Grandmaster Shifu Deru
Brief Bio

Grandmaster Shifu Deru

Liu Xiangyang, who goes by his Shaolin disciple name DeRu, is a senior student of Shaolin Chan-Wu-Yi (Zen, martial arts and medicine) and a mentor to hundreds of Shaolin and Tai Chi students, as well as natural health advocators. He is one of the two most well-known disciples of SuXi, who was a great spiritual leader and 30th generation Grandmaster, chief monk, and former deputy abbot monk of the famous Shaolin Temple in China.

DeRu is one of the earliest Shaolin pioneers who entered the U.S., spreading Chan, natural healing, Shaolin Kung Fu and Tai Chi Kung Fu in the United States and around globe. He is known as the “Father of American Sanda”. In addition, DeRu is known for having spread Chinese martial arts, traditional Chinese medicine and self-healing for nearly 30 years, while teaching the arts to students and disciples throughout the United States and around the world.

Shifu (Grandmaster) DeRu began his teachings in the US in 1987 at the University of Mobile and later continued his teachings at the University of South Alabama in 1989. In 1999, the Shaolin Institute was officially established in Mobile, AL.

From his original group of students, Grandmaster DeRu produced a national Wu Shu champion, an all-around international youth Kung Fu champion, as well as a national Master Tai Chi champion, who represented the U.S. in the World Tai Chi Conference in Southern China. He has trained champion fighters in Sanshou/Sanda (Chinese kickboxing) such as Cung Le, Patrick Barry, and Wael Karika Muhammed.

From the early 1990s to early 2000s, he served as Head Coach of the U.S. National Sanshou (Sanda) team, and as the Sanshou competition Chief Referee.  Under his guidance the team medaled in international martial arts competitions and the World Wu Shu Championships.

DeRu has served as Chairman of the Sanda Technical Committee of the Pan American Wu Shu Federation, one of the four federations of the International Wu Shu Federation, for over 20 years. He has trained more than a hundred disciples who have won International Championships, and 5 world champions including Cung Le and Patrick Barry. In addition to his years training in Chan, martial arts and natural healing, DeRu furthered his education in traditional Chinese medicine at the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Wu Shu, where he worked as an intern physician at the #1 People’s Hospital in the 1970s.

Additionally, he received a five-year undergraduate diploma in Foreign Languages from Anhui Normal University in Wuhu, Anhui Province, China in the early 1980s, a B.A. degree in English from University of Mobile in Alabama in the late 1980s, and an M.S. degree in Exercise Physiology from the University of South Alabama in the early 1990s.

Besides his background in martial arts, DeRu also experience in study and research in health care and self-nurtured healing, traditional Chinese medicine and meditation. He has helped many patients with advanced stage 4 cancer to recover their health and well-being. His research paper was presented and displayed at the World Experiential Biology Conference in Atlanta in 1991. His mind-body medicine research is one of the first papers recognized by the mainstream U.S. medical community. The abstract was published on FASEB Conference Journal, Special Edition, in 1991.

He has delivered numerous speeches and presentations in the United States to schools, police academies, the Navy and Air Force, as well as giving lectures and speeches to medical and university groups, such as the Georgia Institute of Technology, University of San Francisco, TU in Towson, Maryland, GWU in Washington D.C, Louisiana police instructor training centers, and Tulane University.

Grandmaster Shifu Deru Interview With Fox 10 News

Shifu Deru

Fact sheet

Promotion, Production, Officiating and Leadership

1989-2013

1993-2003

1994-2003

1994-2008

1997 & 2003

1999

Education

Publication

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