Master Pedro Cepero Yee (Sifu Level, 9th Dan) was introduced to martial arts at age six with a local Filipino family who taught their native arts. At ten years old, he formally began to study the arts of Karate, Shuai Jiao, Wing Chun and his chosen art, Hung Ga Kung Fu. Pedro Cepero Yee is a well-respected member of the Chinese martial arts community in the U.S. and abroad. He has demonstrated his skills in performance, as well as seminars and classes across the U.S., Canada, Bermuda, Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Scotland, England, Germany, Trinidad, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and the Peoples’ Republic of China. He is the eighth Senior Yup Sut (In the Room) Disciple of Grandmaster Yee Chi Wai, as well as one of the first Americans to be accepted into the Yee’s Family Lineage at the New York Chinatown’s Yee Fong Toy Association and their world headquarters.
Sifu Pedro Cepero Yee also has extensive training in Traditional Dit Da (Traumatology Medicine), Tuina-Chinese Bodywork Therapy and Swedish Massage therapy. He assisted and apprenticed in Dit Da Medicine under his Sifu in his New York Chinatown Clinic during 1987-1991. He studied Tuina formally with Bill Helm, ABT, (TS–Dean of Allied Arts, Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, and Director of the Taoist Sanctuary of San Diego) as well as Western Swedish Massage at the Helma Institute of Massage Therapy. This training earned him the national designations of “Diploma of Asian Bodywork Therapy (NCCAOM)”, “Certified Practitioner (AOBTA)”, and “Nationally Certified Massage Therapist (NCTMB)”.
After many years of working closely together, Grandmaster Yee Chi Wai and Master Pedro Cepero Yee agreed that their relationship had transcended that of teacher and student, to become more akin to father and son. To openly reflect this realization, Pedro A. Cepero’s name was legally changed by the courts of the state of New Jersey to Pedro Cepero Yee on September 19, 2003. This good news was made public in a joint announcement at the 2003 North Eastern Wong Fei Hung All Kung-Fu Championships held in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Master Pedro Cepero Yee currently teaches and practices Hung Ga Kung Fu and Tuina as well as conducting ongoing workshops in the United States and the UK. He is also a well published author on Hung Ga Kung Fu. His article, “Hung Ga from Canton to New York”, is permanently on display at the Wong Fei Hung Museum, the ancestral home of the style in Foshan, China. He was the first non-Asian person to appear on the cover of the Hong Kong Magazine “New Martial Hero (Autumn 2005) after 35 years of publication. He is also featured on the cover along side his Sifu in “Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine” (May/June 2006).