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View Full Version : The 1st World Traditional Kung Fu Championships



GeneChing
10-11-2004, 09:22 AM
It starts this week in Zhenzhou. Anyone else going? We've had a thread on it in the Shaolin forum (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?postid=534708#post534708). I hope to see some forum members there, representing!

MasterKiller
10-11-2004, 09:28 AM
One my instructors is going to watch.

Enforcer-
10-11-2004, 10:03 AM
why don't you go and watch?

MasterKiller
10-11-2004, 10:11 AM
why don't you go and watch? What business is it of yours?

norther practitioner
10-11-2004, 01:13 PM
Enforcer-

Are you gonna pay for the ticket to Beijing and the train to Zhenzhou....

GeneChing
10-11-2004, 02:14 PM
I'm going to report. MK, it would be nice to meet your instructor. Tell him that if he sees me, to come up and introduce himself as "MK's big daddy" or something like that, so I know. ;)

joedoe
10-11-2004, 04:32 PM
Gene, are you going to the competition being held in Quanzhou in December?

Serpent
10-11-2004, 10:16 PM
Originally posted by joedoe
Gene, are you going to the competition being held in Quanzhou in December?
What comp is this? I'll be in Guangzhou in December.

joedoe
10-11-2004, 10:28 PM
There is a forms competition occurring in Quanzhou, Fukien province starting on December 17. It is being run concurrently with the annual Shaolin Wu Chu Chuan conference. I will try to get more details for you.

Serpent
10-11-2004, 10:41 PM
Ah, bugger. Never mind - I'll have moved on by then.

Thanks anyway, bro.

Ben Gash
10-11-2004, 10:44 PM
I was invited, but sadly funds wouldn't permit :(

David Jamieson
10-12-2004, 05:59 AM
You mean "1st world championships for those of martial skill from a traditional background who can actualy afford the time and money to travel halfway across the world to try for this title". :p

Isn't that what you mean? :D

Facetiously yours:
another poor man who can't go

GeneChing
10-12-2004, 12:02 PM
Well I certainly understand not having the funds to go to any tournament. China gets more expensive each time I go. A decade ago, China was amazingly cheap. You'd just have to make plane fair, but the cost of living was really affordable, even with the inflated tourist price. Nowadays, that's changing as China modernizes.

I doubt I'll go to Quanzhou in Dec. (but I wasn't going to go to this event a month ago). Are you going to that?

joedoe
10-12-2004, 05:27 PM
Originally posted by GeneChing
Well I certainly understand not having the funds to go to any tournament. China gets more expensive each time I go. A decade ago, China was amazingly cheap. You'd just have to make plane fair, but the cost of living was really affordable, even with the inflated tourist price. Nowadays, that's changing as China modernizes.

I doubt I'll go to Quanzhou in Dec. (but I wasn't going to go to this event a month ago). Are you going to that?

Yes, I am planning to go but have to try to get on a flight that will get me there now. I left my decision to go a little late and now all the flights are pretty full :( :eek: :)

GeneChing
10-13-2004, 09:17 AM
You'll have to give us a full report here. I'll be interested about what happens there. It may even be worthy of a news item in the print mag. Let me know how it goes when you get back via PM. Hope you make it!

joedoe
10-13-2004, 04:27 PM
Originally posted by GeneChing
You'll have to give us a full report here. I'll be interested about what happens there. It may even be worthy of a news item in the print mag. Let me know how it goes when you get back via PM. Hope you make it!

Will do. I will try and make sure I get some pics and post them here.

firepalm
10-23-2004, 12:41 AM
Several interesting pix of the Traditional Wushu Kung Fu Championships in Zhengzhou, China. Go to http://www.beijingwushuteam.com/forum.html

Also has links with more info on event. Interesting to say the least, although some pix a tad bizarre!


:D

Ego_Extrodinaire
10-23-2004, 02:53 AM
is this opening for anyone else??

