Recently, two of our members, Jacqui Lee and Jenny Lau, represented HakkaWA in joining Yarn Yee Tong, led by Master Luong, to Guangzhou to undergo free training at the Chan Wu Centre in Giangzhou.
- Report by Jacqui Lee
Cultural Experience in Chan Wu （禅武）Centre, Guangzhou
From Perth weak wintry sun to Guangzhou
blazing heat and humidity. It’s not only the weather that is a huge contrast,
the exposure to the Chinese style of Wushu training, is an eye opener. We
really have to toughen up!!
The Chan Wu centre is located within the
premises of the Guangdong Overseas Chinese Vocational School. Situated in the
outskirt of Guangzhou, in the Tianhe district, it is surrounded by mountains,
in a leafy green part of Guangzhou.
The martial art training centre is well
equipped with various traditional training tools on one section and crossing a
little bridge leads you to the more tranquil area, where in the midst of
fragrant flowers and fruit trees, one can learn the art of tea making,
calligraphy, various musical instruments and meditation, fulfilling the centre
philosophy of training the mind with Chan (禅) and the body with martial art (武)。
以禅修心， 以武强身
On site are highly qualified and skilful
masters and coaches all most willing to share their knowledge, encouraging all
participants to do their best.
The Chan Wu training camp is pretty regimented.
Up each morning at 5.30am to be ready for roll call just before 6am. Off to
some morning exercises. In this session, we learn the shaolin rou quan (少林柔拳), a form of shaolin taiji, accompanied by sounds of monkeys
chattering and birds chirping merrily. Though early, the temperature and
humidity is already very trying!!
After a short break, followed by a
sumptuous breakfast, the second session starts at 0900hrs. Another form is
introduced and this time, we get a weapon! The fan! Here we learn the Chen
style taiji fan. We were only given 10 days to master it and then to perform at
the closing ceremony, which we did achieve in a way, performed half of it!! The
people with better memory and a bit more experience did manage to complete the
whole form.
The morning sessions finishes after
slightly more than 2 hours followed by lunch. Meal times are pretty silent
affairs, we were not encourage to talk but to really savour the food and
appreciate what is being laid out for us. Food for thought!! After lunch is a
nice long break, a much needed shower, it is into the very welcoming
air-conditioned room for a rest or a short nap.
3pm and we are off again for another
training session. Certain afternoons were spent being introduced to some
Chinese culture. In our case we had calligraphy, traditional Chinese medicine, the
ancient string instrument called Gu Qin (古琴) and the ocarina. All very enlightening, as we not only get to have
a go, we also get an interesting history lesson with it.
After dinner, from 7.30pm onwards is
revision time and this is not an option. The next couple of hours are spent
going through what has been taught. The steamy conditions continues, this time
accompanied by mosquitoes, hence, you not only the sound of fans being opened
but a lot of slapping as well. There were a couple of meditation sessions, but it’s
really hard to concentrate, when you have sweat pouring out. Looking at the
bright side, it is a free sauna session!
Although pretty tough initially, we soon
settle, and really begin to enjoy the opportunity to learn and make friends
from around the world, young and old. Two weeks went by very quickly. I found
the lifestyle suited me; diet was very balance and healthy, regular hours, lots
of exercises and a very relaxed mind.
We were encouraged to take this lifestyle
home and incorporate as much as we can into our daily life. Not easy when you
don’t have to!! Here’s hoping we will retain as much as possible. Thank you
Chan Wu for you warm hospitality and hope to be back soon.
