wushuzilla

An online friend of mine is currently training at Zhao Chang Jun’s schools here in Xi’an.  I’ve been wanting to check this school out (or even find out where it is) for a while now and so when he invited me to check out a forms test (i.e. “mock-ompetition”) they were having I was eager to see what it was like.

Now anyone who knows anything about modern wushu’s “golden age” (i.e., the 70’s – 80’s), knows who Zhao Chang Jun is.  Multiple Chinese National titles as well as a slew of other credits to his name makes him one of the best known athletes of his generation.  (If you really don’t know who he is, go to youtube and type in his name.  And then slap yourself on the face for being such a n00b.)

I’ve also had the opportunity to train with him one time when he visited Wushu West back in 2005.  (Or was it 2004?  Wow … I’m getting old.)  Anyway, I could quickly tell that he was an excellent coach with high standards – he really knew his stuff.  Of course, that was also around the time that he moved to the U.S. from his native Xi’an and left his wushu school under the care of someone else (I think his “sister”, so says the rumor). 

I’ve heard relatively good things about the school since arriving in Xi’an.  Of course most of the local people are familiar with his name since he was a pretty predominant local celebrity back in the day, but it was hard to find out where his school was located.  And in any case I wasn’t in a huge hurry to check it out since I already had a place to train.  I had corresponded with one or two people who have trained there and they had decent things to say about the instruction there.  I have talked to some athletes about the school and they didn’t have anything disparaging to say about it either. 

But whether I’m checking out a new movie, restaurant or wushu school, I generally try to reserve my expectations until I’ve had a first-hand look. 

The school itself is located just past the south 3rd Ring Road in Xi’an a couple kilometers to the west of Chang An Road (Google Map Link).  Coincidentally it is about 5 km from where I’ll be living in September, so when I found out where it was located it appeared on my radar as a possible training location.  The local area itself is a bit isolated, but not terribly far from actual “civilization”.  When you arrive there are a few large signs on the main road letting you know that the school is just a half a click down a wide alley spotted with various ceramics and botanical supply shops.

The gate wasn’t manned when I walked in, so I just started to explore a bit to see if I could find out where I was supposed to go.  There are four main buildings – one is classrooms and offices, one is dorms, there is a weight training and sanda training building and a wushu hall.  There is also a new building but it was small and I wasn’t sure what it was for.

From the looks of things, they also rent out or share some of their school space with an automotive mechanics college.  Of course, every building has pictures of ZCJ with various famous folks or on the podium accepting trophies and medals.  But if I had to use one word to describe the general condition of the buildings and grounds I would probably go with either “dilapidated” or “run-down”.  I could tell that it was probably quite the nice little school back during its inception, but it was clear those days were somewhere in the past – or more optimistically, somewhere far in the future. 

I really am hesitant to say too many negative things, because these are only my observations based on about an hour hanging out there and seeing things at a glance.  Undoubtedly there are many very positive aspects to training and living there.  But since my experiences are limited I can only go with what I know. 

And personally I think that whether or not the soccer field is overgrown with plants, or the wushu carpet is a thin strip of rug on top of a hard wood floor, or the dorms have working showers is irrelevant if the training is of a high standard and the level of instruction is top-notch.  Those other things can be overlooked if you are really improving and developing as an athlete.  This isn’t a country club, after all, it is a Chinese wushu school.  You aren’t supposed to be wrapped in luxury while you are getting your butt kicked in the wushu guan. (*cough* Shi Cha Hai *cough*)   (Although … I will admit that it is nice to have a high thread count on the sheets when you are recovering from a workout.)

So the real proof is in the proverbial wushu pudding.  I was anxious to see how their wushu looked.

And here is the thing … the school isn’t strictly a wushu school, so much as a boarding school that has a rather predominant wushu program and theme.  The people who live and train there are kids who pay to go to school and, if they are so inclined, learn wushu.  In fact, it isn’t a requirement that they train, but most of them do since it is available (and probably their parents have sent them there for that purpose). 

With my experiences in other cities I recognized that there was quite a difference between athletes at a professional sports school such as Shi Cha Hai or the Shaanxi Sports Training Center and those who are at wushu training facilities without a professional emphasis.  I assume that most of the kids who show any promise are whisked away to the local professional training centers rather quick, leaving the remaining students a random collection of sub-standard ability and unrealized motivation.

The group I observed were the older kids – probably around 12 – 17 – and it was their traditional forms (fanxi, ditang, shuang dao, etc.) day for testing.

I will try to be honest and pragmatic about this.  The level of fundamentals were not all that high.  Stances and basic techniques were lacking.  It seemed that a lot of emphasis had been put on nandu training rather than basics training, and this was confirmed when I spoke with my friend out their training regimen.  In fact I have to be honest in saying that the foreign student from the U.S. had better fundamental technique than the kids who lived at the school – which is really a credit to his coaches back home since they clearly instilled in him a high standard for wushu.

And while his “tricks” might not have been as interesting as the local kids, I would say that the jumps he did do looked better because they were built on a stronger foundation; straighter legs on his butterfly, more “pop” with his explosive power, etc. 

Again, I don’t want to say that they local kids were bad. They weren’t.  Actually, some of them were fairly decent and showed some promise.  But after training with the Shaanxi Team for the past 9 months (granted, in a very inconsistent manner) my standards for what I will view as an “acceptable” level of wushu has grown considerably (Woe be to those at Wushu West when I come back there and help out at the beginning of August! You have been warned) and so I was watching this with a different eye than I might have a year ago.

I also heard that ZCJ will be bringing a group of his students from the U.S. to train at the school later in the summer.  I’m pretty sure that when he is there the level of instruction as well as the focus of attention on basics, will improve dramatically.  Heck, the whole facility might even get a face lift prior to their visit. 

I feel compelled again to emphasize the fact that this was a very quick snap-shot of what the school looked like at this particular hour on this particular day.  Take my views with a super big grain of salt and, as always, you should judge these things for yourself.  What looks good to one might look bad to another, and vice versa.  I’m a strong proponent of the independent investigation of truth – so be sure to do your research before you make your final decision!

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More photos are here

I took videos, but I’m not sure if I want to post them.  Post a comment if you want to see them.

Related posts:

1. The Reason Chinese Wushu Athletes Are So Good (12/18) – Part 2/3