Some news in English
From our dear friend and freelance contributor, Violet Li
There’s still time to register and compete in the 2015 Tiger Claw Elite Champion
April 25, 2015
5:23 PM MST
Each year, there are a few dozen Chinese Martial Arts tournaments in the U.S. The Tiger Claw Elite Championship is without a doubt the most significant one. This year the Championship will be held on Saturday May 16 in San Jose, Ca. The Tiger Claw Elite 2015 consists of several championships and they are the 7th annual Tiger Claw Elite KungFuMagazine.com Championship, the 3rd Tiger Claw Taekwondo Championship, the first Drunken Style Championship, and the first Tiger Claw Kid Tiger Championship.
Tai Chi (Taiji) and other Internal Styles, Push Hands, Team competition, WildAid, and Sparrings to choose from. You can see a list of all the divisions via a link here. For most competitions, they are separated by age groups and by skill levels. This Championship attracts talented martial art practitioners from all over the United States and foreign countries; even outstanding young Chinese martial artists come to compete.

This tournament invites highly accomplished Martial Arts masters as VIPs to preside and judge. For the 2015 Champions, the VIP list includes but not limited to Coach Emilio Alpanseque (CA, USA), Master May Chen (CA, USA), Master Bryant Fong (CA, USA), Master Gao Jiamin (Oregon, USA), Master He Tao (CA, USA), Grandmaster Ho Dai-Luong (CA, USA), Master Wayne Peng Wen (CA, USA), Grandmaster Liang Shou-Yu (B.C., Canada), Master Liu Yu (CA, USA), MMA/UFC Champion Cung Le (CA, USA), Coach Christopher Pei (Virginia, USA), Shaolin Monk Shi Yanran (CA, USA), Shaolin Monk Shi Yanxing (CA, USA), Grandmaster Alex Tao (CA, USA), Master Daniel Tomizaki (CA, USA), Grandmaster Tu Jin-Sheng (CA, USA), Professor Wang Peikun (Beijing, China), Master Yang Jun (WA, USA), Master Grace Wu-Monnat (KS, USA), Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming (CA, USA), Master Yu Shaowen (OR, USA), and super star Jet Li’s teacher Coach Wu Bin (Beijing, China). All VIPs will also attend 2015 Kung Fu Tai Chi Day to perform on Sunday May 17 in San Jose.
Drunken Style Kung Fu is fun to watch and incredibly hard to master. The first Drunken Style Championship will be open to all contestants age 21 and over specializing in any form of drunken empty hand, weapon, or sparring. This special Championship is sponsored by Kung Fu Girl Riesling, which earned a 91-point rating and placed in “Top 100 Wine” two years in a row from Wine Spectator. The first ten competitors to register for this Championship will receive a complimentary bottle of Kung Fu Girl Riesling.
WildAid is an international non-profit organization with the mission to end the illegal wildlife trade. Jackie Chan is a primary spokesperson for WildAid, accompanied by Harrison Ford, Yao Ming, Leonardo DiCaprio, Li Bingbing, Maggie Q and many other international celebrities. In 2010, the Year of the Tiger, the Tiger Claw Foundation launched a special championship with all proceeds going to WildAid’s efforts to save tigers. This year, the Tiger Claw Elite Championship is adding a youth division, the WildAid Kid Tiger Championship, for competitors age 17 and under. The WildAid Tiger Claw Champion is an ‘any style, any form’ division. At the 2015 Tiger Claw Elite Championship, this will be the only division where Taekwondo Poomse and Chinese martial arts will be able to compete against each other.
Kung Fu Tai Chi Day is a free open street fair that celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Chinese Martial Arts. It will be held in downtown San Jose on Sunday May 17. Some of the world’s top grandmasters and masters of Kung Fu and Tai Chi along with the best martial arts schools in the Bay Area will provide live demonstration. There will be ongoing classes and workshops in Kung Fu, Tai Chi, Qigong, and Wushu – many of these are free for beginners. If you know the Simplified Tai Chi 24 form, you can join a group demonstration at the beginning of the fair. Several hundred people participated in the group demonstration last year.
For more details about the tournament and Kung Fu Tai Chi Day, you can visit its official website.
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