10th World Kungfu Championships in Emeishan, Sichuan

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World Kungfu Championships draw 5,092 athletes to Sichuan

By PENG CHAO | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2025-10-17 18:38

Athletes compete at the 10th World Kungfu Championships on Friday in Emeishan, Sichuan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The 10th World Kungfu Championships kicked off on Thursday in Emeishan, Sichuan province, drawing 5,092 athletes from 54 countries and regions.

Hosted by the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), it’s an international sporting event established in 2004 to promote the development of wushu, or kung fu, around the world.

The Emei Kung Fu Girls, China’s first all-female martial arts group, perform traditional Chinese kung fu on Thursday at the opening ceremony of the 10th World Kungfu Championships in Emeishan, Sichuan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

At the opening ceremony, Chinese actor Wu Jing was appointed as the new wushu image ambassador for the IWUF and the Chinese Wushu Association, succeeding kung fu actor Li Lianjie, known in the West as Jet Li.

This year’s event, which will run through Monday, is divided into domestic and international categories and features individual, duilian (choreographed sparring), and group competitions.

Athletes compete at the 10th World Kungfu Championships on Friday in Emeishan, Sichuan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The organizers said the championships provide a stage for wushu enthusiasts to showcase their skills and promote the global inheritance and development of traditional martial arts through diverse cultural exchanges.

A series of supporting activities will be held simultaneously, including a wushu forum, lectures by wushu masters, rank evaluations for international wushu practitioners, kung fu performances, and an exhibition and sale of traditional martial arts weapons.

Athletes compete at the 10th World Kungfu Championships on Friday in Emeishan, Sichuan province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Emeishan, named after Mount Emei, has been the host city for the World Kungfu Championships for four consecutive sessions.

Mount Emei is the birthplace of the Emei school, one of the three top schools of Chinese martial arts, alongside Shaolin and Wudang. With a history of nearly 3,000 years, the Emei school has developed over 80 branches and hundreds of distinct boxing styles and routines.

In recent years, Emei wushu has established a comprehensive inheritance and development system by establishing a wushu academy and formulating a standardization system, local authorities said.

I couldn’t find the 9th, but I did find the 8th here, which was also in Emei, pre-pandemic.

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This event was great. I competed in Yang Taiji.

The 11th is scheduled for 2027 in Jiangyin.

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Very cool. How was the event?

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Very intense. More than 5000 competitors split between a Chinese event and an event for the rest of the world. The level of competition was very high. It was a great showcase of traditional Wushu styles .

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Very cool. Did you post photos anywhere, like on your social media?

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There are a few pictures in this article that I wrote on the US Wushu Academy Website and in this article that Coach Christopher Pei wrote about the trip.

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Nice write up! Thanks for sharing that here.

And please pass my regards to Coach Pei.

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I was at this amazing event!! Fantastic experience and lots of kung fu!!

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Awesome! Did you compete?

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Yes, it was competitive and I did well… despite it being a fantastic environment, we can say there’s a kind of migration; practitioners have been increasingly drawn to modern wushu, leaving the traditional style aside. Unfortunately… I witnessed what they call contemporary wushu, a mix of modern and traditional… it doesn’t yet have the acrobatics of the modern style, and you can see the change from the traditional style… But this doesn’t affect the event itself, just an observation.

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I feel like a more wushu feel in competition has been advancing for decades now. Wushu was designed for competition. Traditional Kung Fu was not. As long as practitioners maintain their traditional practice, it will survive, but perhaps not so much in the competitive rings. Competitors represent a small portion of practitioners, but surely the most visible.

What did you compete with?

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Certainly, I’ve seen many mixtures of kung fu with modern techniques, I don’t think that’s bad, I even think they can complement each other… because without the traditional, the modern would never exist. I’m from ChoyLeeFut and I did SanJieGwun on articulated weapons.

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I feel ya.

It’s just a bit disconcerting when you’re competing in a so-called ‘traditional’ category and you get bested by wushu-like moves. That happened to me back when I was competing (back when mammoths still roamed the earth) and it was annoying.

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Yes, you summed up exactly what happened hahaha in Choy Lee Fut, number 01 was Nanquan. And in the articulated ones, practically all the routines were modernized…

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That tournament when I lost to 2 wushu stylists was back in the late 80s. I was doing Bak Sil Lum and placed 3rd. The two above me were a woman doing changquan and a man doing zuiquan - pure wushu. And that was in the advanced traditional category. I was so annoyed back then. I suppose I still haven’t let go of that.

What percentage of the competitors in your pool would you say were authentic traditional?

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It’s hard to accept, even in Choy Lay Fut it was very traditional… only the first on the podium was Nanquan hahaha. In malleable, close to 60% of the category…

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Nanquan annoys me the most. I mean, I get it. I understand what they’re looking to achieve with it. But it’s such a disservice to try to compress all southern styles into one wushu form. Figures that would win tho…