The Shaolin Wushu Martial Arts group performing at the Gibraltar Room in Williams Lake Friday evening is comprised of 18 elite martial arts practitioners from the Shaolin Epo Martial Arts School of Dengfeng City, Henan Province, People’s Republic of China.
During their performance, these high calibre performers will demonstrate various Shaolin Wushu martial arts techniques including pictographic animal boxing, knife and whip group boxing, variations of hard qigong (involving pikes and steel nails) and use of the 18 weapons developed by Shaolin monks over many decades.
Shaolin Wushu, also known as Shaolin Kung Fu (or Shaolin Quan), refers to the style of martial arts first adopted more than 1,500 years ago by Zen Buddhist monks at the temple of Shaolin at Songshan (or Majestic Song Mountain) in Henan Province, central China.
Shaolin Wushu was born from necessity as a way for the monks to protect their monastery and its extensive grounds from marauders at that time. It has now become the dominant school of kung fu, with an extensive repertoire of both barehanded and weapon styles of engagement.
Students at the Shaolin Epo Martial Arts School still practice a monastic life which involves a rigorous regime combining several hours a day of martial arts practice (quan) with regular periods of religious study (chan), as well as the routine domestic and administrative chores of communal life.
Tickets are available at the Cariboo Regional District office and at The Open book for $15. A limited number of tickets will also be available at the door.
The evening performance is 70 minutes long including a 10 minute intermission.