Media Coverage
1.Liberty Times - Martial artist Kai-guay Hsu first to take gold at Nanquan, Nangun events
With an impressive score of 9.56 for Nanquan, 9.62 for Nangun (southern Chinese staff) and a total of 19.18 points, Kai-guay Hsu took home gold at the last day of martial arts competitions in the Universiade. This is also the first gold medal to be awarded at the martial arts event at the 2017 Universiade. So far Taiwan' s representing team has taken home a whopping total of 19 gold medals.
Members of the martial arts team representing Taiwan include Kai-guay Hsu, Tze-min Tsai, You-wei Chen, and Yi-ying Chen in the routine division, as well as Xiang-yong Lin, Yong-sheng Chung, Wei-ting Chen and Yi-ru Lin in the sanda (Chinese boxing) division. The team has accumulated 1 gold medal, 2 silver medals, and 2 bronze medals.
Held in Taipei City, the 2017 Universiade included the martial arts event for the first time since its conception in 1959. This historical moment has not only encouraged people to learn more about martial arts, but also provided college athletes practicing martial arts all around the world a chance to compete against each other.The contestants competing in the newly-included Chinese martial arts event at the 2017 Universiade are thankful to the Taipei administration for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
2.Liberty Times - Turning Prince Nezha and Lead General into inspiration: Kai-guay Hsu integrates Taiwanese culture into routines
For the first time in history, Chinese martial arts was included in the 2017 Taipei Universiade as a competitive event. All eight of the Taiwanese contestants appreciate this once-in-a-lifetime competitive opportunity, and Kai-guay Hsu, a medal-winning contestant at the 2014 Incheon Asian Games, has expressed that he wants to reflect Taiwanese culture in his routines.
Hsu is a contestant in the routine division of the martial arts event. Three years ago he took bronze at the Nanquan/Nangun event at the Incheon Asian Games, and this time he hopes that he can keep the medals from ever leaving home court.
Hsu adds animalistic forms such as snake, crane, and tiger into Nanquan routines as well as special vocalization elements. "At first I thought the shouting part was really cool, like I was a tiger, but then I realized there was a price to pay. I couldn’t drink iced water in the summer, and I had to keep taking cough drops and drinking warm water to soothe my throat," Hsu says.
According to Hsu, his family manages a temple, so he likes to watch traditional Taiwanese religious processions such as Prince Nezha and Ba-Jia-Jiang (Eight Lead Generals) while thinking about his routines for the competition. He takes inspiration from these traditional performances and integrates elements of Taiwanese culture into his routines.
You-wei Chen, who competes in the taiji sword event, told us that her choice of music will be different than usual — this time a spirit-lifting war song like a Hua Mulan tune will be used instead of the usual songs which are gentle and soothing. "We're competing on home turf, so I think we're gonna pull out all the stops and do what we do best, show them our energy," Chen says.
3.Liberty Times - Kinmen Chinese Martial Arts Competition: Showdown between nearly 600 masters
The 2016 Kinmen International Chinese Martial Arts Competition kicked off yesterday at the Kinmen County Sports Stadium. A total of 56 teams and nearly 600 contestants are gathered here to socialize and compete in martial arts. Wu Cheng-dian, the vice mayor of Kinmen County, announced at the opening ceremony that outside of the martial arts competition, all contestants are more than welcome to hang out in Kinmen. According to the Indian Kung Fu Association, local promotion of martial arts has been effective, and more than 100 people have already signed up for Tai Chi activities. The opening ceremony started off with a performance by the Tian Zhen Tang Lion Dance Troupe. After that, the representative teams of Beijing, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Kinmen performed martial arts routines, duels, and many more impressive stunts — in particular, a young team from Hong Kong’s flashy sword flourishes managed to win massive applause from the crowd. Held jointly by the Republic of China Kuoshu Wushu Federation and the Taiwan Wushu Association, this martial arts competition gathered contestants from 11 regions and countries: India, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Canada, the Philippines, Vietnam, the US, New Zealand, Malaysia and Nigeria. The contestants will be competing for medals in 5 categories and a total of 12 events over the next two days.
4.Liberty Times - Fostering Friendship with Fists: The International Martial Arts Culture Festival
The 3rd Taiwan International Martial Arts Culture Festival (a.k.a the International Hongmen International Martial Arts Tournament) officially began at noon today in Fengshan Stadium. More than 2000 contestants from Taiwan and China have gathered here to exchange cultures and experiences through martial arts. Yi Huang, the Head of the Kaohsiung Department of Sports, Hui-jin Liu, the president of the Global Hongmen Alliance, as well as legislators Zhi-jie Hsu, Dai-hua Lin all attended the opening ceremony. During his opening speech Yi Huang stated that the Fengshan Stadium would undergo renovation before the end of the year, so contestants can expect an even better venue for next year’s competitions. In his statement, Hui-jin Liu said that as a grand martial arts summit, this competition should facilitate the global cultural exchange through martial arts while also spreading the spirit of loyalty and righteousness. The competition will last for two days, with competitive events such as traditional martial arts and Tai Chi. Child contestants are more than welcome, as their amazing energy will become the spotlight of the whole competition.
5.Liberty Times - Martial Arts: How Beishi Primary School trains their students for emotional resilience
In Beishi Elementary School, the alma mater of Man-yun Fan, "Lady of Tai Chi" , every single one of the thousands of students learn martial arts starting from the first grade, as their famous alumnus once did. One of the schools in Nantou County affected by the disastrous 1999 Jiji earthquake, Xinan Elementary School developed a special swimming curriculum - every kid earns a swimming certificate before they graduate. Once a competitor with the famous Taitung Red Leaves, Chuiyang Elementary School in Jiayi has its students going crazy about its baseball courses; along with Tainan Girls' Senior High and Wenshan School of Special Education, these five schools were nominated as Model Schools for Physical Education and received official commendation from the Ministry of Education yesterday. Located in Taoyuan City, the students of Beishi Elementary have martial arts as part of their mandatory PE curriculum throughout the entire six years of their elementary education. The principal, Hong-long Liu, says that not only is martial arts a good workout and self defense technique, but it also cultivates children’s emotional resilience. Wei-qun Peng, Universiade gold medalist and martial arts coach, explains that they enhance kids' martial arts prowess by teaching with games - the first and second graders learn the Kung Fu Panda routine, third and fourth graders learn the Chongyi (lit. Loyalty and Righteousness) routine, while the fifth and sixth graders are taught self defense techniques as well as tactics to escape from threat.
