About Us

The Hon Hsing Athletic Club of Vancouver’s Dragon & Lion Dance Director & Chief Dance Instructor is Danny Quon. Inspired by his late father’s philosophy of never forgetting your culture and heritage and to always give back to the community, Danny has dedicated his life to Hon Hsing and to the Chinese community. Danny also serves as the club’s ‘Dai Si-Hing’ (大師兄) or ‘eldest brother’ to Hon Hsing’s current youth group and he began his martial arts training of Choy Lee Fut at the tender age of 7 at the Lee’s Society of Canada. Then in 1981 at the direction of his father and key directors of the Wongs’ Benevolent Association of Canada, he enrolled into Hon Hsing’s renowned martial arts and lion dance school thus charting a path of community volunteering and involvement for the next three decades.

From 1981 to 1982, Danny learned the martial art of Wushu from visiting instructors at Hon Hsing until the brief resumption of his Choy Lee Fut training again in late 1982 at the Lee’s Society of Canada then permanently at Hon Hsing in 1985. In the 1990s through to the new millennium, Danny would dedicate his free time in assisting Hon Hsing and the Wongs’ Benevolent Association of Canada to complete its community commitments and in the club’s involvement with worthy charitable causes both in Canada and in Asia. It was also during this period that Danny completed a Double Honours Degree in Economics & Finance and in Political Science under full scholarship from Simon Fraser University in conjunction with the University of Hong Kong and National Taiwan Normal University.

From 1993 onwards, Danny began to seriously train in Chinese lion dance and in Chinese drumming under the tutelage of Grandmaster Wong Ha and from other reputable Choy Lee Fut ‘Si-Suks’ (師叔, martial art uncles), and from the old masters of Hon Hsing still alive. In 1997, Grandmaster Wong Ha granted a personal black sash to Danny as a token of his appreciation and friendship which Danny still wears today with great pride. Club history was made in 2006, when Danny was the very first ‘non-Wong’ in Hon Hsing’s history to be voted onto the club’s Board of Directors as its new Director of Lion Dance. In the following two years, Danny would return intermittently to where it all began for him to the Lee’s Society of Canada and to his family’s own Hoy Ping Benevolent Association of Canada to assist with Lion dance and Chinese drumming instruction, thus making more friends and teaching more youth along the way.

From 2007 to present day, Danny has been instrumental in reforming the Hon Hsing Athletic Club with the full support of its Board of Directors and the Wongs’ Benevolent Association of Canada. These reforms have resulted in the club greatly expanding its youth membership and these changes have also rekindled interest in traditional Chinese culture among Canadian born Chinese youth again. Hon Hsing has also expanded its athletic curriculum which now includes ‘Chinese Dragon Dance’ — thanks to a beautiful 50 foot Golden Dragon donated by Mr Richard Wong, for the club’s milestone 75th Anniversary in 2014. With the club’s new dragon, Danny searched out those remaining local masters who could still teach him traditional Chinese dragon dance and through his own extensive research, taught the club’s students modern intricate tournament style dragon dancing skills. In his professional life, Danny enjoys a successful career in finance as an associate investment advisor with a global investment firm. In his free time, Danny enjoys spending quality time with his family, hanging out with his friends and students and trying out new restaurants and bars in Yaletown where he lives.

In 2002, the Government of Canada awarded Danny with the distinguished Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal and again in 2012 with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his long and exemplary volunteer service to Vancouver’s Chinese community and to Canada.

As the Hon Hsing Athletic Club of Vancouver’s official Senior Martial Arts Instructor, Raymond Ng has the important responsibility of teaching Choy Lee Fut martial arts to Hon Hsing’s students.

Raymond began his volunteering service in the Chinese community in 1984 at the Lee’s Society of Canada where he would also later meet Danny Quon. Inspired by martial arts action stars such as Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, it encouraged Ray to train hard in kung fu. Over time as he would be given more responsibility during class, he would eventually shed his shy exterior to become a true youth leader. As Raymond continued to learn and sharpen his Choy Lee Fut skills under two different Sifus at the Lee’s Society, he learned the important skill of ‘enduring patience’ while teaching the club’s younger students whose patience was not necessarily always focused on kung fu! But nevertheless, Raymond carried out his responsibilities with dedication and taught countless young students the fundamental basics of Choy Lee Fut. In 1994, Raymond would eventually leave the Lee’s Society with one of his Sifus where they would continue to train at the renowned Wong Ha Athletic Club under the direct tutelage of 5th Generation Grandmaster Wong Ha himself. Raymond continued his training at Grandmaster’s club and continued to teach students at the school until 1996. It was in that year at the urging of Danny Quon and other friends, that Raymond permanently enrolled into the Hon Hsing Athletic Club of Vancouver.

