Wushu Interview with Mark Moran

Mark Moran has been studying Wushu since 1995. He has previously ranked 2nd in U.S Nationals. As founder of www.wushuzilla.com he has been able to train with some of the top wushu athletes in the world.  

Brandon: We heard rumors that Wushu was going to become an Olympic sport in a few years. Do you know anything about this? If so, what…and what are your feelings on it?

Mark: Currently wushu is in the running to be included in the Olympics in 2020. Wrestling was taken out of the Olympics for the 2020 games and they are seeking a replacement as one of the new core sports.  

Well, sort of. Actually wrestling has to fight for its position in the Olympic Games along with 7 other sports, one of which is wushu.  

The other sports are karate, sport climbing, squash, baseball/softball (they are in a joint bid), wake boarding and roller sports.  Most people feel that wrestling wouldn't be put back in so quickly after being removed from the core sports, so most likely it is a choice between the others.

In May there is supposed to be another reduction of the number of potential sports but I haven't yet heard the results (it is still early May right now).  But in September the IOC (International Olympic Committee) will have a meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina to determine the new Olympic sport, so a lot of people are anxious to find out the verdict.  

My personal feelings are that wushu, as a sport, would do well to be included in the Olympics.  It has a lot of what the Olympics are about, plus a judging and competition format that is (relatively) easy to understand.  It will be tricky to see how the public absorbs and understands the finer points of wushu competition, but looking at it just as a sport I think it would do well.

Of course, wushu has a few minuses against it too.  Some of the National organizing bodies are not very well organized and there is still quite a bit of infighting and bad politics involved. But, to be honest, that is the case with a whole lot of sports, so it isn't something necessarily unique to wushu.  

I hope that it gets included, because I think it deserves a chance to be in the international Olympic spotlight.  What it does with that kind of public recognition depends on a lot of things, but I have my fingers crossed that everything goes well.

Brandon: Out of all the Wushu tournaments you’ve been to which one do you think had the best competitors?  

Mark: Well, naturally the competitions in China have the highest level of competitors.  I've attended a number of national wushu competitions in China and the level of athletes is always far above the level at the international competitions.  

While many countries have excellent athletes who are on par with the Chinese level, on a whole Chinese athletes have a much higher average level than other countries.  So, where you might have a dozen really good athletes in one country, in China you would have hundreds of athletes at that level.  They just have a much larger pool of high level wushu athletes to draw on, so as a result their national competitions have a very high median level of skill, as compared to an international competition.

Brandon: Are there different styles to Wushu? How does a beginner tell them apart?

Mark: Traditionally, there are hundreds (1,500, give or take) of styles in wushu and some of them have very distinctive attributes.  It is one of the great things about Chinese martial arts -- having this large reservoir of styles to draw on.

However, in terms of contemporary or modern sport wushu, you have a more limited number of styles to view.  When the Chinese government standardized martial arts as a competitive sport they grouped certain styles together so that, as a sport, it could be judged fairly.

One of the biggest misunderstandings people have is to view traditional wushu and modern wushu as the same thing.  Yes, they are born from the same roots, but the branches of each are unique in how they express their purpose.  

A sport wushu athlete's aim is not to learn techniques for the purpose of application, although understanding the basis of movements and their purpose is important, but they focus on getting a high score in order to place well in competition.  (Keeping in mind that I'm discussing specifically taolu -- forms -- competition, not sanda -- fighting --)

You can think of it like the difference between Olympic archery and archery for hunting, or as seen in Lord of the Rings where people use it for combat.  If you look at the sport version of archery it is quite different than the real-world application of using a bow and arrow to hunt or fight. However, at the level of techniques or fundamental skills, they still share a lot of attributes.

So, sport wushu and traditional wushu are different in the way they are used by practitioners, but they share a common fundamental root with which both athletes and fighters need to be familiar.  In order to adapt to modern athletic competition the number of styles in modern wushu competitions has been reduced to specific "representative" styles.  

In hand forms there are three main styles used in competition; Changquan (Long Fist), Nanquan (Southern Fist) and Taiji Quan (Tai Chi).  These styles are comprised of elements of various traditional styles from the north, south and within the five Taiji lineages, respectively.  

For example, Changquan is comprised of traditional changquan, chaquan, huaquan, paochui and hongquan.  So, the modern wushu athlete can adapt movements from each of these northern styles in their forms when they compete.

Each of these styles are easy to recognize since they have very distinctive styles and movements associated with them.  Changquan has longer extension whereas Nanquan's techniques are shorter and more grounded, plus you will have yells (fa shang) which make it even more distinctive.  Taiji Quan, of course, is quite distinctive as it has slower movements, but since it includes other types of Taiji such as Chen style, you also get explosive and fast movements.

For weapons there are 4 northern weapons, 2 southern weapons, and 1 Taiji weapon.  The northern are Jianshu (straightsword), Qiangshu (spear), Daoshu (broadsword/saber) and Gunshu (staff) -- so two short weapons and two long weapons.  The southern weapons are Nandao (southern saber) and Nangun (southern staff) and the Taiji weapon is Taiji Jian (Tai Chi straightsword).

