Chinese Hawaiian Kenpo Academy
Jack F. C. Shamburger, Sifu

Classes held at
Village Martial Arts
188 East 3rd Street, Ground Floor
212-614-3250

© CHKA 1999-2010
Design: Dan Perlman

Last update: 6/23/10

Middle Kingdom Summer Majestic Foreigner Fist Law Study Courtyard

Not that that helps a whole lot - in fact, the characters are actually grouped.

The first two, "Zhong Guó", or Middle Kingdom, is the traditional combination meaning China or Chinese.

The next three are pronounced "Xià Wei Yí", literally Summer Majestic Foreigner, means Hawaii or Hawaiian - and are a transliteration as opposed to having anything to do with the literal meaning. One of the interesting things given that Chinese characters are originally pictograms is that when trying to match a pronounciation of a foreign word, the 'designer' often has interesting and evocative meanings to choose from, as in this case.

The next two characters, "Chuán Fâ", or Fist Law, mean Boxing - these same two characters are pronounced "Ken Po" by the Japanese, which is where the name of the art comes from, despite its Chinese origins.

The last two characters "Xué Yuàn", Study Courtyard, mean Academy or Institute.