Serpent
10-23-2004, 06:28 AM
Yep. Try reading the relevant post in the linked forum. Shouldn't be too hard for a genius.

firepalm
10-25-2004, 01:25 AM
Sevearl photos and videos at this site
http://www.jiayo.com/gallery/wtwg2004

Overwhelming when watching the videos and seeing just how large an event it really was.

Check it out!:cool:

firepalm
10-25-2004, 01:27 AM
Sevearl photos and videos at this site
http://www.jiayo.com/gallery/wtwg2004

Overwhelming when watching the videos and seeing just how large an event it really was.

Check it out!:cool:

Shaolinlueb
10-25-2004, 12:07 PM
none of them are loading up for me right now. Ill check back later.

GeneChing
10-26-2004, 10:43 AM
firepalm, are you Brandon?

emre
10-26-2004, 12:04 PM
I thought this was a traditional tournament? Looking at their promotion video on that site, the people the US federation sent don't seem very... traditional.

norther practitioner
10-26-2004, 06:38 PM
:o
'cause if you do wushu, no matter how much classical you know, you're not traditional...:rolleyes:

Pk_StyLeZ
10-26-2004, 09:08 PM
where is the promotional video??
can u give me url please?

norther practitioner
10-27-2004, 03:31 AM
It was promoting Brandon and some of those heads.. it's on Jiayo.

emre
10-27-2004, 07:41 AM
Originally posted by norther practitioner
:o
'cause if you do wushu, no matter how much classical you know, you're not traditional...:rolleyes:

You have so many hours a day to train, if you spend half of it on dance forms, how can you be as good as someone else who spends all his time on the real stuff?

Aren't there any traditional stylists in the entire US of A that don't do Wushu that are better than these people?

Is it so easy to switch muscle memory on and off, doesn't modern Wushu practice effect one's traditional gongfu at all?

Shaolinlueb
10-27-2004, 08:08 AM
Originally posted by emre
You have so many hours a day to train, if you spend half of it on dance forms, how can you be as good as someone else who spends all his time on the real stuff?

Aren't there any traditional stylists in the entire US of A that don't do Wushu that are better than these people?

Is it so easy to switch muscle memory on and off, doesn't modern Wushu practice effect one's traditional gongfu at all?

i dont know, i only see the sport of wushu as newer. to me the only thing "not traditional" in those forms is all those flips and such, but then again there are traditional styles with lots of jumping and such. and all those forms were based off of traditional ones. so technically its all traditional its all shaolin its all good, cheers.

GeneChing
10-27-2004, 10:02 AM
There is no way to keep the modern out of the traditional since we live in modern times. It would be easier to ban cell phones in the arena. So there was some modern wushu on the floor and there was a special demo of wushu champions which is documented by the above website.

There seemed to be a the most modern wushu in the nanquan arena, as well as the four basic weapons, and of course the internal (but that's harder to separate). There wasn't too much in the Shaolin category, although some athletes competed with the new compulsory, and the jury is still out whether we are calling that modern wushu or not.

BTW, I'm going to address most of the questions about this event on this thread (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?postid=541454#post541454), just to make it simpler for me...

norther practitioner
10-27-2004, 05:54 PM
You have so many hours a day to train, if you spend half of it on dance forms, how can you be as good as someone else who spends all his time on the real stuff?

Real, what, are they just holograms doing wushu...
:rolleyes:


Athletisism... pure and simple.


Aren't there any traditional stylists in the entire US of A that don't do Wushu that are better than these people?

Well at taolu, probably a couple... but not many.



Is it so easy to switch muscle memory on and off, doesn't modern Wushu practice effect one's traditional gongfu at all?


Sure, it makes your stances stronger..lol

emre
10-27-2004, 08:26 PM
I heard a few members of American Ballet Theater were available, why weren't they recruited?

:rolleyes:

norther practitioner
10-28-2004, 02:48 AM
We have actually had a number of ballet people come in and train with us. They have typically been the fastest to pick up the choreography of forms and the flavor.

