His name is also romanized as: Ly Kwong Ming / Raymond Ming Loy / Lei Ming.
Born in Canton, China, shifu Raymond Ly became interested in the martial arts at a very early age. His father moved to the United States and served in the Army during the Second World War. As a result, in 1961, shifu Raymond Ly moved to the United States to be with his family.
Shifu Raymond Ly studied and practiced various styles of gong fu, but yearned to return to China to further augment his training. After a short period of time shifu Raymond Ly found his way to Hong Kong to continue his training and it is there where he met shifu Zhao Zhi Min.
Raymond Ly believed that this was the best teacher he had ever met. He quickly became his student, and since then has been completely engaged in the practice of Seven Star Praying Mantis Gong Fu.
In 1983, shifu Zhao Zhi Min took shifu Raymond Ly as his last Closed-Door Disciple and honored him with the coveted flag as proof of his legitimacy. This flattered shifu Raymond Ly immensely, and he promised to maintain his training and knowledge of the Seven Star Praying Mantis System, as well as, teach it to others. Thus, he continued to visit shifu Zhao Zhi Min periodically in Hong Kong.
After a short teaching stint in New York City, and later in Toronto, Canada, shifu Raymond Ly opened a school in Chicago, Illinois. He started teaching Seven Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu at the behest of the Chinese community there. Since then shifu Raymond Ly has opened and operated several schools in the Chicagoland area, including the suburbs and the popular Chinatown. Hundreds of students have trained with shifu Raymond Ly throughout the years, many achieving a high-level status. However, none, thus far, has attained a sufficiently high enough level to become a shifu, or Closed-Door Disciple. This fact, in and of itself, was enough to cause shifu Raymond Ly to again teach publicly after more than a ten-year hiatus in the late 80’s; during which time he had been very busy traveling with his import/export wholesale business, as well as conducting other international commerce.
In the new Millennium, at the request of his student, Leandro Hernandez, shifu Raymond Ly is teaching Seven Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu at the University of Chicago, as well as privately. He is also in the process of developing new up-and-coming students into full-fledged Seven Star Praying Mantis disciples.
Shifu Raymond Ly suffered a heart attack and passed away in November 2002.