The combination of rigidity and softness of Taijiquan, the light and agile Taiji sword, and the wonderful sanda confrontation...... Recently, the 2024 "Wuying Cup" International Wushu Competition hosted by the Argentina Wushu Club Association was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Recently, the 2024 "Wuying Cup" International Wushu Competition was held in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Masters learn martial arts
The two-day competition brought nearly 300 martial arts enthusiasts from 12 countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela, Chile and Guatemala, to compete in more than 20 traditional martial arts events such as knives, guns, sticks, swords, tai chi and sanda.
In the competition of wushu taolu, the contestants showed the beauty of Chinese martial arts, while the wushu sanda competition was a fierce confrontation, with the players showing their sanda skills and fighting spirit with excellent offensive skills and solid defensive strategies.
The scene of the sanda confrontation at the 2024 "Wuying Cup" International Wushu Competition. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
The competition was strongly supported by the Chinese Embassy in Argentina and various overseas Chinese groups in Argentina. Chinese Ambassador to Argentina Wang Wei said at the opening ceremony of the competition that Chinese martial arts can not only strengthen the body, but also contain values such as tolerance, mutual learning, justice and stopping.
· Ferrero, City Councillor of Buenos Aires, Argentina, awarded the competition the honorary title of "Best Sports and Social Event" to the Buenos Aires City Council. She said: "The competition provides a platform for martial arts enthusiasts from all over the world to exchange and learn from each other, hoping to promote cultural exchanges and enhance people-to-people friendship through martial arts. ”
· Cecilia Ferrero, a member of the City Council of Buenos Aires, Argentina, awarded the Boulevard City Council the honorary title of "Best Sports and Social Event" to the competition.
Chen Min, vice president of the Argentina Wushu Club Association, told reporters: "We have been preparing for the competition for three months, carefully selecting the venue, and the competition is held in the stadium of the famous football club River Plate Club in Argentina, which is also the first time that the venue has welcomed a Chinese sports event. ”
"In the past few years, we have held three international martial arts competitions, and this one is the largest and largest in terms of participation." Chen Min said that before the start of the game, everyone built the venue overnight for two consecutive days, and because the venue still has to hold basketball games during the day, it is necessary to move things in little by little first, and wait until late at night to start building.
Recently, the 2024 "Wuying Cup" International Wushu Competition was held in Argentina, and the picture shows the players at the competition site. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Chen Min introduced that more than 40 members of the Argentina Wushu Club Association participated in the competition, and everyone performed well in the competition, among which the Chinese girl Liu Ailin began to learn martial arts at the age of 5 and has been learning for 8 years, she played well in the competition, winning 3 gold medals in the women's Changquan, women's fencing and women's Changquan team competitions.
"I was also impressed by another girl from Mexico who conquered the crowd with a fluid snake fist, and she was dressed in a green match suit that complemented the agility of the snake fist." Chen Min said that there were also folk dances, dragon and lion dances, guzheng performances, and double sword performances during the competition, which won bursts of applause from the audience.
Fighters from Mexico perform snake fists. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Let martial arts enter thousands of households in Argentina
Chen Min and her husband Hong Wenwu have been spreading martial arts culture in Argentina for nearly 20 years and founded the Argentina Wushu Club Association in 2008.
At first, almost no one was optimistic about their ideas. "Of all the professions, teaching martial arts is never a profession that Chinese immigrants would choose." Hong Wenwu said that most Chinese who come to Argentina will choose to open supermarkets, restaurants, laundries, and trade, and old boxers who have come to Argentina for more than 50 years also told them that there is no future in teaching martial arts, and if they want to make money, they must learn to pierce acupuncture.
Chen Min is instructing the students to practice swordsmanship. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
But Chen Min and Hong Wenwu firmly believe that Chinese martial arts will be loved by the Argentine people. From finding venues, adding facilities, and training coaches...... Step by step, they have established three branches in Argentina, training tens of thousands of students.
Chen Min introduced: "At present, there are more than 400 students in the club, the youngest is 4 years old, the oldest is 85 years old, and there are university professors, architects, lawyers and other people from all walks of life; We have also set up online classes on overseas social media and filmed many short teaching videos, which have gained more than 700,000 fans from all over the world. ”
Chen Min is instructing the students to practice swordsmanship. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
In their view, Chinese martial arts is not only sports and fighting techniques, but also an art, reflecting the philosophical ideas of the Chinese everywhere. "To teach the essence of martial arts in an authentic way, not only to teach cool moves, but also to let students understand the cultural connotation."
"In class, we don't translate the names of the moves into Spanish, and they also say these Chinese names when the students go through the grade assessment. We will also introduce the ideas and culture behind the moves. Hong Wenwu said.
Chen Min and Hong Wenwu teach martial arts live online. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
"Nowadays, Chinese martial arts is no longer a sport that no one cares about, but has become a way of life for many locals." Chen Min said that in the future, he hopes to rely more on the government and non-governmental forces to continue to use martial arts to build bridges for cultural exchanges.
Editor in charge: Ma Haiyan
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