Shaolinlueb
10-28-2004, 06:56 AM
Originally posted by norther practitioner
We have actually had a number of ballet people come in and train with us. They have typically been the fastest to pick up the choreography of forms and the flavor.


doesnt surprise me at all. they have to remember dance routines which are usually 3-5 minutes long, so they should pick it up well. i had 5 years dance experience before i went into kung fu, it helped me with forms. i love forms compared to fighting.

spaz_dragon
10-29-2004, 07:50 PM
hey! i put up a few shots...still trying to post of course...so many pics to go through. if ya want, take a look ;) pics from china! (http://community.webshots.com/user/spaz_dragon)
enjoy! :)

firepalm
10-29-2004, 11:55 PM
Nicely down, loved the photos! Only wish I had of gone! :cool:

Shaolinlueb
10-31-2004, 08:06 AM
spaz, congrats on the gold medal for your kwando form. you do it really good from what i remember!!! congrats and looked like fun. and yes the orange is the brightest orange uniform i have ever seen !!!

spaz_dragon
10-31-2004, 09:51 PM
yes yes, it's very bright, lol. thanks for the congrats! :)

norther practitioner
11-01-2004, 08:42 AM
Thanks for sharing the photos spaz...

Good job too.

GeneChing
11-01-2004, 10:03 AM
Nice pics - and thanks for not publishing a photo of me pikcing my nose or something. You know, it's alright to pick you nose in public in China, especially if you're a waitress. :p

spaz_dragon
11-01-2004, 07:13 PM
hahahahahah. you so funny! still can't get over running into you and gigi at the mall, lol. it was a fun, memorable trip, that's forsure! :)

GeneChing
11-02-2004, 02:09 PM
Given all the places we were and had to be, factor in the size of Zhengzhou, imagine the odds. That was no coincidence. That was Shaolin karma.

Did you go to the closing ceremony and awards banquet the last night? We had to miss that because of another obligation. Did you get one of those gift bags? What was in those gift bags?

norther practitioner
11-02-2004, 02:58 PM
cheeze **** for the ninjettes..


Oh, wait, wrong gift bag...

maybe spaz should take this...lol

spaz_dragon
11-02-2004, 09:28 PM
hmmmmm, i didn't get any kind of gift bag. all i got was a really cool book. this was at the hotel, right? if not, then hmmmmmm, guess i was out of the loop, lol. and yes, shaolin karma totally ROCKS!

GeneChing
11-03-2004, 09:40 AM
What book? Did you go to the closing ceremonies? What else did you get? Pins? Plaques? We know about the medals...

At our hotel, it was a feeding frenzy. People came back with all kinds of goodies, including the mystery bag. At breakfast the morning after, they were handing out posters and those huge round stickers that were on all of the taxicabs. We got a bunch, but they didn't make it back (lost at the airport, I'm told). There were also these little white gift bags - that's what I'm curious about.

spaz_dragon
11-03-2004, 09:23 PM
ah man! i wasn't informed about any closing ceremony thingie :( was it at the stadium or something? grr. we just had a final dinner at our hotel (where we would have our breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday), and they did a speach, played some music, and we ate. that was basically it. no goodie bag :( wish i could help. man, that's awful that the stickers got lost! i would have totally been like "gene, can i get one!!!!!!", lol ;). regardless, i hope they show up for ya :)

GeneChing
11-04-2004, 10:24 AM
The closing ceremony and buffet party was held on the eve of Oct. 20th at the Yuda Palace Hotel. I think they gave out trophies and such, but I wasn't there either, so I'm not sure what happened. We went out to a private dinner with GM Chen Tongshan (Xiaolong's dad). Your Shifu even showed up for a moment to bid us a safe trip home - we thought that was awefully nice - too nice, in fact, it was sooo much trouble for him to cross Zhengzhou, just to say goodbye, especially when we all live in America.

But tell me about the book. What book? The yellow program book?

humble-one
11-11-2004, 07:31 AM
When is it? Will anyone be able to get any movie footage? Or is it not allowed?

norther practitioner
11-11-2004, 07:36 AM
There are a few threads with links to some footage...
also check out www.jiayo.com

GeneChing
11-11-2004, 11:11 AM
I gots over 20 hours of footage... :cool:
There were no restrictions on filming whatsoever - plus we had press passes, which meant floor access everywhere. I'm in the process of sorting through it all and will have something for y'all at some point. Going into the holiday season means a lot more work around here, so I'll have it ready, bit-by-bit.

