Master demonstrates wushu from a wheelchair
In his long and illustrious career, 61-year-old wushu master Han Zhichao from North China's Hebei Province has trained more than 10,000 students in the ways of the martial arts.
Two of his disciples have lifted a combined total of eight national championship titles.
Not bad for a man who's spent the past 44 years confined to a wheelchair.
Han was born in 1946 to a family with a passion for wushu (martial arts). Today, he is the headmaster of the Linchong Martial Arts School in Cangzhou, which is considered the home of Chinese martial arts, and is highly regarded in wushu circles.
Under the guidance of his grandfather and father, Han began learning martial arts at the age of seven. By 13 his skills were described as "quite excellent" by the Yanzhao Metropolitan News.
With seven younger sons to support, Han's father a poor cart driver and mother were forced to send their eldest to earn a living as a martial arts actor with a local opera troupe at the age of 14.
Tragically, however, on May 31, 1963, while Han was practicing for a road show in nearby Renqiu, he slipped and landed awkwardly. He had broken his neck and was paralyzed.
Doctors at the time said the injuries Han had sustained breaking several cervical vertebra would lead to problems with his heart and his breathing. They gave him a maximum of three years to live.
Han was stunned. He was just 17. He lost hope.
After fasting for three days in an attempt to commit suicide, Han was eventually convinced by the tears of his family members to try living again.
Over the years, Han was cared for by his eight brothers, each of who left school at about 13 to do so. The older boys sought work outside their hometown to feed the family.
Later, Han realised that he had to do something to help his brothers.
"You are a wushu practitioner," he said to himself. "You should be stronger. You must stand up and be a useful man."
After hours of painful practice, Han taught himself to sit upright.
He then turned his attention to books on Chinese wushu that his brothers found for him, and slowly learned each school by heart. By 1972, he had begun to develop his own moves and techniques for Chinese boxing.
Using his now vast knowledge, Han began to guide his eight brothers in the ways of wushu. He was a natural tutor.
After becoming masters of the 49 moves in Han's series, his brothers were destined to become champions.
Since 1979, his third and eighth youngest siblings have between them won eight gold medals in national events.
His sixth youngest brother has appeared as a martial artist in more than 30 films and TV productions.
In 1983, Han traveled with all eight of his brothers to the coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Fujian where they began to train disciples.
He returned to his hometown of Cangzhou later in the decade and set up his own wushu schools.
He has since designed more than a dozen skills and tricks for use in Chinese boxing.
Not bad for the paralyzed man known affectionately as "the wushu master in the wheelchair."
China daily
(China Daily 05/15/2007 page6)
