Shi Deru

Shi Deru (Chinese: 释德如; pinyin: Shì Dérú), born Liu Xiangyang,[1] English name Shawn Liu, is a 31st generation Grandmaster of Shaolin kung fu. He was a close disciple of abbot Shi Suxi,[1][2][3] and close Shaolin brother of Shi Deyang. His nickname is "iron leg".[4][5]

Shi Deru (left) with his Shaolin brother Shi Deyang

He received an OMD from the Wushu Traditional Chinese School of Medicine in Anhui province, China, in 1978, and a MS in Exercise Physiology from the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Alabama, in 1991.

He was born in China during an era of political upheaval, and he experienced extreme deprivation in early childhood, eating worms and maggots just to survive. He was rescued by Shaolin monks, who taught him their martial arts. Although he is technically a Chinese Buddhist monk, he does not consider himself one, instead stating that he is just "an ordinary Shaolin disciple who happened, since childhood, to have been traveling in Chan."[6]

From 1993–2003 he served as chief referee for U.S. National and International sanshou competitions. Beginning in 1994, he became head coach of the U.S. Wushu-Kungfu Federation (USAWKF) National Sanshou Team. [1]

In 1999 he opened the Liu Shaolin Institute in Mobile, Alabama, where he teaches kung fu, tai chi, qigong, sanshou, and practices Chinese traditional medicine. Since then, the Institute has opened additional campuses in New Orleans and Atlanta. Notable alumni of the Shaolin Institute include Cung Le[7] and Patrick Barry, a UFC fighter who studied sanshou with Shi Deru and traveled with him to the Shaolin Temple three times to train.

On 1 August 2002, he was unfairly assaulted by townspeople near the Shaolin Temple, who associated him with the appointed abbot Shi Yongxin.[8] He refrained from retaliating, and was beaten and stoned until elderly people in the crowd recognized him as a disciple of the previous abbot and intervened.