Liu Zhisheng: Let foreigners see what is the real Chinese wrestling

Liu Zhisheng, a native of Beijing, practiced martial arts at the age of 8 at the Shichahai Sports School, and switched to Chinese wrestling in 1979 under the tutelage of Li Baoru, a famous wrestling master. 1983-1986, he was the champion of the 62kg class in Beijing's Chinese wrestling competitions, and won the Chinese Wrestling National Championships in 1986, and was appointed as an invited professor at the Changchun Sports Institute. From 1984 to 1995, he was the coach of Chinese wrestling in Xicheng District of Beijing, and in 1998, he was appointed as the invited professor of Changchun Institute of Physical Education, and in 1998 and 2000, he planned and organized the Chinese Wushu Soul Conference and the International Invitation Tournament of Chinese Wrestling (Beijing) respectively, and at the end of 2000, he was invited to go to France to teach, and in 2002, he went to Italy to teach Chinese wrestling, and he is the president of Italian Wrestling Federation, who is committed to the promotion and development of Chinese wrestling in the overseas.

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"I just want to let foreigners know what is the real Chinese wrestling and what is Chinese Kung Fu!" Liu Zhisheng, the man who reigns over the Beijing wrestling scene, is still quick to speak. Liu Zhisheng, grew up in Beijing after the sea, from Italy just returned to his long-lost hometown, with the Mediterranean sunshine on his face, sitting quietly in a halal restaurant in the Beijing Hutong under the Bell and Drum Tower, calmly talking about more than a decade of experience in Europe, the eyes of all the infinite nostalgia for the old Beijing and unlimited enthusiasm for Chinese wrestling.

Paris, the Chinese are not bullies

In 2000, Liu Zhisheng was invited to teach Chinese wrestling in Paris, France. A chance street incident made him feel a lot of emotions.

That day was 90 o'clock in the morning, Liu Zhisheng in the wrestling ring to guide the end of the training came back, five or six 15 or 16 years old foreign children, in broad daylight in the street robbing Chinese people of their belongings. "I'm a wrestling practitioner, I can't lose the face of the Chinese." Recalling this incident ten years ago, Liu Zhisheng remembers it vividly. "When I walked over, five or six of them surrounded me, and although I could tell from their faces that they were only fifteen or sixteen years old, they were all tall and big." Liu Zhisheng recalled, "I retreated to a corner, with my back against the wall, ready to defend myself." A tall black lad rushed up. Liu Zhisheng threw the black guy a few meters away with a Chinese wrestling move called the "Thousand Farewells"! "Kung Fu!" Several people exclaimed, no longer dare to go forward. Taking advantage of the moment when they are frozen, Liu Zhisheng rushed out of the encirclement, ran to the door of the residence. Liu Zhisheng had just entered the door when they came after him. Liu Zhisheng just one move will be followed by the thugs thrown out a few feet away, fell a dog gnawing mud, take the opportunity to close the door tightly.

"I haven't been bullied like this since I was a kid, so I'll let them know that the Chinese are not to be bullied." Liu Zhisheng went upstairs, changed into his tracksuit, and manipulated an iron guy in his hand to charge down in reverse. Those few roadblockers were still waiting in their usual place to rob the Chinese. See Liu Zhisheng manipulate the guy straight to them, scared than rabbits run faster! A street of Chinese people all came out to see the fun, "How many years, only saw foreigners rob Chinese, never saw Chinese people chasing foreigners running all over the street!" The Chinese people present all applauded warmly. But Liu Zhisheng listening to this praise, the heart is not a taste, "Chinese in Paris is a good bully, good object, which makes me in any case can not accept."

In the streets of Paris, dare to whisk away the robbers running Chinese, Liu Zhisheng counted as a first.

Searching for Italy

The months in Paris passed by, the visa expired, the French side refused to extend his visa.

At this time, the Italian Wrestling Federation held its annual Kung Fu Congress in Rome, and Liu Zhisheng came to Italy under the arrangement of a friend. Before that, Chinese wrestling in Italy was taught by Taiwanese Chang Dongsheng. And the Chinese wrestling that was introduced to Taiwan was very different from the Chinese wrestling in the mainland, especially in Beijing and Tianjin. No one in Italy has even seen real Chinese wrestling.

When Liu Zhisheng came to the site of a kung fu convention in Rome, the organizers heard that he was practicing Chinese wrestling and sent a wrestler to fight him. The wrestler is two meters tall, weighing 200 kilograms, a field, did not put the weight of less than 70 kilograms of Liu Zhisheng in the eyes, up to grab. Liu Zhisheng used the "Thousand Don't" masterpiece to throw his opponent a few meters away, the power of Chinese wrestling made the audience applaud.

The first signs of Chinese wrestling's power didn't bring much change to Liu Zhisheng's life. In Europe, most people who practice martial arts or kung fu do so as a hobby, not as a profession. Most people work during the day and practice at night, purely out of love and passion. This also brought a lot of difficulties to Liu Zhisheng, who was new to Europe.

