Chinese "heroines" promote traditional martial arts into the public

Lanzhou, 19 Jan (Xinhua) -- Title: China's "female heroes" have promoted traditional martial arts into the public

Xinhua News Agency reporters Ren Weidong, Cheng Nan and Guo Gang

Count nine cold days, and the morning light is faint. When the first rays of sunlight passed through the undulating eaves and sprinkled on the courtyard of Tianshui Ancient City, "post-85" Zhang Hanliang began to expand his chest, press his legs, stretch and other martial arts warm-up activities, and the day's martial arts practice began.

Since the second half of 2021, a number of traditional Chinese martial arts videos produced by Zhang Hanliang and his team have quietly become popular on the Internet, attracting many netizens to like and forward, and many netizens call her a "heroine" in China. She believes that the use of new communication methods can carry forward traditional Chinese martial arts and make martial arts skills into the public.

As can be seen in many videos on the Internet, Zhang Hanliang is wearing a practice suit, not only splitting, kicking, flipping and other actions, she is also very proficient in cold weapons such as long swords, Tang knives, and darts. Its strength and beauty show rigidity and softness, attracting the attention of a large number of netizens. As a B station UP owner, the total number of views of videos she uploaded has exceeded 16 million times.

Zhang Hanliang's hometown is in Tianshui City, Gansu Province. Having been practicing martial arts for more than 20 years, she never expected that the martial arts videos she made would suddenly "explode".

"Now the Internet is widely disseminated and can also be oriented overseas. I hope that through my own videos, more people can understand the charm of traditional Chinese martial arts and carry forward the martial arts. She said that she wants to do her best to promote traditional Chinese martial arts so that more people can correctly understand and like martial arts.

Zhang Hanliang's love for martial arts stems from her family of three generations of martial arts practitioners. "Since I was a child, I have been formally practicing martial arts since I was 7 years old." She said that when she was a child, her father often practiced martial arts at home, and the children in the family would imitate it, and she slowly laid the foundation of martial arts since then.

Later, her father sent Zhang Hanliang to study sports school in a foreign country, and she became the youngest child in the school. "Although I am young, after regular training every day, I will still give myself 'extra meals' to continue practicing." Zhang Hanliang said.

Kung Fu pays off. Later, 13-year-old Zhang Hanliang won the Gansu Provincial Women's Swordplay Championship. At the age of 17, she also won the Women's Swordplay and Women's Marksmanship Championships at the National Martial Arts Competition. At the age of 20, she won a bunch of championship titles in various competitions such as tai chi and swordsmanship.

In 2007, Zhang Hanliang began working as a martial arts teacher at Tianshui Normal College, where she was also a national first-class athlete and a national martial arts first-class referee. On the stage of the university, Zhang Hanliang began the inheritance and promotion of Chinese martial arts.

Last year, Zhang Hanliang's apprentice, 25-year-old Ran Jianfei, graduated from the Tianshui Normal Academy's martial arts major. He is now a physical education teacher at Wangba Junior High School in Lixian County, Longnan City. He introduced that during his college years, Zhang Hanliang was very meticulous and serious in class, and would teach his classmates martial arts movements hand in hand over and over again.

In addition to martial arts, Teacher Zhang also taught us to continuously improve our personal moral cultivation and cultural lessons, and she also took us to read ancient classics such as the "New Book of Ji Xiao" and encouraged us to practice both literature and martial arts, and have both moral integrity and ability. In my own teaching, I also encourage children to strengthen physical exercise and mental health through martial arts practice while reading more. Ran Jianfei said that he often went back to his alma mater to find Zhang Hanliang and ask about teaching problems.

In addition to his daily teaching tasks, in recent years, Zhang Hanliang has been invited to France, Russia, Malaysia and other countries many times to teach traditional Chinese martial arts to foreign friends. "Martial arts build a bridge for cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. I hope that through my own efforts, more foreign friends will understand, love, appreciate and understand Chinese martial arts. Zhang Hanliang said.

Under Zhang Hanliang's online video, many netizens often leave messages, hoping to worship her as a teacher and learn martial arts. "I am very pleased to attract young people to join the traditional Chinese martial arts tradition." Zhang Hanliang said that in the video she produced, some basic martial arts decomposition moves have been added, and interested friends can learn them online.

With the Beijing Winter Olympics approaching, the sports and fitness atmosphere in Tianshui and other places is getting stronger and stronger. "The Beijing Winter Olympics is also a stage to showcase traditional Chinese culture. Martial arts practice can not only span the four seasons and strengthen the body, but also be able to go to the world through Sino-foreign exchanges. Zhang Hanliang said.

Source: Xinhua Net