Martial arts enjoy growing popularity across US

FORT WORTH, Texas — At a kung fu studio in Plano, Texas, head coach and owner Wang Tao is training a group of students who are kicking, punching and jumping.

"Go strong! Go strong!" Wang told the students.

The number of wushu, or martial arts, studios has been increasing in the United States, and it mainly comprises small operators serving locals like Wang's studio located in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area.

"You won't be surprised if you find you are surrounded by a diversity of martial arts studios in the United States. Everywhere you go, you will see either a kung fu institute or a wushu studio," Allen Riley of Wylie, Texas, said.

"Martial arts is generations old in the United States."

According to Bookee, a platform for fitness entrepreneurs, there are more than 3.9 million wushu learners in the US, with 15,900 wushu schools helping them perfect their skills.

"Martial arts is spreading like an umbrella throughout the West, not only due to entertainment but also for keeping fit and healthy," Krist Caldwell, an attorney and wushu practitioner of more than 20 years, said.

When asked to describe wushu, fellow practitioner Claire Chevalier of Plano shared her thoughts.

"The beauty of tai chi, (for example) I would say it's very elegant. It's a little bit like a dance, but it has something else on top of it. It's a little bit like a drama or something added to it, like the passion of kung fu in the skills," she said.

Chevalier has been practicing kung fu for seven years, and traveled to China in 2019. "You can tell that you work not only on the muscle, but you also work on the tendons, which is very specific to tai chi. You feel like you also work on your internal organs when you practice the routine. So it has a lot of pluses," she added.

Various research indicates that the popularity of wushu has steadily increased in the US in recent years. According to Statista, the total number of people practicing the sport went up by nearly 23 percent to reach around 6.2 million between 2010 and 2021. The latest IBISWorld data estimated that the revenue of wushu studios in the US will reach $16.8 billion this year.

Through practicing wushu, US practitioners have become exposed to Chinese history and culture.

The 16th World Wushu Championships, which began on Thursday in Fort Worth, will bring the world's top wushu athletes to the US and set up a platform for showcasing China's cultural legacy to the world.

It will be the second time for the US to host the tournament after the third WWC was held in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1995.

Xinhua