I had spent 9 months in China and still had one month left before continuing my travels to Russia. I decided to spend my last month at the Qufu Shaolin Kung Fu School and I’m thoroughly glad that I have attended the school. The only thing that I am disappointed about is that I can only spend one month here; although it is brilliant, a longer stay would have provided even more insights into the art that is Kung Fu and furthered my own abilities.

The translators at the school are great. Always happy to chat or to help out with any problems regardless of how big or small it is. They provided comic relief during training which definitely helped to take your mind off of the pain you’re currently in while the master tries to make your leg go further towards your head.

The masters (Shifus) are also brilliant. Each master is skilled and extremely impressive in their abilities. I mainly remember that during our flips and jumps session just getting to grips with the basics of a jump and then the master would do it and then just for fun add a back flip or such and you just stand there thinking I want to do that too! My master knew how to push myself and my group to the limit. He would take the time to go through our forms and was patient in correcting our movements on many occasions. I’m very glad with the Shifu that I was trained by and I know the rest of my group are also but from friends within the school I hear that each of the masters are amazing to work with. You do build a loyalty to your own Shifu though, meaning that none of the other Shifus will compare!

The people at the school are also extremely friendly and everyone seems to have the same common personality and goal when at the school. This means that friendships are struck up very quickly and they continue even after you have left the school. Also since you’re all in it together the training becomes easier. If I was by myself there is no way that I would be able to wake up at 5:30am for Tai Chi, go running at 8:30am followed by training and more…thankfully as a group you help each other through it and everyone is extremely friendly. There is absolutely no insults from anyone while training, instead people help each other when they’re doing something wrong or show them a better way to do it if they’re having difficulty making it a much nicer atmosphere to train in.

The school itself has everything you need from a shop to washing facilities and if you want to take a walk there is a mountain right next to the school which is perfect or even just walk down to the village, a 5 minute walk from the school, that has 3 restaurants and a few shops where you can get anything you need. At the weekends you also have the chance to travel into the town of Qufu which is really cool. There are horse drawn carriages, an inner city and plenty of Confucius sites to visit along with the hostel where many of the students of the school spend their weekend chilling out.

As I’ve already said I am only disappointed that I could only spend a month at the school. The discipline, the fitness and the abilities that I gained from the school in such a short time has been great and if all goes to plan I would hope to return once I have finished my final year at university! If anyone would like to know more about my experience feel free to find me on the facebook group and message me.

kyle.cowie@yahoo.co.uk