These are all easy to identify since the weapons used in each one is different.

Now, I've just been talking about the differences of contemporary wushu competitive styles.  When you get in to traditional styles or you attend a competition that is open to traditional Chinese martial arts, then you have a lot more to contend with.  

At first this can be confusing, but after a while you realize that each style has certain distinctive movements that separate it and contribute to both its unique qualities as well as easy identification.

A good way to approach it is to first look at the hands.  A lot of styles have distinctive ways to use their hands, so paying attention to the way the fingers are shaped or the fist is formed, can help.  

Preying Mantis, for example, has a very distinctive hand position that you would never see in, say, Eagle Claw.  Of course, since there are many variations of Preying Mantis (seven star, 8-step, etc.) then you have a whole different ball of wax to deal with.  But this can at least help you break the styles down into the major schools.

After the hands I might look at the stepping and stances.  Certain styles have distinctive ways to use their legs and feet.  This is especially helpful when distinguishing between northern and southern styles.  A strong, stable mabu (horse stance) is indicative of many southern styles such as Choy Li Fut or Tiger Crane Hung Gar, whereas you might have higher stances or more extension of the legs on northern styles such as Cha Quan or Fanzi Quan.

Of course, each style's application is what really separates it from others, so look at the methods the practitioner uses to attack or defend.  Certain styles have characteristic styles of hitting or blocking.  For example, the way a Baji Quan practitioner uses their elbows to strike are easy to spot, which is much different than someone who is using their elbows in Wing Chun.

For weapons you can also look at certain stylistic elements that separate it from other styles that might use the same weapon.  For example, with a broadsword you might have a southern Choy Li Fut approach to this weapon, which will be quite different than a Shaolin way to use it, which is also different from the Bagua Zhang style of broadsword or the Preying Mantis style of broadsword.  

Like I said, the diversity of Chinese martial arts is one of the great cultural treasures that this art has to offer to the world.  When exploring the modern sport variant of Chinese martial arts, it is also good to learn about the traditional roots of the sport so that you can see both the beautiful waves on top, as well as the deep ocean below the surface.

Brandon: One of your 5 top tips for Wushu is don’t generalize? Can you elaborate on this further?

Mark: In hind sight, using the world "generalize" was probably not accurate.  I should have said to not "judge".  This word fits better in the context of what I was talking about.

The full article is actually about my 5 tips for training wushu in China, which is really about understanding some of the differences that a western wushu student might have between the training environment back home, and the Chinese system of training.

So, in that context, the reason I say it is important not to judge, is that we all come with preconceived ideas about what a culture or a group of people will be like -- even our own.  It isn't done with a negative intention, but it is just part of the process of learning about the diversity of our world, and it can't be helped when exploring a new place on the planet.

But beyond keeping an open mind when viewing a new culture, language or group of people, it is also very important to be open minded with your wushu training.

A lot of people come to China with the belief that they need to be in a very specific situation. They've decided that they have to go to location X and train in Y style in order to accomplish Z goals.

But the reality is that a specific location or a specific style or a specific goal isn't really going to determine your success with wushu in China.  The most important thing about training in China is finding a coach that you can connect with and who will take the time and effort to really help you and work with you.

I often say that I would rather have a great coach training me in a parking lot than have an amazing wushu facility with the best equipment and a coach that doesn't care.  Of course, having both is the ideal, but I find that it is best to look for that relationship first, and then seek out the resources second.

Another thing to keep in mind is that you might have an idea of what your "best coach" will look like, but you should be open minded in who you meet.  You might think you need a grey haired traditional master to teach you, but it turns out the young girl athlete is actually able to help you the most.  Or you might think you want to train with a current professional athlete, but actually the coach who never competed is a better match for you.

In wushu, in China and in life, keeping an open mind means you will be able to spot the opportunities that present themselves to you.  This is what I meant by that statement.

Brandon: How do you personally get over the nervousness of competing?

Mark: Well, I have never completely gotten over being nervous when competing.  Part of what a lot of people like about competing is that rush you get before you step on the carpet or mat.  It is a natural physical reaction to that situation so it isn't something you should try to get rid of.  In fact, I think that being a bit nervous can help your performance and give you more energy.

However, there are ways to calm yourself down a bit and focus your energies more.  One of the best ways for me is to just practice competing.  The more you do something, the less scary and nerve-inducing it becomes.  

If the first time you ever compete is at the big national competition, then you're going to be in a scary state of mind.  But if you practice by going to a series of smaller local or regional competitions first, you will not only feel more comfortable with competing in front of people, but you will also have worked out all the variables that might come up.

Whether it is figuring out your game-day nutritional program, or figuring out how to get your stretching in or your warm ups down at the venue -- these are all things you can figure out through smaller competitions before the "big" one.  Every competition then becomes an opportunity to learn the best way to prepare yourself to bring out your best performance.  It is a chance to learn new distinctions in your approach and fine-tune your competitive machine.

