It is 7?PM on a mid-week evening and 33-year-old Richard
Newton, a UK native and long-time Guangzhou resident, begins his
evening by running and stretching before starting the first of a
series of 50 repetitions of sit-ups. Over the next two hours, he'll
practice close-range punching and kicking alone then work with a
practice partner. Next is self-defense tactics before free
sparring. He wears safety pads to protect his body from potentially
painful blows by fellow Wing Chun students.
Foreign students warm up
for a two-hour training session in martial arts in Guangzhou,
capital of South China's Guangdong Province.
In nearby Tianhe Stadium, Ollie Pekka from Finland gets busy
with a long series of stretches and push-ups before beginning a
two-hour training session in which he'll practice repetitive leg
kicks and long-range punches before donning protective gear for his
own Taekwondo sparring session.
Also near the Stadium, Frenchman Charles Foret starts off
raining blows on a heavy punching bag as he toughens up his body.
He will then embark on a gruelling two-hour training session, to
develop the skills needed to deliver punishing punches and elbow,
knee and leg blows, to a similarly aggressive partner, but without
the aid of protective gear. Alongside him, Muay Thai professionals,
are already hard at work, pummelling padded bags with their knees
or legs or doing an impossible number of stomach crunches from an
inverted start position.
These three amiable expats are just some of the hundreds of
foreigners and thousands of locals studying martial arts in the
city.
Other fighting styles, such as Judo, taichi and the king of
fight techniques, wushu, are also the favorites of students, who
are making choices based on comfort, degree of difficulty or
peripheral benefits.
Despite its slow movements, taichi is actually a martial art. It
became popular after the 1970s US television series Kung Fu
starring David Carradine, who used this technique.
There are thousands of taichi students in Guangzhou, not
counting the elderly, who traditionally favor the gentler
genre.
Excluding primary and secondary schools, there are up to 15,000
people practicing martial arts in the city, says Huang Biao,
administrator and instructor at Guangzhou Wushu Association. About
20 percent are doing Thai boxing and another 30 percent learning
Taekwondo, says Better Chen Changjie, who is both a Muay Thai
boxing and Taekwondo instructor at Muay Thai Martial Arts Club
Guangzhou.
"I've been practicing kungfu for more than 10 years," says
Newton, who now studies Wing Chun under local master Huang Wian
Yin. "Doing martial arts gives me more confidence. I feel I can
handle myself. This is important, especially nowadays where people
live and work in strange (and potentially dangerous) cities all
over the world."
Having a fighting skill, Newton says, "is practical, useful for
self-defence." On a daily basis, "it gives you strength, more
energy. And it can lift your spirits."
"Learning a martial art requires commitment. Training is
intense, but manageable. If you want to progress you can't slacken.
Sometimes you don't feel like coming to class but you must.
Language can also be a problem here, but luckily with martial arts
a lot is learnt by copying the teacher."
Wing Chun is probably less dangerous than playing football,
despite its combative nature, Newton says. "You only think about
the game and winning, not injuries. But when you do martial arts,
you are focused on your moves and your partner, so you are more
alert to danger."
What began merely as a way to exercise has turned into a growing
passion for 25-year-old Pekka.
The office worker needed some outlet and doing Taekwondo
requires good balance because there is a lot of kicking. He found
that his reflexes and health have improved, and he can get up at
7?AM on a Sunday and generally feel he has more energy.
"I prefer individual sports to team sports, so martial arts is
suitable for me because it is about self-development," Pekka
said.?
While Muay Thai has a brutal reputation, ironically this is part
of its appeal, says Chen. "People are attracted to Thai boxing
because it's simpler to learn and you can practice straightaway,"
he says.
There are a few basic moves -- the fist punch, the elbow, the
knee and the leg. Chen considers Thai boxing "real" fighting and it
only takes a year to become good, but you have to train hard. A
typical student practices less than two hours a day but
professionals train for nearly five hours each time. Many beginners
cannot move their arms after half an hour.
"Thai boxing helps me release stress," says Foret. "Guangzhou is
a strange city to me. I have to work. I am far from my friends and
family, so I feel pressure."
While the regime is admittedly tough, the lessons are "fun", he
says. "I like this kind of activity, plus the freestyle approach is
more useful and I feel I can defend myself in a fight."
A busy schedule, with or without family here, means less time to
practice the myriad patterns and moves required to master the art,
Huang adds.
With local police and military officers among his students,
Huang finds foreigners practice part time and most will not join
competitions.
The people who do want to learn are very interested in
China.
"People see Li Lianjie (action star Jet Li) at the movies. They
come here very excited and want to be like him. They want to learn
real fighting straightaway," Huang said.
Foreigners and locals who do well in wushu are usually natural
learners with quick reflexes, he says.
Besides having a stronger body and learning a traditional
Chinese art, wushu also enables expats to better understand Chinese
attitudes and thinking.
"It's different doing martial arts in China and doing it back
home," says Newton. "I get to integrate more with Chinese culture
and the community. I can't imagine coming here and not training
with local Chinese."
(China Daily May 24, 2007)
