On August 13th,2007,at a simple tea ceremonyrarely held in public,67-year-old,Grandmaster Willy Lin passed along “the robeand bowl”of t’ien shan p’ai to his disciple of over 40years,Washington,D.C.kung-fu pioneer Master Dennis Brown.

Master Brown -80’s weaponsstar ,trainer of champions ,and promoter of his own long –running U.S.CapitolClassics tournament-is now officially the yiban ,or heir apparent ,to thefighting system ,which originated in the T’ien Shan mountains of northwesternChina.

A member of half-a-dozen Hallsof  Fame ,Master Brown was cited at theturn of the century in Black Belt magazine as one of the “25 Most InfiuentialMartial Artists of the 20th Century “,Today  Dennis Brown stands as a living legend of theoriginal United States generation to discover it was possible for an Americanto have a destiny in the martial arts.

Chinatown insiders recallthe youthful Dennis Brown as a fighter of closed-door matches in New York andWashingto ,including one famous bout in which he bested a full-contact hero wholater retired unbeaten from the public circuit .As a weapons forms competitor,Dennis Brown won national grand championships for his staff work and swordforms one of the few living experts .

Master Brown hascontinuously developed all his skills through an ongoing lifelong stuey fo thefighting forms ,traditional weapons and training resources of classic externaland internal wushu .In 1982,he became the first African american to train inMainland China .He has returned there to do advanced studies in every decadesince then .

In 1982,when he firstarrivedin China ,Master Brown had already founded the U.S.CapitolClassics(so-named because there already existed an event called the CapitalClassic ,spelled with an a ).Such is the persuasive power of his commitment towushu-plus ,a trademark “100megawatt smile ”-he once walked unannounced into amajor beverage company ,which up until then never had anything to do withmartial arts ,and left with one of the very first tournament sponsorshipagreements in his pocket.

Guided by this innovativecan-do spirit,the 21st century U.S.Capitol Classics has evolved intoone of the country’s most famous and glamorous venues .It has been said vymartial arts historians that ,over the years ,the gratest champions of the lastquarter-century have given some of their most memorable performances at theClassics.

Masster Brown’s pioneeringhas also extended to broadcasting .In the Washington area ,he is fondlyremembered for a six year run as “The Morning Sound “Exercise Consultant onWHUR radio .And, for three years in the late ‘90s,beginning in ESPN ,MasterBrown co-hosted”Blak Belts,”a weekly half-hour show which covered the grandchampionship showdowns at major national tournaments .

Currently,Dennis Brown stayshands-on busy running three successful shaolin Wushu Training Centers in thegreater metropolitan area .Popular respect and affection for the Master havespread globlly His life story traces a martial hero’s inspirational rise fromfamily poverty to the summit of old-school traditional Kungfu .Master DennisBrown’s one life/one style integruity singles him out ,And in his unforcedmodesty,deep learning and positive attitude ,a new generation is discoveringthat ,even in the  postmodern world ,theclassic Way of the Chinese Warrior matters more than ever .