Stepping into 2010, Guangzhou was wrapped in cold weather by the consistently cold fronts. At the north gate of Tianhe Sports Center, a group of men in summer sportswear were fighting and kicking enthusiastically in the freezing open air every night. This is the training base of the Guangzhou Muay Thai Club. Once walk close to this hotspot, you can immediately feel the heat of this fighting sports.
Under the coaching of the 21-year-old Thai instructor Arthit, a group of men were shouting, punching and kicking. The practitioners are from all around the world-- the United States, Canada, Russia, Europe, Argentina, Japan, and other countries. The group now has grown to 100 members strong. The two Thai and two Chinese instructors have even trained five professional fighters who are competition ready.
In Mandarin, Arthit said that the keys to Muay Thai are knees and elbows. With twelve years of training and eight years of instructing experience under the belt, Chinese instructor Chen Changjie explained that Muay Thai is also referred as the "Art of Eight Limbs", counting the two fists, elbows, knees and legs. "Elbows Smash, Knees Strike, Grasp Neck and Hit the Knees" are some cruelest techniques in the fighting. Ironically, respect and rituals are very important in the seemingly unforgiving Muay Thai. The purpose of the fighters' dance before the fight is to show appreciation to their masters and to demonstrate the beauty of their bodies.
"Muay Thai is not only pretty to watch, but also practical!" American Stuart Dean who has practiced for about eight months expressed enthusiastically, "A few lessons have enabled me to defend myself. I've been more confident ever since. I even lose 30 pounds of weight!" He has his own interpretation of Muay Thai, which is widely perceived as a violent sport, "Actually the training is very safe. One rarely gets hurt. Quite the contrary, I would like to be hit harder in training to see how much pain I can bear and how much endurance I have." The moment he finished, he jumped back into an intense practice session with his colleague Marc Cook, Visa Officer of U.S. Consulate Guangzhou.
Every Saturday night, the Club invites Muay Thai enthusiasts from all around China to participate in a "Night of Combat." Every fight consists of two rounds of five minutes fights. Alikhan, a Russian studying Chinese at Sun Yat-sen University participated in the event twice. "Fighting in the ring is really tiring," he explained, "The real combat experience has helped me improve a lot. Although the competition was only amateur, I needed a month of non-stop training. The most important was to prepare my mind for the fight." Before Guangzhou, Alikhan had three years of Muay Thai training in Russia. He thought that his two years of training in Guangzhou had been more effective due to the great environment created by the professional Thai instructors in Guangzhou.
Hakkanese Wu Mingfeng has been learning in the Club for the past 6 years and he has witnessed its growth. "Learning Thai Kickboxing is very tough. I have followed over 60 instructors here. Members come and go as many cannot persist." What impressed the reporter was that the tough training has made this experienced enthusiast look young. As the father of a teenager, he appears to be less than 30-year-old, which is much younger than his age.
In addition to tough and pain, Muay Thai training provides fun from time to time. American Marc Cook said, the age of the fighters at the Club ranges from teenager to mid-forties, and some of them are Chinese women. "I have practiced together with some kids at only seven or eight years old, that was really funny." Marc was in wrestling team in high school, but he likes Muay Thai better now as it can release stress. In one-on-one practice with coaches, this wrestling-based practitioner even hit the instructor once, because he was confused by Chinese instructions of 'kick' and 'hit.' "I spent 60% strength to hit at that time, but fortunately the coach was strong enough and wasn't beaten by me." Marc broke into laughter when talking about his imposing story.
Gazing forth, punching hard with fist pad grappled, aiming at boxing pad, fighting and kicking enthusiastically... With strong yelling now and then, how many Thai kickboxing stars will appear from here? Not tall but strong Chinese Ye Xiaofei is eye-catching in the group. "Xiaofei has just joined for a couple of days but fights very well!" said the instructor. Signed up for one-year full time Muay Thai training course, Xiaofei has practiced in the martial arts field for twelve years. He is really a professional practitioner and has been acrobatics performer, taekwondo coach, and is also proficient in Sanda Free Combat, Wushu Martial Arts, and many more. He keeps practicing every day to combine several fighting styles he had learnt together, and even dreams of create a unique fighting style by himself like Bruce Lee had done before. Xiaofei is tough when fighting, but speaks and acts in a gentle manner ordinarily, which might attribute to being a taekwondo coach for many years.
Many practitioners of the Muay Thai Club of Guangzhou practice consistently, 365 days a year. "We are family," Stuart Dean said smiling, "Learning Muay Thai in Mandarin with friends from around the world and Thai instructors in Guangzhou is just amazing!" Obviously, the sports scene in Guangzhou has grown more internationally along with many other facets in the city.
Text by Zhu Yanshan Shanna
Photo by Gu Zhanxu
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