THE SYSTEM OF KIENANDO KUNGFU

            The Nine Commandments of KIENANDO:

           1.     Loyalty: be loyal with KIENANDO and your country.
           2.     Filial Piety: devoutness to parents, ancestor, and teachers.
           3.     Justice: be fair in all actions.
           4.     Righteousness: acting in accord with moral law.
           5.     Charity: generosity and helpfulness toward the needy and suffering, benevolent goodwill toward humanity.
           6.     Perseverance: be patient
           7.     Courtesy. Respect for and consideration of others.
           8.     Wisdom: trying to gain philosophic and scientific knowledge.
           9.     Reliability: correct in words and actions. Keep promises.

         KIENANDO martial art students wear black uniforms and the raking system encompasses 18 levels from the elementary to grand master.

 Level 1,2: Black belt (elementary training).
 Level 3: Purple belt.
 Level 4: Green belt.
 Level 5: Green belt 1^st degree.
 Level 6: Green belt 2^nd degree.
 Level 7: Green belt 3^rd degree.
 Level 8: Yellow belt (internationally known as black belt).
 Level 9: Yellow belt 1^st degree (elementary instructor).
 Level 10: Yellow belt 2^nd degree
 Level 11: Yellow belt 3^rd degree
 Level 12:  Red belt (senior instructor).
 Level 13:  Red belt 1^st degree.
 Level 14:  Red belt 2^nd degree.
 Level 15:  Red belt 3^rd degree.
 Level 16:  Red belt 4^th degree (master trainee).
 Level 17:  White belt (master degree). Internationally known as black belt  9^th degree.
The Grand Master is out of rank and wears fringy white belt with distinguished features. In addition, Grand Master Nguyen Lam presently also ahs 10^th degree black belt in Kung Fu.

                   From levels 1-7, the average practice is three months for each level. Yellow belt 8-11 required one year of training for each degree. Red belt levels 12-16 has two years of training, from level 17 to be upgraded to 18 need three to five years and a martial arts thesis is requested. In case the senior master trainee (level 17) is too young, not quite over twenty-five years old, this person will ear red belt 5^th degree instead of white belt.
                     Moving up a belt rank requires a test of knowledge and ability: Kata demonstrations, basic techniques, boar and brick breaking, spars, and oral tests.
 I first met with Grand Master Nguyen Lam at a restaurant in San Fernando Valley in 1997. He is enthusiastic, dynamic, cordial, and brilliant, and cheerful. Highly motivated, besides teaching martial arts and working for a security firm as a field-training officer, he has written numerous martial arts articles published in Knowledge Today, Martial Arts, Sports, Saigon Post, Viet Economic Daily News, Nguoi Viet, and Ngay Mai… He is the author of WUSHU, a very well known book, WUSHU is the art practiced mostly for fitness and artistic value. WUSHU experts are excellent gymnasts and are capable of amazing leaps, bounces, and rolls. Many WUSHU students are also Peking Opera performers and famous movie stars.

                    Grand Master Nguyen Lam is also the author of THUNDERING RAIN KATA. This Kata had been invented in free lance inspiration according to traditional martial arts principles and ahs been analyzed, improved as will as modernized to gain its unique status. Unlike most of the ancient Supreme Grand Master who cared the forms in very pleasant environment: on the top of the mountain looking at falling snow and leaves scattering, birds singing, flower blooming…THUNDERING RAIN KATA was composed in Gia Dinh Province (now it is Binh Than District in Saigon), South Vietnam in 1961. The author of this form was sunk in a so mournful situation. In an awful accident, fatality took lives of his two-loved one. Although being a martial arts master a time, he was sentimental, compassionated, humanitarian, energetic, and contemplative. This incident has forceful impact on him spiritually and drained him physically. Since then, he was lonely, withdrawn, and continuously spending many sleepless nights. These sleepless nights expanded close to two years and many people witnessed this event. It is extraordinary and beyond our conception. In this miserable condition, besides working, he concentrated on martial arts practice and invented several Forms. The heartrending incidence might be a motive pushing him to create some masterpieces, noticeably are THUNGDERING RAIN KATA (Loi Vu Quyen), ROSE KATA (Hong Hoa Quyen), SINGLE DRAGON LONG STICK FORM (Doc Long Con)…
      During the late 1970s and early 1990s, these Katas brought many victories for KIANANDO fighters in fierce competitions.
      Grand Master Nguyen Lam has held many martial arts seminar. In addition, KIANANDO students have participated in several international competitions. Every year in July, KIENANDO celebrates its anniversary.
      The Chief Instructor of KIANANDO is Martial Arts Master Hong Ngoc Dai Nghia. He is so magnificent, only twenty-three years old, and was trained in martial arts when he was only five years old. In 1992, he was the Champion of Vietnamese Kung Fu. One year later, when he was seventeen years old, Hong Ngoc Dai Nghia was successful in attaining the 4^th Degree Red Belt in front of Vietnamese Martial Arts Federation and several other international martial arts committee. This is the highest rank in Red Belt.

                  Hong Ngoc Dai Nghia was the youngest Martial Arts Master at the time and the Federation as well as the international martial arts committee waived his age. This attractive news not only praised highly in Vietnamese press but also the headlines of some international periodicals: “Martial Arts Star, The Youngest and Brightest Martial Arts Master in Vietnam Young and Powerful, Handsome and Flamboyant Martial Arts Master…”
There are several ranking instructors who have assisted Master Nghia in training: Master PeterTran, Bich Thuy, Vo Dang, The Khoa, Nguyen Thong, Lisa Vu, Hoang Nam, Duy Tan, Manh Bao, John Pintuaro… Some eminent students being trained to be instructors in the near future are: John Kieffer, Ngo Tai, The Hien, and Nguyen Trung Hien.