My China Training Trip 2007

In 2004, I met 2 Shaolin coaches from China while they were performing in Canada. They were hosted by my previous Kung Fu school, and my friends and I were given the responsibility of taking them to see Niagara Falls after the performance. We exchanged contacts, and sent each other a few letters, but communications eventually ceased.

Three years later, I was going to China to participate in a study abroad program for University. I remembered that the school where these coaches taught was in the Beijing area where I would be studying, so I planned to go there after my studies since I had been really interested about training in China for the past few years. Using my google skills, I managed to locate their website and posted a message and picture in their forum asking if these two coaches still worked at the school. The school administrator responded and confirmed that one of them still coached there, and so I told them I would be coming that summer to train.

And so began my Kung Fu journey.

Getting There

The school I attended was the Beijing Fangshan Shaolin Si Wen Wu Xue Xiao (Beijing Fangshan Shaolin Temple Culture and Martial Art School). Armed with some directions written in Chinese, my Mandarin phrasebook and a picture of one of the coaches I met, I made my way to the school via taxi and bus. Lugging my suitcase behind me, I told the security guard (in my mediocre Mandarin) at the front gate that I was a Canadian, and I wanted to learn Shaolin Martial Arts. He pointed me to administrative building where I tried to find someone to help me.

Eventually, one of the coaches of the school approached me and pointed me to the main office. I communicated my wishes, and showed him my internet correspondance with the school administrator. The school administrator was the only person there who could speak English, and after some waiting, he showed up to translate. It also turned out that the coach I met in 2004 was still there. They asked what I wanted to learn: Sanda (Fighting), Taolu (Forms), Chinese Language. I told him that I was interested in forms, and it was decided that the coach I met in 2004, Wu Wei Jie, would be my coach for the term, to which the other coach said "Taolu? NOOO PROBLEM!" (implying that this was Coach Wu's expertise)

Coach Wu got the students in his class to help me with my belongings, while we picked up things like blankets and uniforms from the school storage room. I would stay on the 6th floor (no elevators) of the student dormitory, sleeping on a hard bunkbed, but having the room to myself. The room was really dirty compared to Western standards and the shared washroom had squatter toilets with no doors on the stalls. There were no showers, and no hot water. I could tell that this would be a long journey.

Food

The food there was pretty decent. I guess when you're training 5 hours a day, anything tastes good. It was all you can eat. Each class would line up and enter the cafeteria in an orderly manner. Each student had his/her own eating utensils and dishes (except the really young classes) and we were responsible for cleaning them after use. We had three meals a day, each meal after a training session, and about an hour break before the next training session.

The cafeteria was hot as hell, and the floor often slippery from spilled food and soups. My favourite breakfast was usually taro buns, with seasoned potato shreds and mung bean soup. For lunch and dinner, I liked the egg and tomato stew with Chinese pita-like bread, or Beef and Potato stew with white rice.

Training

Training starts at 5:30 in the morning. A school bell rings throughout the dormitory, and everyone goes outside to lineup in the school yard. Then the jog begins. We do a lot of running, we usually do a 5 minute jog to warmup for each class. But in the mornings we do a slightly longer run, doing laps around the school's front campus. I remember one class, my coach made another class run for the whole hour as punishment. Coach Wu would tell me about his training at the Shaolin temple and how some of his classmates would pass out in the summer heat during their runs.

In the mornings, the jog is usually followed by running sprints, and jumping drills. The sprints really benefit your ability to perform explosively, and increase your anaerobic endurance. Then we sometimes did back bridge drills where we had to fall back into a bridge and then get back up. We usually drilled tornado kicks, lotus kicks, cartwheels, round-offs, handsprings, and back flips.

Following breakfast, the students would go to their academic class, and I would get a private lesson from my coach. But when the student's summer vacation started, it was another 2 hours of group class. Here we usually drilled our jibengong (basics), such as kicking and punching, and our forms.

After lunch, we got a break where I would usually nap. In the afternoon around 4:30, we had another training session, then dinner, and then another one in the evening until 9:00. At 9:30, lights must be shut off, and the cycle ready to repeat itself again.

In my spare time, I was able to meet many interesting people at the school. The only other foreigner at the school was an American named Logan. He was brought to the school by his dad who wanted him to lose weight.

One memory I won't forget is the sight of all the Shaolin coaches in one of their rooms singing karaoke, while one of them practiced throwing needles into a ping-pong paddle hung on his door.

On the 6th floor lived the school's performance team. These guys were mostly from Shandong province, who moved to Shaolin for kung fu training, and then to Beijing to work as performers. Their ages ranged from as young as 12 to 24. One of the performers, Ma Weixiao, became a good friend of mine. He would often drop by my room and I'd teach him English, and he'd teach me Chinese and Kung Fu. We'd talk about Kung Fu training, his wishes to come to Canada, and the financial hardships he faced being a martial artist in China. He helped me buy weapons and gave me two of his broadswords as a gift after teaching me the basics of a double broadsword form.

Later that year, he came to Toronto to perform in the Shaolin Warriors show, and we went to go watch him perform.

Other Tidbits

Total Cost of my Trip, not including my non-martial arts related academic term (in Canadian Dollars):

$1027 total Round-trip Airfare (I got a really good deal!)
  $650 One month daily training, Room and board, 3 meals a day. Prices may be cheaper in Henan schools.
  $100 Weapons, shoes, etc. I brought back a bunch of weapons and shoes for my friends. Most weapons cost only $1-5
  $100 Misc expenses: internet, bus/taxi, drinks, snacks etc.

$1877 Total, including airfare.

So planning your trip out carefully, you can be very frugal and save a lot of money by avoiding costly hotels. Sadly, my coach informed me he only received $10 out of the $650 i paid the school for training me that month. But such is Chinese economy.

I learned so much from the people I met there, plus all the events I experienced. I could not possibly fit all of these small stories into this article.

Conclusion

Training in China was definitely an eye-opening experience for me. To see first hand the hardships that Chinese kung fu students face, how far they are pushed and the effort they put into training, was really inspiring. It put my own training in perspective and made me realize how much further I had to go. Part of me was angry that I had been so ignorant about the effort required to achieve this level of skill. It made me feel like my previous years of training had been a waste of time and I only wished I had known about it sooner.

Fortunately after I returned to Canada, I was contacted by Apex school director, Joe Luong, inviting me to come try out the class at Apex. I was happy to find that the training at Apex is just like the training in China, except we only do 5-6 hours a week instead of 5-6 hours a day. But I've noticed that my skills have improved leaps and bounds ever since my China trip, and I encourage anyone who is dedicated to Kung Fu to make this journey to discover it for yourself.

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