We've been discussing down on this thread on the Shaolin forum. (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=33287) Some video and pix are posted.

There's a bit of a teaser about the festival in the e-zine piece (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=555) we posted two weeks ago for the benefit for GM Shi Suxi. I'll amend that soon. I'm just beginning work on an article on the tournament itself for the e-zine now.

SifuAbel
11-11-2004, 11:40 AM
Why is this the first "world" event? There have been plenty of international tournamnets.

rogue
11-11-2004, 11:44 AM
Yeah, but that was the first at that exact time and that exact place.

Gene, has Tiger Claw or Martial Arts Mart ever thought of fielding a team?

SifuAbel
11-11-2004, 01:20 PM
LOL! Oh man, these tournies always try to make it seem like nobody has done this before.

And was it really a "world" event?

I remember the first Lee Koon Hung tourny, it truely had people from all over the globe.

norther practitioner
11-11-2004, 01:27 PM
First traditional international sponsored by the IWuF I guess.

GeneChing
11-11-2004, 02:40 PM
The tournament had over 60 countries, 2300 competitors, and 150 delegations, and that was only part of a huge festival that had a trade show, an academic symposium, a concert gala opening and more. One section of this event is petitioning for recognition from the Guinness book of World Records. It was put on by IWuF and the Chinese Wushu Association, who IMO, fielded one of the most interesting teams - a lot of older masters doing some great traditional stuff.

SifuAbel
11-11-2004, 03:24 PM
cool, big tourney.

jun_erh
11-11-2004, 04:19 PM
I think I heard about this. It's going to be on an island. This one guy I know with a huge afro is going there. It seems like it'll be cool, but the guy who's putting it on is kind of scary and not just because he is missing his hand.

firepalm
02-11-2006, 01:52 PM
For those that may be interested here is some footage of the parade (where the audience rode buses through the parade) at the World Traditional Wushu Festival in 2004. Very interesting. :cool:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk0Jpm0pXSI

GeneChing
02-13-2006, 03:22 PM
There's a good shot of me right after the monk statue at the new front gate complex. Good thing I wasn't picking my nose right then (but just for the record, that's culturally acceptable in China ;) ).

Here's my e-zine write up of that day (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=583). My video of the event is coming to DVD this summer...

Doug
02-21-2006, 06:26 PM
Where is this DVD?

Shaolinlueb
02-21-2006, 09:04 PM
it was 2004 i believe. cause they are having one in 2006.

GeneChing
02-22-2006, 10:08 AM
...assuming I can get to it today. We're in the final editing stages. I'm hoping to have it available by the end of March.

Wait, I assume your talking about the First World Traditional Wushu Festival DVD that I've been working on, the one from Oct 2004 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=576), yes?

Shaolinlueb
02-22-2006, 04:42 PM
...assuming I can get to it today. We're in the final editing stages. I'm hoping to have it available by the end of March.

Wait, I assume your talking about the First World Traditional Wushu Festival DVD that I've been working on, the one from Oct 2004 (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=576), yes?

thats what i was thinking too. i dont know of any other ones. there is the worl games last year but i didnt think you sent anyone there. if you did nice.

GeneChing
04-20-2006, 09:43 AM
Shaolin Trips: The First World Traditional Wushu Festival (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd-gc001.html)

GeneChing
06-20-2006, 02:48 PM
I was digging in the archives and I thought I should update this now, just for the sale pitch if nothing else.

My write up of this event was posted on the e-zine here in Shaolin Trips Episode 4. (http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=576)

More importantly, I did finish the DVD of Shaolin Trips. It's available here (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dvd-gc001.html)and a portion of the proceeds go to our new branch of the Tiger Claw Foundation, the Friends of Shaolin. (http://www.tigerclawfoundation.org)

OK, I still haven't found what I was looking for in these archives of ours. I'm going to give up for today and try back later....