The other thing that helps is just really knowing your stuff.  The more prepared you are for something the better you will do.  Because then it becomes second nature.

It is similar to public speaking.  The better prepared you are with what you need to talk about, the better your presentation.  However, there is also a school of thought that says you should have some sort of fluidity in your presentation. What that means is that you shouldn't just memorize everything you're going to say or do, but go based on a set structure or outline that you really know well, but allow yourself to integrate variations in to your routine.  

Sometimes you forget a movement. Sometimes the space isn't right for your form.  Sometimes you don't have the right weapon or shoes or whatever.  These things happen and part of practice of competing is having experience with these challenges and knowing your contingency plans.  You have to really know your stuff, but also be able to adapt and be flexible.  

For me, approaching a competition in this way helps alleviate a lot of the unnecessary feelings of nervousness, and it allows me to focus on what is most important -- doing my best.

After all, the only real competition isn't with the other athletes.  It is with yourself.  And if you approach each competition as a way to challenge yourself and overcome your own limitations, then you will always learn something new, and you will always succeed.

Brandon: What are hardest obstacles you faced while training in Wushu? How did you overcome them?

Mark: The main obstacles in wushu training, as with almost everything else in life, is one's self.  While it can be challenging to find a good school, or coach, or facility, or the time to train, or being injured, ultimately the biggest obstacle on your path is yourself and your own mind.

Fortunately these obstacles are able to be overcome with another resource you have at your disposal -- your imagination.  By being creative you can find solutions to any problem you might face.  Your attitude and approach to life's challenges is what determines your ability to succeed in the face of adversity.

A while back I had the obstacle of not having a place to train in the city I was living.  But I realized that I had given myself a specific definition of "training facility" that wasn't necessarily accurate.  If you look at those old kung fu films where people are outside doing their forms -- did they have some special training facility with nice wushu carpets?  

Of course not.  So, I just sucked it up and trained myself outside.  Yes it was cold (this was winter in China, so it was freezing outside -- literally freezing) but I was able to bundle up, build up a lot of body heat, and get in some good training.

Or when I injured my knees, I could have easily let it get me down and decide that it was time to quit wushu.  But instead I used my imagination to figure out other methods of training that would allow me to work around this new limitation.  

If you approach an obstacle with an open mind and some creative flexibility, you can overcome it.  The only true barrier to success is in our mind.

Brandon: Which weapon did you find hardest to master and why?

Mark: Well, this is assuming I'm a "master" of anything.  In general I don't use that label when referring to myself because I see the path of mastery as a never-ending road.  If I call myself a "master" of something, then it is like saying that I have completed the path to mastery, which I hope is something that never happens.

There will never be a day when I say "Okay, I've learned wushu. Now what?" because you can never be a complete master of wushu.  Someday I might decide that I would like to do something besides wushu, but it won't be because I have "mastered" or "finished" it.

Okay, so you get the point about the whole "mastery" thing.

But as for a weapon, I would say that all weapons have their particular quirks and idiosyncratic attributes.  With broadsword a lot of people have problems wrapping close to their body. With straightsword people might not use their wrists correctly.  With spear people might not use their waist the right way. Or with staff you might not get the right hip rotation on a certain movement.

But these aren't barriers to proficiency with these weapons.  The key to understanding weapons is in seeing them as an extension of your own body.  Weapons are not separate from you when you do wushu.  When you see a high level wushu athlete using a weapon, they use it the same way they use their arm or leg -- it is just a part of them.  

And in the artistry of wushu, weapons are just another apparatus where you can explore your individual artistry and express your inner character through movement.  In order to reach that type of level, a certain amount of basic training is required.  And that basic training -- years and years of it sometimes -- is what really puts you on that path to mastery.

You don't master something, such as a weapon, but learning a trick or a special maneuver or swing of the sword.  You begin to master something by being on a path of diligent exploration and investigating every mundane movement and basic technique to its fullest expression and deepest level.

As the saying goes (which I'm totally paraphrasing), I don't fear the man who knows a thousand kicks, but I fear the man who knows one kick and practices it a thousand times.  

To be a master, you have to commit yourself to exploring the most basic fundamentals.  In that way, you will develop the highest levels of skill.

Brandon: Is there anything else you would like to tell our readers?

Mark: Only that, in the path of studying martial arts, there is never a final destination.  You can always learn more and improve.  The only limitation is ourselves and our preconceptions about how the world works.  

Keep an open mind, be aware of the world around you, see things through the eyes of others, and never assume that you are better than others.  

Mastery in martial arts comes from a combination of a willingness to explore the details of an art, and humble open-mindedness towards all possibilities.  

It is the yin of minutia and the yang of the universe.  On the one hand you have the smallest of the small, and on the other hand you have the largest of the large. 

If you can join those two things together you will be filled with limitless potential.



Thank you Mark for taking the time to offer such a detailed insight to wushu. We are excited to pass on to others what you have shared with us today.