International Chinese Language Teacher "Promoting Martial Arts" Overseas: Wishing More People to Experience Chinese Culture

"In the parks in Dubai, you often see people from more than a dozen countries practicing Chinese martial arts together." Having been promoting traditional martial arts overseas for several years, international Chinese language teacher Liu Jianan expressed his hope that through his efforts, more overseas people would experience the Chinese culture and wisdom contained in traditional martial arts.

Liu Jianan teaches foreign students traditional Chinese martial arts.

Similar to many overseas people, Liu Jianan's interest in traditional Chinese martial arts originated from martial arts movies and TV shows. After entering college, he began studying traditional martial arts such as Eagle Claw Fist, Tongbei Fist, Tai Chi Sword, and Wudang Kung Fu under famous wushu masters.

In 2019, Liu Jianan came to the United Arab Emirates as an international Chinese language teacher, and while teaching, he developed the idea of promoting traditional Chinese martial arts. "So, together with a Chinese colleague, I started an online public service Taijiquan teaching campaign, and also started teaching and promoting traditional Chinese martial arts in the UAE since then."

Foreign visitors following Liu Jianan to experience traditional Chinese martial arts during Expo 2020 Dubai

In the teaching process, Liu Jianan follows individualized teaching principles and adopts different teaching strategies according to the students' conditions. When teaching kids with zero foundation, Liu Jianan will focus on simple introductory martial arts movements, with emphasis on positive feedback; when teaching young students, he will teach martial arts movements with a certain degree of difficulty according to their own conditions; when teaching middle-aged and elderly students, he will focus on health exercises and explain acupuncture points and meridians.

"Some foreign students have little knowledge of Chinese culture, and I would take the approach of combining Western kinesiology with the connotations of traditional Chinese martial arts to facilitate their understanding of the connotations of traditional Chinese martial arts." Liu Jianan noted.

In addition to the "Kung Fu Training Online", Liu Jianan has also been teaching and performing offline in Dubai. Every weekend, Liu and his friends would hold offline charity activities in Dubai; at the Expo 2020 Dubai, Liu and his friends performed at the Chinese Pavilion to let visitors from all over the world know about traditional Chinese martial arts; at the 9th Spring Festival Gala held in 2023 in the UAE, Liu and his Chinese guqin team performed "Drunken Sword Performance of Wine Mania" at the Dubai Opera to show traditional Chinese martial arts to audiences around the world.

"Traditional martial arts are built on the basis of traditional Chinese philosophy, medicine, health science and kinesiology, 'training the muscles and bones externally, and exercising a breath of qi internally'." Liu Jianan introduced that after practicing traditional Chinese martial arts, foreign students' physical qualities such as reaction speed, coordination, flexibility, and endurance have improved, "and one UAE student, after learning Standing Stake and Taijiquan, has seen improvements in his own illness."

Liu Jianan teaching foreign students traditional Chinese martial arts.

"In fact, more and more foreigners are now able to understand the connotations of Chinese culture and are becoming interested in traditional Chinese martial arts." Liu Jianan stated. The offline charity activity group he and his friends formed has expanded from the initial five people to more than 150, covering students from more than a dozen countries, and the number of followers of the public account he opened for traditional martial arts has been growing.

In Liu Jianan's view, traditional martial arts is not just a skill, but also a concentrated expression of traditional Chinese culture in the body. "During my past martial arts practice on Wudang Mountain, I was accompanied by the fresh breeze and flowing water every day, deeply experiencing the state of mind of the ancient people of 'harmony between human and nature'." noted Liu Jianan. In the thousands of years of inheritance, traditional martial arts have incorporated countless Chinese culture and ideas, and every move in attack and defense implies the idea of harmony and unity between human and nature.

"Nowadays, the overseas spread of Chinese traditional martial arts has become a window for the world to know China. Many overseas people, through practicing traditional Chinese martial arts, have learned about the Chinese philosophy of 'harmony of body and mind' in health care, as well as the idea of 'stopping war is a true craft of war' and 'loving peace'. " Liu Jianan expressed his hope that through his efforts, more overseas people would learn about traditional Chinese martial arts and feel the charm of excellent Chinese traditional culture.

(Reporter Yang Di/Photo by Liu Jianan)