Trying to win a battle against yourself

gzlaser

IT is a common misconception in the West that every Chinese person knows kungfu. Even those who practice kungfu back home still have a slightly romantic take on what life in China is really like.

Early kungfu films like Jackie Chan's Drunken Master (Zui Quan) and John Liu (Liu Zhongliang)'s Invincible Armor (Yingzhua Tiebushan) influenced Englishman Nick Careswell. The 25-year-old has studied kungfu for 10 years.

He says: \"I did think China was a bit like it was in the films, full of wandering monks looking for apprentices, but I found out it wasn't true quickly.\"

Despite this, Careswell still feels it is possible to draw lessons from the world of jianghu and apply them to his life.

\"I've never had to use kungfu in a fight but the benefits in other areas have been huge, a 10-fold increase in self-respect, for example. It just makes you a better man – one who can go through hardship.\"

Sabrina Cohen, 30, is an American who helped establish the Beijing Milun School of Traditional Kungfu and has been practicing kungfu since 1994. \"I know a lot of the things [in the films] are not real. But I want them to be and I choose to believe that if I train enough, I'll be able to do them too,\" she says.

Kungfu was also the inspiration for Cohen to study Chinese, a subject she now teaches to Western students. She says: \"I think studying kungfu changed my world view, I now see things from a Daoist perspective, I'm no longer just a Westerner, and I see that change in every aspect of my life.\"

What links these martial artists is a desire to explore another philosophy and fill a spiritual gap in their lives.

There was a Western medieval system known as chivalry, where principles such as honor, bravery and courtesy, governed a gentleman's actions in society. This is said to have ended with the death of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1558.

Yet today, 500 years later, some young Westerners are trying to rediscover some of the spirit of that chivalrous age by turning to the philosophy of honor and respect that is part of kungfu.

It might be fair to say that for some Westerners, kungfu still provides not just an outlet for physical expression, but also a framework through which to pursue self-improvement in other ways.

As Careswell says: \"At the end of the day, kungfu is not about getting this belt or that belt. The only person you are fighting against is yourself.\"