Our school
One system, thirty-eight generations,
one hall in Greensboro.
Cloud Forest Martial Arts Institute has taught Chinese martial arts on the same side of town since 1969. Today it is the American home of Wei Family 衛 Kung Fu, run as a private club so that every student is known by name and looked after on the floor.
Lineage
From the Shaolin Temple to Gate City Boulevard
The Wei Family system is a complete tradition, passed hand to hand for thirty-eight generations. Its roots are in the Shaolin Temple. The family carries Emperor's Long Fist and Tzu Jan Men, the Natural Fist, alongside the three internal arts of Chinese boxing: Tai Chi, Xing Yi, and Bagua. Combat jujitsu covers the close range, and the internal Taoist methods sit underneath all of it. Most schools teach one piece of this. Cloud Forest teaches the whole thing under one roof and one tuition.
The character 衛 means to guard, to protect. That is the name of the family and the purpose of the art: a method for looking after yourself and the people around you.
Sifu Michael Johnson is the 38th generation chief inheritor of the lineage and the third president of the school. He carries the system as it was given to him and teaches it in person, on the floor, most nights of the week.
- Shaolin rootsThe system begins at the temple. Stances, hand sets, and conditioning that still open every class.
- Emperor's Long Fist and Natural FistThe external methods of the family: long-range striking and the free, unforced movement of Tzu Jan Men.
- Tai Chi, Xing Yi, BaguaThe internal arts, taught as fighting methods with the health practice intact.
- Combat jujitsu and the internal methodsGrappling for the close range, and the Taoist breath and body work that makes the internal styles work.
- Greensboro, 1969Cloud Forest opens its doors and starts teaching Chinese martial arts in North Carolina.
- Sifu Michael Johnson38th generation chief inheritor of the Wei Family and third president of the school.
The Sifu
The man who holds the lineage
Sifu Johnson leads the Wei Family core curriculum himself: Emperor's Long Fist, Tzu Jan Men, Tai Chi, Xing Yi, Bagua, combat jujitsu, and the internal methods of the tradition. He is the lineage's 38th generation chief inheritor and the third president of Cloud Forest, with more than thirty-five years of training and teaching behind him.
Off the floor he writes. His books on Taoist internal cultivation, among them Forging the Immortal Body and Internal Martial Science, cover the same material he teaches on Sunday nights.
“Every student enters through the door that calls to them. All of them end up training the same complete system.”
The hall
A working training floor, open six nights a week
The hall sits inside the Gate City Business Center at 719 W Gate City Blvd. A padded floor for throws and grappling, heavy bags and a wooden dummy along the wall, tires for balance work, and racks of long weapons. Kids train in the early evening, adults from 6:30, and the room turns over from one class to the next without a break.
On Saturdays the floor becomes the venue for belt tests, seminars, and the school's own tournaments, where students from every program compete in forms, weapons, shuai jiao, and sparring in front of their families.
Inside the Gate City Business Center. Park on the left side of the building.
A private club on purpose
What running as a club lets us do
Every student pays a small yearly club membership, $20 for one person or $50 for a family. In return the school stays small, personal, and safe.
Small classes
Enrollment is capped by what the instructors can watch. Nobody drills alone in a corner for an hour.
Known by name
Your instructor knows your name by the second class, and knows which knee you are protecting by the third.
Safety first
Beginners partner with senior students. Sparring is light, supervised, and starts when you are ready.
Respect both ways
Students bow in and bow out. Instructors give the same care to a five year old and a seventy year old.
Three doors, one system
Scholar, Warrior, or both
The old schools sorted students into the scholar path and the warrior path. At Cloud Forest they are doors into the same building. Pick the one that fits today; the whole system is included in one tuition.
Tai Chi and the internal arts
Health, balance, breath, and a quieter mind. Tai Chi on Monday and Wednesday, the fighting form on Friday, and the Sunday internal class for students who want the deep end.
Tai Chi ChuanGuardian Fist and the fighting arts
Stances, striking, conditioning, and the forms that hold the system together. Chinese boxing and combat jujitsu grow out of it.
Guardian Fist Kung FuThe whole tradition
Most students end up here. Kung fu on some nights, Tai Chi on others, weapons and forms in between. One monthly tuition covers every Wei Family class on the schedule.
All programsInstructors
The people on the floor
Eighteen instructors and assistants teach here, from the lineage holder to the disciples who came up through the kids class. A few of them:
Sifu Michael Johnson38th Generation Chief Inheritor, Wei Family Kung Fu
Sifu Casey MartinWei Family Disciple, Fist of the School
Sifu Chris LyleWei Family Lineage
Assistant Sifu James ShortsWei Family Disciple
Assistant Sifu Isaac StancilWei Family Lineage
Assistant Sifu Khari CunninghamWei Family RepresentativeCome see it
The best way to understand the school is to take a class.
Your first visit is free. Pick any class on the schedule, sign the visitor pass online, and come train.