Although still seeking to join the Olympic Games, wushu is hot among Chinese youngsters.
Taolu (routine) and Sanda (sparring) of martial arts were included in the first National Youth Games, attracted a total of 109 athletes between the age of 13 and 17 from 23 delegations.
Fourteen-year-old girl Huang Rong was named after a famous heroine in Jing Yong's Kong Fu novels and she really loves the martial arts.
Huang took part in the southern sword event, also known as Nan Dao, at the National Youth Games on Tuesday.
She enjoyed the competition a lot despite a seventh finish.
"I fell in love with Chinese Kong Fu at first sight," said Huang. "I will keep training. The result is not important, and I just want to communicate with other young athletes here at the games."
Huang Benyijian, a young boy who performed Nan Gun (Southern cudgel), obviously has higher expectation for himself.
"My father is a martial arts coach, and he let me learn it when I was a little kid," he said. "I really love it. I went to training when others were playing games. I have my goal, so I need to pay more. I hope I can be a martial arts master one day."
The Taolu competition has been concluded Tuesday, while Sanda will kick off on Saturday at Quzhou city, the origin of South Shaolin. South Shaolin has been not as famous as the northern one, but it earned much attention recently by its monk's water 'flight' performance, a legendary Shao Lin Qing Gong - "flying on water".
Some wushu professionals expected the Youth Games could further popularize the sport.
"I hope the games can attract more young people to be interested in wushu," said Li Qiang, leader of Fuzhou team. "Wushu is popular in China but we are still lack of high-level athletes."
It is easy for Chinese young people to find a club to learn wushu, as there are many clubs or professional schools, but in order to foster more talents as well as further popularize the sport, some clubs found they have to make changes to attract more students.
"If we only teach wushu, it will be too narrow and parents don't want to send their children to us," said Zhuang Xicong, headmaster of Quanzhou Jianying School, which was changed from a wushu club. "The school was a professional wushu club, but I changed it to a comprehensive school with wushu characteristic," he said.
"Wushu is an important part of traditional Chinese culture, and I hope we can unite it with cultural education," Zhuang said.
Wushu has become a popular course in more and more Chinese schools. Taolu routines and wushu exercises are welcomed among students.
