09/28/2026
Founder's Day in Saskatoon is approaching rapidly. The Li family art of Daoqiquan was founded in 1580 AD and persists as a living tradition 446 years later. The Founder's Day Ceremony on this Friday evening, 2 Oct 26, is complimentary and open to anyone who feels they have benefited from training in these arts.
Founder's Day Ceremony: 2 October 2026
Rites of the Bitter Tea (Ku Cha Yishi 苦茶儀式)
Founder’s Day is an annual event where Daoqiquan practitioners, from around the world, come to the Xinfu Gompa, at Orchard Kung Fu, in Saskatoon, SK, to pay their respects to the lineage of our system. There is a long line of individuals who sacrificed much to keep these arts alive for your benefit and mine.
Lama Zurdwang, the founder of the Daoqiquan arts, was born in the year 1530 AD. He created the concepts that we now know as Daoqiquan. The five circles, six stances and four virtues were his founding principles. Lama Zurdwang also passed down his own martial skills derived from his principles in the form of Tibetan Snake Boxing and Tibetan Blue Heron Boxing. We owe this great master a debt of gratitude for passing on these amazing arts.
Lama Zurdwang’s principles were evolved over hundreds of years and applied by Li family masters as a way of understanding core concept martial art methods as practised by the Li clan, namely Liu Taijiquan, Jiulong Baguazhang and Ziran Xingyiquan.
Founder’s Day commemorates Lama Zurdwang’s gift of Daoqiquan, the Li clan for conserving and developing the arts of Daoqiquan, and the opening of Shigong Painter’s school, the Kung Fu Tao Training Center. This was one of the first schools in the United States that openly taught traditional Chinese martial arts to students of non-Chinese descent. The school opened in 1973 on October 3rd. The Founder’s exact birthdate being unknown, Shigong Painter decided that October 3rd was sufficiently auspicious to be declared as Lama Zurdwang’s birthday.
So, annually on Founder’s Day, we honour the founder of our art, Lama Zurdwang, on his birthday and renew our vows of the four virtues and our dedication to the Daoqiquan arts by drinking bitter tea. This very important ceremony has been held each year at The Gompa, in Texas, since 1973. In 2024, the honour and responsibility of continuing this tradition was passed to Jicheng Yancy orchard (system inheritor) and is held annually at Orchard Kung Fu’s school, the Xinfu Gompa (Sanctuary of Complete Acceptance) in Saskatoon, SK.
For the ceremonies, students bring to the Wu Guan (Martial Training Hall 武館) a cut flower and a Hong Bao (Red Envelope 紅包) containing a small monetary offering to place on the Gongzhou (Ancestor’s Place 供桌) in honour of the founder and the lineage of masters who have passed down these arts to us over hundreds of years. In order to honour the Tibetan roots of the Daoqiquan arts, students are also encouraged to participate in the practice offering good wishes and a spiritual bridge between the student and the lineage in the form of the Jael-Dhar, or Khata, the ceremonial offering scarf. This is most commonly white and silk representing the student’s sincerity and the purity of Tibet’s white snow.
Flowers and Hong Bao can be brought to the Saskatoon Wu Guan starting seven days before and up to the ceremony date. If a student is away from home or cannot attend the ceremony he or she should write to Shifu Orchard at his Wu Guan and mail a Hong Bao to be placed on the Gongzhou as a sign of respect for the founder's day tradition. Students are also requested to send a greeting or well wish card to the Arlington Texas Gompa School (Wu Guan) to honour the Teachers’ Teacher (Shigong 師公) John P. Painter who founded the first Western school of Li family arts in America. Students should wear clean Hanzhifu or their “Sunday best” if no longer attending the school.
Ku Cha Yishi begins with the Shifu of the Wu Guan entering in formal Changpao (long robes 長袍), and carrying a ceremonial Daoist Sword. The program begins with an explanation of the origins and history of the Li family arts and its lineage holders beginning with Lama Zurdwang to the present day. It also includes the rite of the “Flowers and Bitter Tea” to remind all students of their obligations to life, family, and the arts. Following the ceremony student and instructor recognitions for outstanding achievements in the Daoqiquan arts and service to the school will be presented by the head Shifu.
Every sincere student of the Li family arts should do his or her best to attend in person the inspirational and moving ceremony of Ku Cha Yishi each year as a sign of respect to the Founder and Lineage Holders of this great art. We are fortunate to be joined by several teachers of the Daoqiquan arts from around North America this year!
If your life has been improved by your exposure to these arts, please join us this year as we celebrate Founder's Day in Saskatoon at the Xinfu Gompa.
Please email Shifu Orchard to confirm your attendance.
Schedule
6:00 PM - Doors Open
6:30 PM – Doors Locked – No Further Admittance
6:40 PM – Biter Tea Served, Find Seating in the Sky Dragon’s Abode
7:00 PM – Gong Sounds, Shifu and visiting instructors enter, Ceremony begins
