Shaolin monks enter entertainment wrestling with kung fu

BEIJING: Monks at the famous Shaolin temple, the birthplace of kung fu, have entered entertainment wrestling and are playing along with Japanese and American wrestlers.
The monks and other practitioners of Chinese kung fu are being supported by a Shanghai-based organiser of entertainment wrestling, the Oriental Wrestling Entertainment, which has added kung fu elements like twists and turns to traditional Western-style wrestling.
“We are the translators, we try to tell the world about Chinese kung fu through the platform of wrestling,” the South China Morning Post quoted Oriental Wrestling Entertainment vice-president Michael Nee as saying.
The company inducts kung fu practitioners and trains them in wrestling before sending them to rings to fight. The kung fu wrestlers debut show last February got 400 million hits on the QQ social media platform.
“For other wrestlers without a kung fu or martial arts foundation, maybe it would take them two years to learn. Our kids learn within three months,” Nee told the paper.
He said the company is engaged in talks with the Chinese government for permission to incorporate kung fu in wrestling. “We talked to government people, they gave us direction. We will use this to spread Chinese martial arts culture to the world, to make our young Chinese generation go for martial arts, become stronger and healthier,” Nee said.