Wushu helps foreigners make more friends

Photo: Zhang Changyue/Global Times

Wushu has resonated with foreign university students and helped them better understand China as 14 routine events under the discipline wrapped up competitions at the 31st FISU World University Games on Sunday.

"I can find and express myself in Taijiquan and I was able to make friends worldwide because of it," Japanese athlete Ebina Tohma, who started to learn the martial arts at the age of 6 under his parents influence and won the bronze at the men's Taijijian event, told the Global Times on Sunday.

During Saturday's Taijijian competition, as Tohma immersed himself in the sword-dance performance to the music from his personally very-loved Butterfly Lovers music, the entire audience started clapping along with the rhythm to cheer him on and greeted him with thunderous applause when his performance ended, a vivid presentation of how wushu connects people's hearts together.

Miller Isabella Lee from the US delegation also shared similar feelings about wushu. She told the Global Times of the values Chinese martial arts as they have taught her self-persistence and self-refinement. 

"From where you first began and continue to improve, even if it becomes slower and slower as you get better and better, you keep striving for more," she noted. 

Comprising the routine events and free fighting events, wushu was first included as an official competitive sport in the 2017 Taipei Universiade. The total number of events under wushu has increased from 14 to 20, 14 routine competitions and six free fighting matches at the Chengdu World University Games. The number of participating teams has also increased from 20 in 2017 to 32 this year.

In order to give more opportunities to athletes from different countries and regions to stand on the podium, each team participating in the wushu discipline is limited to a maximum of five male athletes and three female athletes. Strong teams like China, therefore, cannot participate in all 20 Wushu events at the Universiade, so that other countries can have more chances, said Su Changlai, director of the International Wushu Federation's Referee Committee and chief judge of the wushu discipline at the Chengdu Universiade.

The inclusion of wush in the Universiade has shortened the distance between foreign university students and China. The traditional Chinese culture and life philosophy embodied in wushu may help young people worldwide get to know China better while learning and practicing it.

"Wushu has not only trained my body and strengthened my willpower but also given me more opportunities to know more and understand China," said Alt Mouloud Louisa, a female athlete from the University of Boumerdes in Algeria who has been learning wushu for 10 years and participated in the women's Nandao and Nanquan on Sunday and Saturday.

"Some people say that Chinese people are not good at communicating with others, but it was only after I had real interactions with Chinese people did I realize how warm and enthusiastic they are," she said.

Martinez Aldan from Polytechnic University of Madrid told media that his participation in the Chengdu Universiade has drawn great attention from his classmates.

"To be honest, there aren't many people practicing wushu in Spain, but the number of people learning it has been increasing in recent years. My classmates are paying close attention to my performance. I believe more of them will start to love this sport because of my experience in Chengdu," said Aldan.

For many foreign students, when they initially encounter wushu, they often only think about learning the impressive moves of kung fu stars or learning fighting techniques, said Zhou Qingjie, director of the Sports and Diplomacy Exchange Research Center at China Foreign Affairs University.

"But as they delve deeper into learning, they'll find the embodied cultural traditions and life philosophy that Chinese people have possessed since ancient times. That is: I have the ability and power to defeat an opponent, but I'll control myself in utilizing the strength and use martial skill and moral character wisely to finally subdue the enemy without fighting," said Zhou.