By Greg Brundage
Auspicious Kung Fu Encounter with Teacher Wang Kai, founder of Beijing Jingwu Champion Schools and Partner with Jackie Chan’s Dragon Rhyme Martial Arts Troupe
For The Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour Part 46, click here.
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One never knows who one will meet along the ancient and modern Silk Roads. This encounter was fortuitous. I first became aware of Teacher Wang Kai (王凯老师) and his Beijing Jingwu Champion School, and “Chengjia Class - Dragon Rhyme Martial Arts Troupe” sponsored by Jackie Chan in late 2023, when flipping through Chinese TikTok (called “Douyin”) videos. I saw one in particular that was especially dramatic. I looked for a name, did some research and found Teacher Wang Kai who partners with Jackie Chan’s demonstration team.
It took a little while to find out who Teacher Wang Kai is, and get his contact information, partly because it was all in Chinese and partly because in China one does not want to advertise too much. It’s like this: If someone as cool as Teacher Wang Kai advertised widely, he’d get a couple million phone calls within a few days and have to change his phone number. He would never say or even hint that, of course, but that’s the way it is here. The most amazing people and events are intentionally not well advertised.
And so, another road appeared from the mists. One has to be motivated to succeed at anything.
Good stories are layered and evolve over time. They involve personal transformation, usually from overcoming challenges and/or conflicts. In this case, it’s about a young boy who left home without his parents’ permission to join a Shaolin school, thrived there, graduated as a young man and traveled, encountering challenges along the way, rose to prominence; then had to keep his Kung Fu team and schools going through COVID-19 shutdowns and other economic woes, and then, like the proverbial Phoenix, rose again to new heights, working with a team of champions he in some cases trained, and in others met along the road, including Hong Kong-born legendary Chinese Kung Fu master, stuntman, actor, comedian and director Chan Kong-Sang, better known as click here Jackie Chan.
Millions of small and medium enterprises went out of business worldwide as the result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was less deadly here in China than most other places, but that and other economic disruptions have affected the lives of most people in one way or another. Fortunately, teamwork, diligence, optimism and the habit strengths inculcated in martial art training have led the real masters to bounce back stronger, better and brighter than ever before.
On January 5th, I was very fortunate to first meet and get to know Teacher Wang Kai (who doesn’t call himself “master,” but only teacher, or “Lao Shi” in Putonghua), founder and director of Beijing Jingwu Zhuangyuan Cultural Media Co., Ltd., which was incorporated December 21, 2016, in Changping District of Beijing.
He was so kind as to give a tour of one of his Wushu schools, located in the Changping District of Beijing to me and my old (Chinese) friend I call Henry. At that time, Teacher Wang Kai was just returning in a limousine from a movie set with Jackie Chan when we met for an introduction to his school. He gave us a tour of the two-story facilities in a modern building along with the deeper meanings of things we saw.
I’ve known Henry for more than 12 years; his English is excellent, and he has very kindly helped translate for me several times during the past year. His encyclopedic knowledge of Chinese history has proven very helpful as well.
Then we had a fabulous lunch at a most excellent restaurant. After dinner, I got to hear his personal story. I was very impressed with his Wushu background, style, work operating three schools, and cooperation with Jackie Chan’s Martial Art Troupe.
You can see some short excerpts from one of their performances here:
https://weibo.com/longyunkungfugroup?s=6cm7D0
Teacher Wang Kai began his martial art journey a long time ago when his older brother got permission from his parents to go to Dengfeng and train in Shaolin Kung Fu. Wang Kai, without the permission of his parents, left with him. That’s a very shocking thing to do here in China, especially since he was only 8 years old.
Asked why he went, Teacher Wang Kai said he didn’t want to stay at home. His older brother was a Shaolin lay disciple at the time (sújiā dìzǐ 俗家弟子). The school they went to is the famed Shaolin Epo Martial Arts School under the guidance of Master Liang Yiquan, specializing in Taolu. Wang Kai’s father, a practitioner of Shuaijiao (Chinese traditional wrestling), believed he wouldn’t stay, but he did, for eight years until graduation.
At age 16, he and his brother went to Fujian and learned Taekwondo. While there he also got some practical experience in hardcore fighting with weapons like “bricks, sticks and chairs.” Fujian is a tough place as I learned 10+ years ago.
During the Japanese invasions of China in the 1930s, they only stayed a couple of weeks in Fujian. Some say it was because of the unbearable heat, humidity and mosquitos, while others assert the traditions of the three Shaolin monasteries there, combined with the jungle-like terrain were just too much. It’s a clannish place where they speak four languages: Mandarin, Min Chinese, Hokkien, and Fuzhou dialect. Though they compete, they also work together when confronted by outsiders. It’s a crucible of martial art training going back millennia and a rough place for two “outsider” young Wushu men, Chinese or not to test their mettle; one of the best in China.
After that he moved often, working as a martial art teacher in Hainan, Henan, Shandong, Hebei and then Beijing.
Along those roads he encountered many great martial artists and unlike the movies where everybody fights rather seriously about something, instead he built teams and positive relationships. It was in Beijing, however he found his true home and relatively quickly set up three schools.
COVID-19 forced him to close his schools in 2021, but since then he has bounced back bigger and better than ever before.
