China's Living Treasures: Kung Fu Diplomacy

In 1985, a team of six American martial arts instructors were invited to the first International Wu Shu Exhibition in Xian, China. Traveling through Beijing, Shanghai, and stopping off at the Shaolin Temple on their journey, this documentary is an unusual mixture of classic martial arts masters performing their specialties and a cultural introduction to one of the major facets of Eastern life: the martial arts. One of the Americans, Bill Owens, serves as co-narrator, explaining both the style of martial arts being presented and the relationship of the demonstrator to the style's history--more often than not, the masters or "sifus" are the grandsons of the creators of a particular martial arts style. We witness Chinese martial artists ranging in age from six to eighty-six performing a wide variety of Tai Chi styles, as well as open-hand, and weapon forms. Many of these demonstrations take place in public parks where, we learn, that the Chinese "walk" their songbirds as Americans walk their dogs, and that as many as 100 million Chinese elders arise at 5 am to perform their daily Tai Chi exercises. In the finale, we see a rare demonstration by a Shaolin monk whose performance of a cane form is an exquisite tribute to the human body as pure poetry. Sure to be popular with devotees of the martial arts, this eye-opening documentary is also highly recommended for the general public. The seven other titles in the China's Living Treasures series--which focus more on specific martial arts techniques--include Tai Chi Chuan (2 tapes), Open Hand Forms (2 tapes), and Weapon Forms. All titles are $49.95. (Available from: One Hand Video, P.O. Box 15-584, San Francisco, CA 94115.)