Ma wants to revitalise Chinese martial arts through short film
BEIJING: Alibaba founder Jack Ma's appearing in the film ‘Gong Shou Dao' is another step in his ongoing effort to revitalize Chinese martial arts and take it global. The film stems from his lifelong love of martial arts that has informed both his professional life and personal life.
The 24-minute martial arts film premieres Friday on Singles Day, Alibaba's annual online shopping extravaganza.
Ma's, appreciation for Chinese martial arts and Tai Chi — a graceful, meditiative variant — stems from his long-held admiration for the works of Louis Cha, a Hong Kong-based writer who published under the pen name Jin Yong.
In Alibaba's early days, nearly two decades ago, many people adopted nicknames after characters from the books. Ma dubbed himself Feng Qingyang, after an elderly swordsman from the Jin Yong book The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. In a 2010 interview, Ma said he admires Feng for two reasons — “First, he is a teacher,” Ma said ( Ma himself taught English before starting his first company). Second, “His basic style of swordsmanship I think is especially good — a style of formlessness, formlessness itself as a style,” he added, referring to how a fighter with no recognisable style makes for an unpredictable opponent.
Ma, 53, even tells employees to use fictional warriors' names from literature classics as their nicknames at work.
Earlier this year he offered a six- class course for entrepreneurs to learn the practice. He also chimed in on an online debate about the merits of Tai Chi over mixed martial arts. And he continues to read martial arts novels to keep motivated.
“Kung Fu, you start to think about it as something you cannot do. But if you have some luck, if you continue to practise, if you got a good master, if you got a good team, you can ( become an) expert,” he told Charlie Rose at Davos. “When I'm busy, when I'm tired, I read Kung Fu books.”
Ma's dedication to practising martial arts is somewhat unique in China. The art form and its history are ubiquitous in Chinese film, television, and video games. Yet when it comes to actually doing them, they're mostly enjoyed by the elderly and a handful of hobbyists. Young people in China, meanwhile, have gravitated towards Brazilian jiujitsu, mixed-martial arts, and other combat sports with more international appeal.
Ma wants to change this. And by releasing Gong Shou Dao on Singles Day, by now a major media event in China, he's drawing attention to his passion project — revitalizing Chinese martial arts.
Ma was inspired to make the movie in 2009 when he met Li, the Chinese kung fu giant who's known for Zhang Yimou's 'Hero'.
They then co-founded a company to promote tai chi in 2011 and decided to make a film to realise their goal. For the film, a number of scripts were sent to Ma. But he finally plumped for a tale penned by actor-turneddirector Wen Zhang, who shot to fame with the 2007 hit TV series ' Struggle'.
In the movie, Ma reportedly plays a master of tai chi while Li plays a Buddhist monk.
Speaking about the movie and its impact on the Alibaba founder, a source close to Ma says: “Ma has a young heart. He loves art and culture. And martial arts has played an important role in shaping him.”
Separately, the publicity division of Alibaba says that the complete version of ' Gong Shou Dao' will be streamed on Youku, the online video provider affiliated to Alibaba, besides being screened in movie theatres.
As for the cinema screenings, an Alibaba statement says: “As the movie aims to popularize and spread Chinese culture, the theatre screenings will not have tickets. Instead, people will be invited to watch the film for free.”
Giving details of Ma's commitment to the film, Li says that Ma spent 12 hours each day for 12 days on the film. During this time span, Ma only excused himself once for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto's visit to the Alibaba headquarters in September.
“I appreciate Ma for devoting his time to the film and also providing a wonderful platform (the Double 11 gala) to demonstrate Chinese martial arts to the world,” says Li.