It was six months prior to my first meeting Teacher Wang Kai in January 2024, that he met Jackie Chan for the first time. Jackie Chan has two bases with one in Beijing. Wang Kai is one of his two cooperating partners in Beijing.
Currently Teacher Wang Kai has 26 members on his team, three schools, and works in cooperation with 16 other teams. His biography is very distinguished, and his cooperation with Jackie Chan’s Dragon Yun Kung Fu Troupe – very lucky for everyone.
About Jackie Chan’s Demonstration team
Chengjia Team - Dragon Rhyme Martial Arts Troupe (程家班-龙韵武术团 ) led by international Kung Fu superstar Mr. Jackie Chan and headed by Ms. Hu Wei, was incorporated in 2006.
Jackie Chan is one of, if not the world’s single most recognizable movie stars for many reasons. One is because he’s been an actor since 1962, a major star since the 1970s and comes across as an extremely talented, courageous, sometimes hilarious, sincere and even lovable guy. Action comedy is his forte, and since then he and his unique style have been consistent winners.
He started the Longyun Martial Arts Toupe in October 2006. In the beginning his team members were teenagers selected from all over China who were already training in martial arts and winners in national competitions.
Training in the Longyun Troup has got to be exciting, because the youth learn traditional martial arts like Tai Chi, Bagua, Changquan, Wing Chun and Monkey boxing, in addition to piano, vocal music, ballet and modern dance, and acting, with literature classes in their spare time. When they started, the youngest children were 11 years old and the oldest under 18.
The Longyun Martial Arts Toupe was created in conjunction with head teacher Hu Wei, grew to become the home of eleven members and then expanded as their fame spread around the world. The adult members of that team also work as stunt team members in Jackie Chan movies. That only seems appropriate considering the great master himself started his movie work as a stuntman too. That’s potentially dangerous and painful work, yet Jackie Chan is very unique in that all through his career he’s been doing more than his share of stunts in his movies. And that -- is truly extraordinary.
Each of Jackie Chan’s Dragon Rhyme Martial Arts Troupe members is a national martial art champion, performed in hundreds of large-scale performances and dozens of movies and TV dramas. They’ve cooperated with directors and actors like Jackie Chan, Tsui Hark, You Xiaogang, Chen Kaige, and others.
Teacher Wang Kai graciously invited my friend Henry and I to one of their combined performances January 12, 2024, held at “The China Millennium Monument,“ which has an iconic architectural style and small but lovely theater.
Each of the individual short performances teach about life and transformation with a moral theme woven through it, in some cases, subtly and in others more obviously. First were two brief cute and excellent demonstrations, with the first by Teacher Wang Kai’s Jingwu Youth Team, and the second by Jackie Chan’s other Beijing cooperating partner “A Huan Zhang Quan Youth Team.” Those were beautifully done.
The main events featured a series of short performances by Jacky Chan’s internationally renowned Dragon Rhyme Martial Arts Troupe.
They harmonize martial arts with dance based on personal interpretations, with dramatic martial arts, calm patience and perseverance as key recurring themes.
The Dragon Rhyme Martial Arts Troupe has featured in many well-known national media programs such as CCTV's "Martial Arts Conference", "Happy China Tour", Beijing TV's “New Year's Day Party,” “Descendants of the Dragon - The Decisive Battle at the Top of the Great Wall,” and many large-scale international events such as “Global 500 CEOs Shanghai Summit,” “International Fitness Festival,” “Chinese Kung Fu Global Festival” and many, many more.
As if that combined with their multi-faceted training isn’t enough to keep them busy, in recent years they have also performed in more than 30 countries in Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Africa.
It was only recently Jingwu Champion signed a strategic agreement with the Dragon Rhyme Martial Arts Troupe to establish China's first children's kung fu troupe called: "Twelve Martial Arts." Interviewing Teacher Wang Kai, I also heard they’re recruiting 12 new members this year.
Having seen other short videos from Teacher Wang Kai’s schools on Douyin, I get the impression the little kids start mostly with gymnastic skills combined with traditional martial arts.
There was a time when China was just reopening people scoffed at the “New Wushu.” Let there be no doubts however, the combination of gymnastics and martial arts opens a lot of doors to great performance arts, including and especially martial arts which are continuously evolving.
When I first learned Chinese Kung Fu back in the early 1970s my teachers were university students from Hong Kong attending university in the US. They taught real traditional Wushu Kung Fu designed for street fighting, e.g. the groin was a target area. They also taught one must stay grounded and connected with the Qi of the earth.
Since then, however, what I can only describe as “aerial martial arts” have evolved. A lost branch of Tan Tui? Who knows. But make no mistake, those jumping, somersault spinning kicks that utilize advanced gymnastic skills can come out of nowhere and be incredibly devastating.
Five thousand years of Chinese Wushu Kung Fu are brilliantly represented by Teacher Wang Kai’s Beijing Jingwu Champion Schools and Jackie Chan’s Dragon Rhyme Martial Arts Troupe. Working together they are only getting better at sharing the keys to martial art excellence with those along ancient and modern roads, all around the world.
About author:
For more on Greg Brundage, see the following: For updates visit his website: Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour - https://srkffriendshiptour.org.
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Email: gregbrundage@live.com - director@silkroadresearchcenter.org
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