Striking a blow for martial arts

No history of wushu in the West African state of Liberia would be complete without mentioning one man. He has devoted his life to Chinese martial arts.

As a young man and a martial arts fanatic, Pewee Russian was determined to change his country’s perception of Chinese martial arts, seen by many as a violent foreign culture.

Against all odds, Russian dedicated his life to learning

wushu and by the late 1990s he was becoming an expert. At that time, fewer than five people in the entire country were taking an interest in wushu, he says.

As a boy, Russian lived with his foster parents, who attempted to distract him from martial arts. He found it “tedious and challenging” to keep his mind on wushu.

They told him that learning martial arts was a dead end, but nevertheless he persisted.

When civil war began ravaging the country at the end of 1990, it proved a setback for his wushu studies.

“We had a Chinese master in Liberia who didn’t stay too long in the country and when we started learning wushu we couldn’t go too far because of the war,” he recalls.

When the war was over, after more than 15 years, wushu was almost extinct. However, a resilient Russian still carried the passion in his heart.

“One of the things that really drew me closer to Chinese martial arts is the discipline, the culture – it makes your mind disciplined. I think

wushu is my calling,” he says. In 2010, the Chinese embassy in Monrovia awarded him a short-term study course at the Shaolin Temple in China. That was the beginning of a comeback for the sport in his life.

When he returned to his country in 2011, Russian led efforts to establish the Liberia National Wushu Association. His persistence continued to attract interest from the Chinese embassy after he won an international medal on behalf of his country in 2016 at the Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival.

Since then, as a master, he has been inspiring others to share his enthusiasm. But he continues to have difficulties, including his non-stop search for more support for the sport and his mission to inspire his compatriots who might be interested in Shaolin kung fu. Russian is now the face of martial arts in Liberia.

Every weekend morning, Russian trains over 100 people and his open gym is a magnet for those seeking physical fitness. His wushu school is teaching several children.

“I can assure you that in the next five years, wushu is going to be different,” he says. “You are going to be seeing Chinese martial arts in all of the counties; you are going to be seeing

wushu all over this country.”

In fact, martial arts is the only individual sport that has won an international a ccolade for Liberia and Russian is confident that, once the sport gains more support from Liberians, it will thrive even more.

However, Russian still regrets failing to attend the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He was the third best martial artist on the African continent that year but lack of finance kept him away from the games.

To compensate for this lost opportunity, he is working diligently to train the next generation of champions, ensuring that he keeps the spirit of wushu alive in the country.

I do a lot of talking after training to give them courage, because most of them don’t have courage or self-esteem” Pewee Russian, headmaster of the Chinese Wushu School in Monrovia, capital of the West African nation of Liberia