China burnishes its soft power with hard punches of kung fu
Zhengzhou (China) — When top Dominican martial artist Shannah Robin arrived to train at the Shaolin Temple, the cradle of Chinese kungfu, it was on an expenses-paid trip courtesy of Beijing.
His course was part of a lavish government effort to promote the range of fighting disciplines known as “wushu”, the Chinese word for martial arts — or kungfu in the West — and boost the country’s cultural influence.
“The whole aim is to take Shaolin martial arts, or China’s wushu, out into the developing countries around the world,” Robin said on the sidelines of an international Wushu festival held in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
“Of course it has been my dream from since I was about eight years old to go to the Shaolin Temple.”
The festival opened with a huge display at the 1,500-year-old Buddhist institution atop Song mountain, where monks once created elaborate fighting systems and worked as mercenaries.
Hundreds of students in red tshirts lined up to perform elaborate routines in unison, while fighters in gold body paint sparred before spectators.
Over four days of competition, entrants from five continents aged from six to 60 performed intricate acrobatic routines — sometimes involving weapons such as staffs and swords.
“What’s great about wushu is there are so many ways to do one thing,” said Deems Yee, a competitor from Panama. Chinese martial arts, often labelled under the umbrella terms kung fu and wushu, are the several hundreds of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These styles are classified according to common traits, identified as ‘families’, ‘sects’ or ‘schools’ of martial arts. In Chinese, the term kung fu refers to any skill that is acquired through learning or practice.
But he conceded that the discipline has travelled a long way from its martial origins since it was codified by the ruling Communist party in the 1950s. “It looks more now like a show than a martial art that’s applied like taekwondo or boxing.”
Wushu’s global sporting popularity pales before karate, judo and taekwondo, but state media reported this month that a “Wushu Cultural Industry Investment Fund” worth $7 billion has been set up to run tournaments and promote it at home and abroad.
Shaanxi province sports official Dong Li was cited as saying it was created “as a channel for China to increase its soft power”.
The Chinese government’s development plan for the sport from 2016-2020 says that its aims include “increasing national confidence and boosting national cultural soft power”. — AFP
Chinese martial arts