Balance and harmony for the body and mind

Updated: 2014-07-04 08:11

By Sun Xiaochen (China Daily Europe)

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Balance and harmony for the body and mind

Wushu conveys China's core values, Sun Xiaochen reports.

Anant Kumar easily draws attention, as he is the only expat in a group of elderly Chinese practicing tai chi every Saturday morning in Yingze Park in Taiyuan, Shanxi province.

The 25-year-old Indian student has grown fond of the slow-motion form of wushu, or traditional Chinese martial arts, in the eight months since he arrived in Taiyuan to study the Chinese language,

"I was long fascinated by the fancy moves in kung fu movies and I found that wushu is more interesting than I imagined after practicing it for a while," said Kumar.

Featured in the action movies of stars such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan, wushu has fans around the world.

According to the International Wushu Federation, 147 countries and regions have become members since 1990, and there are now 8,000 clubs offering wushu training in the United States alone.

However, ancient martial arts have more to offer than just combat skills, Shao Shiwei, vice-president of the Chinese Wushu Association, told China Daily recently.

"A lot of people consider wushu just powerful fighting skills, but that's just part of it," Shao said. "The different martial arts originated with the desire for both self-defense and self-development. Wushu is not about knocking people out, it's a way to improve both physicaland mental strength through discipline of the mind and body."

Covering a vast array of martial art forms from the high-intensity bursts of sanshou, Chinese kickboxing, to the slower flow of tai chi, wushu meets the diversified fitness demands of people of different ages.

While the slower moves of tai chi appeal to the elderly, training courses for sanshou, a physical-demanding form of wushu, have gained popularity among the younger generation.

Chinese mixed martial artist Yang Jianping (pictured), a former 65-kilogram sanshou national champion, has seen a growing number of Chinese and foreign amateurs register at Beijing's Fighting Empire Club, to which he is affiliated, for sanshou training.

"Punching sandbags after working in an office all day helps build up the body while easing mental stress," Yang said. "Sanshou training is becoming a new fashion among white-collar workers."

According to the Chinese Wushu Association, about 70 million Chinese people practice different schools of wushu on a daily basis, more than any other form of regular exercise in China.

Boasting deep roots in traditional Chinese culture and regional customs, wushu has also emerged as a cultural export, and is often displayed on diplomatic occasions.

As part of the 4th China-US High-Level Consultations on People-to-People Exchanges, the Chinese national wushu delegation, featuring 11 national and world champions, staged wushu shows in Washington and New York in May.

"Wushu conveys the core values of Chinese culture - balance and harmony - in a universal language, which foreigners don't need to learn Chinese to understand," Shao said.

The Chinese Wushu Administration Center has signed contracts with five countries this year and will send a total of 100 trainers as coaching assists, and it is collaborating with the Confucius Institutes worldwide to design systematic training courses for overseas practitioners.

"Sending coaches abroad, we not only share training expertise but also spread Chinese culture around the world," Shao said.

Meanwhile, the Chinese government continues to propose wushu as an official Olympic event, despite it failing to be voted as one of final candidates for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics in May 2013.

However, Wushu has been an official competition event at the Asian Games and it was a demonstration event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games.

While Olympic inclusion would bring greater international exposure and more government support, it's not the ultimate goal for Chinese Wushu Association.

"One day, we would like to make the whole world realize that wushu is more of a healthy lifestyle than mysterious fighting skill," said Shao.

Contact the writer at sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 07/04/2014 page23)