheung would travel to America, giving seminars on traditional Wing Chun and teaching Sifu Wong during many of his stops there. A few days here, a week there; it went on like a long-distance romance occurring in bits and pieces.

"I remember at that time thinking that the students in Australia must be so lucky to have access to a martial arts legend like Grandmaster Cheung", Sifu Wong recalls. "I used to dread the times in between, as I had so many questions to ask at that time, but no one to ask them when they came up. I'd try to remember them all, so I could ask Sifu (Grandmaster Cheung) when he came, but there were always more, and his time was limited. I almost quit a few times then, as I was frustrated at times, at not having access to him all the time. It was hard because we always want an answer straight away. Even though I thought here was the best martial artist in the world, I couldn't have access to him readily. I thought about going to a school in Boston, doing some other style, even if I didn't like it, just so I could have a teacher always there for me to ask questions".

But as they say, every cloud has a silver lining, and it was these memories that have helped Sifu Wong to become the popular instructor that he is today. He is always eager to share his knowledge with any student with a sincere desire to learn. Knowing what it's like to feel lost during one's training, Sifu Wong tries to make hi students feel comfortable, especially in the beginning stages, when one feels insecure and self-conscious.

"During those days, when I had so many questions to ask and no one to ask them to, I was forced to look within myself to try to work out what I was given, to see why it worked. It taught me that martial arts is a two way street. You need a teacher who has knowledge, but you also need a student who will try to learn the knowledge too.

"A lot of people think that just because they come to class and repeat movements, that they're learning. But if they don't think about what they're doing, and try to apply the knowledge their Sifu is giving them, then they are just mimicking something. Outwardly, it looks the same, but they won't really know how to apply the knowledge they're given. Knowledge without the ability to apply it is no good; you may as well not know it at all".

Sifu Wong tries to get Wing Chun students to think in terms of principles, saying that all the technique come from understanding these principles. "If a student can see and learn a handful of principles, then learn to apply those, it's a lot easier than trying to remember every single technique you get in class. A teacher could give a student a brand new technique everyday for a year, that's 365 techniques. But the student wouldn't have enough time in even three lifetimes, to train each and every one of those techniques to such a degree as to be able to use any one of them right away in a pressure situation".

What makes Wing Chun so effective, he says, is that it is the most logical system h's ever encountered. "Those principles make something like fighting, a very unstable and changing situation, manageable because they allow you to take something that's very unpredictable and make it predictable by following a set of principles that work under any circumstances. If you understand the principles, the techniques comes out by themselves. That's a lot easier than having to remember 599 million techniques, don't you think?"

Sifu Wong came to see that, despite the "differences" in techniques dealing with say, a straight punch and a spinning back kick, there were certain principles that Wing Chun applies that treat them both in the same manner. "That's when I realised that Wing Chun was really a true system, not just a bunch of techniques to memorise. And that's also when I realised that Grandmaster was actually teaching me those principles when I saw him, although he never came out and said them in plain words, like we're so used to getting in today's society".

Sifu Wong believes that Grandmaster's traditional way of teaching was responsible for his discovery of these principles. "If the Grandmaster had just answered all of my questions with a plain and simple answer all the time, I probably would still be wondering how to deal with a straight punch," he laughs. "Seriously, it forced me to think for myself, and a good teacher should always try to make his/her students learn to do that. If a student learns something by working it out, then he/she will always remember that. If a teacher just hands out answers all the time, the student learns to rely on the teacher and to never stand on his/her own".

It is the philosophy to teaching and his devotion to traditional Wing Chun and Grandmaster Cheung that prompted Sifu Wong to teach full time. "Beginning with Grandmaster, people better than me always took some time to help me during periods of my own training; and some did. But for the most part, they helped me to learn and continue to grow. I realised that I was now the Sifu, and it was my turn to give something back to those who are coming after me.

"The Wing Chun pledge says: I shall show respect for my Sifu (teacher), Sihings (senior students) and Sidis (junior students). In old China, a kung fu school was like a family in that the sifu was like your father, and seniors and juniors were like your older and younger siblings. You were all responsible for each other, as you were all doing the same thing and were all responsible for upholding Wing Chun's honour and reputation. It called for loyalty, discipline and respect for your teacher, your system and your fellow students. Not to mention respect and discipline for yourself; for without that you cannot be true to yourself or to others".