"You can barely make a living by teaching Chinese wrestling," Liu said, recalling those times. "First you have to find a job that can support you. The pay for coaching is very meager, not even enough to pay your rent." After arriving in Rome, Liu Zhisheng went from one martial arts school to another to compete and sell himself. "During that time, I ran more than 50 martial arts schools in a row, and every time I went to a place, I competed with their sparring and grappling instructors, and I always threw people out a few meters away within three or two moves. I thought I could get a position in the martial arts center with my skills, but almost everyone was afraid that you would take his job, no one let me do it." During this time, there were also people who asked him to teach Tai Chi. Because of the number of people learning Tai Chi, there can be a considerable income. But Liu Zhisheng refused, "For money I'll stay in Beijing, why go so far and suffer so much." Soon, he spent all his savings from home and relied on Chinese restaurants to scrub dishes to make ends meet. He was so good at what he did that he had no place to go.

The more national, the more global

Then Antonio Langiano, president of the Italian wrestling federation, came to him and asked, "Are you willing to teach Chinese wrestling at my place?" When Liu Zhisheng heard that he was teaching Chinese wrestling, he said yes without thinking and traveled to Termoli, a small town far from Rome. There were 40 or 50 Italian teenagers practicing Chinese wrestling there.

Antonio's enthusiasm for Chinese wrestling y touched Liu Zhisheng, "Their love for Chinese wrestling is purely from the heart, and they are fascinated by this civilized, elegant and skillful technique." Liu Zhisheng said. Antonio runs a health club and is not rich. He woke up at six o'clock every day to clean up after himself at the club, and welcomed the first guests at nine o'clock, supporting the teaching of Chinese wrestling on his meager income. After Liu Zhisheng's arrival, there was a craze for learning Chinese wrestling in Dell'Amore, and in 2002, Liu Zhisheng and Antonio's students participated in the International Invitational Chinese Wrestling Tournament held in Beijing on behalf of Italy, and got excellent results. 2004, on May 29th, the Italian Wrestling Federation hosted the international Chinese wrestling tournament of the Chang Dongsheng Cup, in which Liu Zhisheng and Antonio brought their students and took part, and they were invited to the tournament in 20 countries, such as China, the United States, Canada, France, etc. In the competition, Liu Zhisheng and Antonio took their students to participate in the competition, and in the presence of players from more than 20 countries, including China, the United States, Canada, France, etc., they won the rankings of several levels and achieved the second place in the total team score (the first place went to China). Chinese wrestling took root on Italian soil.

After finding Liu Zhisheng, Antonio gave up his position as president of the Italian Wrestling Federation in hopes that he would teach students in Italy for a long time. But the presidency is only a vanity title, and doesn't come with a salary. With his previous background as a skilled laborer in China, Liu Zhisheng found a job as a welder in a local factory, and worked during the day to support himself and at night to teach students at the wrestling ring to pass on Chinese wrestling. At the hardest time, he even worked as a porter in a freight yard, where four people unloaded more than 40 tons of goods in two hours. In China, Liu Zhisheng, who was a special professor at the Sports Institute, had never done such heavy physical work. But he endured it so that he could continue to teach Chinese wrestling and spread it overseas.

Chinese wrestling to the world is the biggest dream

The success in Italy did not bring Liu Zhisheng too much joy. 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Liu Zhisheng with a number of Italian students at their own expense to return to Beijing to watch the Olympic Games. The splendor of the Beijing Olympics left a deep impression on them, but also brought them deep confusion.

"Why was such good Chinese kung fu not shown in the Olympics? Why can't Chinese wrestling make it to the Olympic stage?" Antonio and his students asked Liu Zhisheng this.

"The Tokyo Olympics pushed judo to the world, and the Seoul Olympics pushed taekwondo to the world. At the Beijing Olympics, there was no Chinese wrestling to be seen." Judo and taekwondo both originated in China, and eventually went to the world, but the fate of Chinese wrestling is far less fortunate than the two, Liu Zhisheng for this reason issued a hopeless lament. Here, Liu Zhisheng can not help but red eyes. Overseas wandering for ten years, he devoted all his heart and soul to his favorite Chinese wrestling, but until today, the spread of Chinese wrestling overseas only stays at the folk level. Although some achievements have been made, it is still far from the successful promotion of Judo and Taekwondo in the world. For this reason, he feels overwhelmed with despondency and helplessness.

When will Chinese wrestling spread around the world like "Zi San Si Lang"? Back to the homeland, in the back of the sea in the willow breeze in the hutong, not far away from the Bell and Drum Tower seems to come from the distant sound, so that Liu Zhisheng unlimited feelings.

"Good things will one day be recognized." Liu Zhisheng firmly believes that he was born for Chinese wrestling, and in the future he will, as always, continue on the road to promote Chinese wrestling overseas.