1991 Recipient: Award of Excellence
Professor Wang Ju Rong was born in 1928. She was the daughter of the very famous martial artist Wang Zi-Ping, with whom she began her training at the age of 5. With her father and her mostly male classmates she trained 6 hours a day. She was a pioneer of modern wushu, straddling the traditional and the new with equal grace and power.
She graduated from Aurora University in Shanghai with a degree in Education in 1952. She became a founding professor of the East China Physical Education College (now Shanghai Physical Education College) where she was a Professor of Wushu for 36 years. She then developed a graduate program at the college, and was the first professor of Physical Education to have two students earn Master of Martial Arts degrees in Taijiquan (T’ai chi). Professor Wang was involved in the development and promotion of the new standardized Taiji 24 simplified, 32 sword, 48 combined, and Yang 88 posture routines. In China, she was a member of the government appointed council to organize official judges rule books for the new Wushu standardized competition routines and was personally involved in developing the Double Sword Competition routine.
In 1989, Professor Wang was invited by the United States Chinese Martial Arts Council chairman, Jeff Bolt, to serve as judge and advisor for the National Chinese Martial Arts Competition in Houston, Texas, and to help choose an American Wushu team to travel to China. Professor Wang traveled extensively, conducting seminars for other Martial Arts groups and serving as Chief Judge, Arbitrator or Honorary Advisor for many of the major Chinese Martial Arts competitions held in the United States. She also developed the Flying Rainbow Fan system that combined internal and external styles of Wushu to create a system that has practices for people of all ages to promote health, self defense, and artistic expression. Professor Wang’s daughters Grace and Helen Wu continue her legacy to this day.
- Women’s Championship at the 7th National Athletic Games (1946)
- Gold Medal for Chaquan routine
- Women’s Championship at the National Wushu Competition (1953)
- Gold Medal for Green Dragon Sword Technique
- First female coach of New China Wushu Team with Wang Zi-ping (1960)
- Director of the Chinese Martial Arts Association and Archery Association
- Vice-Chairman of the Shanghai Wushu Association, head of the Judging Committee
- Vice-Chairman of the Shanghai Archery Association
- President of the Chinese Martial Arts Research Institute
- Advisor to the Wu Dang Research Association
- Advisor Shanghai Qi Gong Research Association
- Advisor United States Kungfu Federation
- Advisor US Kuoshu Federation
- Honorary Advisor Chinese Wushu History Association
- Women of the Year Inside Kung-fu Magazine (1995)
- Lifetime Achievement Award from the United States Wushu Kungfu Federation (1997)