From 1996 onwards, Raymond diligently trained in martial arts but he soon began to realize that Hon Hsing was far more different than his two previous schools. Namely, that Hon Hsing was not just another typical ‘kung fu club’ but that it was indeed regarded as a second family among its members. It is at Hon Hsing where Raymond would make lifelong friendships and where he would begin to fully understand what community commitment, dedication, responsibility and leadership was all about. In 2007, Raymond was equally moved by his Dai Si-Hing’s increasing commitment to help the Chinese community and he began to assist him in continuing to pass down time honoured Chinese traditions and culture to Hon Hsing’s next generation. As a result, he developed a new found respect for his own culture and heritage and an understanding of the many hardships that early Chinese pioneers endured so that we as Chinese-Canadian youth could have a better life today.

Along with the club’s other senior members, Raymond hopes to continue the hard work still left to do at Hon Hsing and by also passing down his own life’s lessons and the martial arts philosophies from all of his previous instructors down to the next generation. In Raymond’s opinion, the Hon Hsing Athletic Club of Vancouver is simply put, ‘a family’ with strong bonds and those bonds will stand the test of time.

In addition to martial arts and Chinese culture, Raymond’s other passions also include professional photography, computer gaming, volunteering at the BC Children’s Hospital and at the Variety Club. Raymond is currently a senior manager at London Drugs.

On December 20th, 2018, through a solemn ceremony witnessed by all of our club’s members, Raymond Ng was awarded an honourary black sash to commemorate his many years of dedicated service to the local Chinese community and to the Hon Hsing Athletic Club of Vancouver — ‘Hon Hsing’s Black Sash with Preying Tiger’.

As the Hon Hsing Athletic Club of Vancouver’s third most senior student, Darren Jhong has also dedicated a decade of his life in service to the club and to the local Chinese community.

Darren enrolled in 2006 out of curiosity on the referral of an existing senior member and he has never regretted that first day. Having no prior experience with martial arts nor with lion dancing, Hon Hsing was a nervous experience at first but Darren quickly adapted to Hon Hsing’s traditional club culture. Just like many of his school friends, Darren had no prior knowledge nor any understanding of his Chinese culture, but he was willing to learn. Over the next few years, Darren would develop a great interest in his heritage, and Chinese culture would somehow be incorporated into his daily lifestyle. It was mainly due to his Dai Si-Hing’s influence on Chinese culture and traditions that Darren really took to heart, which was a major factor in him eventually becoming one of the club’s top 3 students. Unlike his two outgoing cousins, Darren was a relatively reserve and shy type of guy. Hon Hsing helped him build character and confidence and the club gave him the determination needed to significantly improve himself. As a result, Darren worked hard during practices to impress his Dai Si-Hing and his fellow club mates and quickly advanced up the club’s ranks. This character building also carried over into Darren’s school life and it helped him to find the confidence needed to excel in his academics and in other social surroundings. Darren credits Hon Hsing and his Dai Si-Hing for making him into the man he is today and he holds his club family very dear to his heart.

After several years of training and learning at Hon Hsing, Darren was now determined to spread his love of Chinese culture, martial arts and lion dance to his other school friends. Due to his efforts, the club grew three times its size and it’s still growing! These new members also became fascinated with Hon Hsing’s traditional curriculum and are very happy to have so much fun learning there. After a brief period of adjustment, they have also come to share the same love for the club as Darren does.

In December, 2013, Hon Hsing’s Board of Directors officially recognized Darren’s dedication and to his advanced skill level by awarding him with the club’s personal embroidered “Master’s Black Sash” which is reserved solely for Hon Hsing’s top students and with the right to be referred to as ‘Si-Hing’ (師兄) or ‘elder brother’ by the club’s junior students.

Darren takes his club responsibilities seriously as one of its official Assistant Martial Arts and Lion Dance instructors and enjoys seeing the friendly inter-club competition. However, he is also determined to see the club’s junior members improve their own skills.

In 2016, Darren graduated from Vancouver Technical Secondary and has attained a university degree in Computer Sciences at the University of British Columbia.

On March 5th, 2017 in a solemn ceremony held during the club’s Spring Festival celebration and witnessed by all of our members, family and friends, Darren Jhong was promoted to: “Hon Hsing’s Black Sash with Red & Golden Dragon, 漢升體育會黑色同紅金龍腰帶 (第二最高級, 2nd level)” — the second highest attainable level for students of Hon Hsing.