Sifu Wong feels that martial arts training goes beyond the physical aspects, in that it forces one to learn to focus and concentrate, thereby developing the mind as well. By giving students some basic moves and self defence applications to stimulate the physical training, martial arts teach people how to participate in life, not just watch.

"And that is so important, especially in today's society", says Wong. "People today are so orientated to television, movies, and video games. Technology today allows us to realise so many things, and instantly too, without doing anything to "earn" them, other than to press a button or move a mouse.

"That leads to us to that whole "instant gratification" syndrome, where people don't or can't stick something out long enough to achieve something that will last them in good stead for the remainder of their lives. If this doesn't work, get a new one or another one; if this person upsets me, get a new one or another one.

"Instant gratification hurts us in a physical and spiritual way. Just look at the state of Victoria's school children. Steve Monaghetti just completed a report for the government stating that the majority of kids here between the ages of 10 and 17 were obese, with higher than normal cholesterol levels, and were just plain out of shape. His recommendation was to increase the amount of physical activity that high school kids do, so that they don't grow up to be inactive, unhealthy adults. But why should people want to sweat and ache to excel in martial arts when they can just hit the corner arcade or the Nintendo game to "Mortal Kombat" 50 baddies with a shake of the wrist and a press a button."

Sifu Wong goes on to the spiritual side of this problem. Citing statistics on single parent families, divorces, and domestic violence, he feels that a prime reason for these problems growing is that people don't know how persist at something long enough to achieve something positive.

"Wing Chun (and martial arts in general) teaches one how to stick at something for an extended period of time. Kung Fu actually means "hard work". You can't be good in Wing Chun, or any style, if you don't pay your dues. There are no secrets or short cuts; if you don't put in the time and effort, you won't be any good. But too many people will blame the style or the teacher before they blame themselves, and that's why you see such a high turnover rate in martial arts. Any instructor can offer 20 stories, at least of students coming in and saying, I've done a couple of months of this, or I used to do that.

"People leave or change schools because they don't have enough determination and focus to keep at their training. The basics are boring in the beginning, and if an instructor can't motivate students to see past the tedium to develop a good base, then they'll never get to a stage where they can see anything that, to them, will lead to an expression of any expertise.

"And as students progress to intermediate and advance levels, the increments of progress are harder and harder for a student to see, because the proficiency levels are so much closer together. Again, here it's an instructor's duty to not only just teach someone techniques and forms, but also to motivate the student to "reach down for a little extra" in order to move on to the next stage. By encouraging your students to find their own ways or reasons to motivate themselves, their martial will benefit, but their lives will also benefit." Not only by better health and self-defence skills, he says, but also by learning to persist. Sifu Wong feels persistence would teach people to see that problems or faults aren't always as great as they might seem at first.

"people would learn to reach down for that "little extra" in their personal relationships, in their work environment, in their school assignments. And it's been proven time and time gain, that to persist at something will, more often than not, lead to something positive.

"I know from my own experience that if you can believe in yourself, or if you can get some help to believe to believe in yourself, then you can achieve almost anything. When I teach, I put my face on my student's body and say to myself, "That was me, ten years ago." I try to remember what it was like as a beginner, and how insecure I felt. I try to remember the lack of motivation and confidence I felt, and I try to find a way to create some motivation and confidence for my students, who may be feeling that way too".

So Sifu Dana Wong feels that Wing Chun training, and martial arts as a whole, still holds a very important place in this world of guns, knives, and gangs. Some say that martial arts aren't relevant anymore, when viewed in that perspective; but Wong feels it's more than just about learning to defend oneself. It's about learning how to keep our humanity in a world of increasing technology and instant gratification. By learning how to keep our minds and our bodies working together on a specific task, we learn how to maintain the unique aspect of who we are; that human ability to not just crunch numbers or to spit out facts at tremendous speed, but to strive to improve on whatever it is we are working on.

"Machine can only do what we want them to do, sometimes in amazing and incredible ways", says Sifu Wong. "But humans can always find ways not only to do things, but to improve on them and themselves. And that is the incredible thing about life, not video games, or computers, or mobile phones. Martial arts allows us to participate actively in life, keeping us in touch with not only our physical skills, but our mental and creative skills as well. With those, we conquer anything".

Sifu Dana Wong with young student.