A martial artist's efforts to promote Chinese tradition

Wang Xiaogang, 38, still practices martial arts every day. [Photo/ www.wxrb.com]

Wang Xiaogang certainly does not fit the stereotype of the stern martial arts master. It is the final day of his summer training school, and he is busy making lunch for his students.

"The children are here for dinner. This week is the last class here, so we are making it a special day for everyone," smiled Wang.

But do not let appearances fool you: Wang is one of China's toughest martial artists. The 38-year-old Wuxi native has been practicing dahong quan, a traditional form of Shaolin boxing, since he was aged 10.

"In 1990, when I was 10, I was put through the most traditional training methods, and it was very hard," said Wang.

"A lot of children these days may not know about the ‘fire paper inside the lotus'. You take a large sheet of yellow paper folded until it's about half the size of an A4 sheet, and you fix it onto the wall as a target pad. Then you punch, punch, punch it until the inside layers of the paper break down!"

Luckily for his students, Wang does not use these practices in his club. He set up his dahong quan club in 2014, and now has more than 500 people studying under him.

"Traditional Chinese martial arts are more about the process than the result," stressed Wang. "Learning kung fu is not about learning to fight, but about teaching everyone how to live a healthy life."