Keeping Chinese martial arts tradition alive in Paris
Bruce Lee's films may have introduced Chinese kung fu to the world, but it is the 84-year-old Yuan Zumou who has kept the martial arts skills alive among foreigners.
Yuan, who lives in France, has been teaching Chinese martial arts for about 40 years. His students come from around 20 countries.
Yuan Zumou
He was the first Chinese to be awarded a gold medal by the French sports ministry for his achievements and contributions to sports.
Yuan began martial arts training at the age of 14. He was the captain of the gymnastics team at Shanghai High School, a top local school, and went on to become an athlete, practicing tai chi, wrestling, judo and boxing. He was China's national freestyle wrestling champion before becoming a coach for the Shanghai wrestling squad.
Yuan Zumou (top row, fourth from the right) at a national wrestling training camp in Anhui Province in this picture taken in 1964.
He moved to Paris in 1985 and lived with a friend for two years while working in a Chinese restaurant.
"I could have opened a small restaurant by using my savings, but I wanted to pursue my dream of becoming a Chinese kung fu coach," said Yuan.
He sought opportunities as a wrestling coach and asked several people to write recommendation letters for him to gyms.
One evening, several French people gathered outside the restaurant looking for him. They were all coaches at gymnasiums who had come to test his skills.
It was a start he had been waiting for.
At the time, the film "Shaolin Temple," starring kung fu superstar Jet Li, was popular in France. Yuan offered to do Chinese wrestling with his students at a ceremony marking the construction of a sports hall.
Their performance was broadcast throughout the country and even to neighboring countries such as the Netherlands, Italy and Belgium, as well as several in North Africa.
Yuan Zumou with his students in front of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris in 2004.
In the coming years, Yuan received several invitations to coach worldwide. In France, judo and karate were popular, but many people found Chinese wrestling useful.
In a report on the website Global Kung Fu, a Chinese Sanda champion named Gereltu revealed he couldn't beat a Chinese wrestling expert in a close fight.
Yuan claimed that Chinese wrestling's "capture" was superior to other martial art forms.
Provided by Yuan Zumou.
Yuan Zumou coaches his students.
People like Hild Hertleer, a female French student of Yuan, are drawn to this gentle sport, which is not known for its brute force. She claimed that Chinese wrestling is the most polite of the sports she has learned.
"Techniques like jumping splashes are responsible for the majority of injuries in other wrestling styles. However, Chinese wrestling tactics are focused on mechanics. For example, it is uncommon to see a player utilize physical force to lift and toss their opponent to the ground," Yuan explained.
Ingenious skills also make Chinese wrestlers more agile than other players, which astonished a judo coach.
Yuan launched a worldwide Chinese wrestling competition in 1992 with the support of the public and then-Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac, who later became President of France in 1995.
Yuan described this as a top tournament of its kind, with tens of thousands of competitors from outside China. The biennial event has been held 13 times.
An international competition in Paris in 2002.
Yuan returned to China in 1993 when he learned that Chinese wrestling was removed from the National Games because it was not an Olympic sport. It meant that many wrestling teams had to be disbanded, and players and coaches would have to look for new careers.
Yuan decided to promote Chinese wrestling abroad, regardless of its future in China. The reintroduction of Chinese wrestling to the National Games 28 years later was partly due to this move, which gave numerous wrestlers at home an international platform.
A few years later, Yuan established Shoubo and Xiangbo, two sports incorporating elements of Chinese wrestling, Sanda, and tai chi and making Chinese kung fu accessible to everybody.
The two new sports are safer and more suitable for zero-based players, including disabled and senior individuals.
Yuan claimed that an elderly woman in her 70s told him that she fell from a high staircase without hurting herself because of the "wrestling" technique Yuan taught in the Shoubo training.
Yuan Zumou (front, in white) with elderly people in a park in Paris.
A French painter in his 50s told Yuan that he used "push palms" and "wrestling" skills at a subway station to stop several teenage hooligans from stealing his wallet.
Many French police officers are learning these techniques to restrain offenders without harming them.
"The two sports I created require players to stop assaulting when the antagonists lose their balance," stated Yuan. "Chinese kung fu is not linked to violence and war, which is different from the beliefs in many other countries."
"'The essence of using force to stop violence (止戈为武) is the essence of Chinese culture," he said.
Yuan has regularly taken his students to the Tibet Autonomous Region, Hong Kong, Shanghai and other locations to introduce them to Chinese martial arts and culture.
"Some of my international students are from remote areas. Before visiting China, they believed Chinese people still wore Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) clothing and accessories," Yuan said.
Yuan Zumou (right) demonstrates kung fu skills at an event in Paris in 2013.
Because of Yuan and his kung fu classes, more Westerners are discovering China.
In 2008, when an earthquake struck Wenchuan County, Sichuan Province, Yuan's students, including many French Senate officials, donated money and asked him to help with relief efforts back home.
"As Chinese President Xi Jinping said, amity between people is the key to good state-to-state relations. Although the money is small, it is greetings and affection across rivers and mountains," Yuan said.
This year marks the 60th anniversary of China-France diplomatic relations and the China-France Year of Culture and Tourism. Yuan said his students are preparing for the event with extensive Chinese kung fu performances.
"My French isn't great yet, but language doesn't stop cultural exchanges. Through Chinese kung fu and affection, we bond as friends," Yuan said.
