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This page holds details of what activities Lu Yan has recently been involved in.
Reviews given by her students of her teaching are also presented here. Other
pieces of news that are related to her, the Beijing Wushu team or about Wushu in
general that may be of interest to the reader are also presented or linked to
here.
Note that on older pieces of news the links to external websites may now be
redundant.
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 Lu Yan really enjoys teaching children Wushu.
She knows that if you can teach children good basics when they are young
then these lessons will stay with them forever. We were hence especially fortunate that this month Lu Yan was able to
teach Daylan from Canada for a few lessons.
Daylan has been training for a few years already and already has some good skills. He knows all the stances and kicks, but his moves were just
lacking that final touch that makes the distinction between a good Wushu practitioner and a great one.
Lu Yan helped Daylan with his Changquan, Dao and Gun taolu’s, mostly concentrating on the rhythm of the forms. She ensured that Daylan
paused in the right places and that fast moves were indeed fast. She encouraged Daylan to use power in his punches and kicks, also emphasising
that each move had to have intention, which is very important in Wushu performances.
Daylan's Dad had the following to say about Lu Yan's teaching:
"Daylan thoroughly enjoyed training with Lu Yan. She strikes a very admirable balance between pushing Daylan to do better while at the
same time keeping the training positive. Our only regret is that we couldn't stay in Beijing longer to do more training. Lu Yan really
brought a lot more definition to Daylan's forms. It is so great that a person of her calibre has such a genuine interest in working with children at a basic level."
A few days after returning to Canada Daylan attended a provincial Wushu competition where he managed to take the Gold in his Dao and Silver in Changquan –
so it looks like the training paid off! Lu Yan would like to extend her heartfelt congratulations to Daylan and wish him every success for his ongoing Wushu training.
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This month we had some unfortunate news. One of Lu Yan’s old team mates, Wang Qun, passed away at the age of only 48. He was a member
of the Beijing Wushu team for several years. Lu Yan went to his funeral where she met up with several of her old team mates.
Jet Li’s elder brother also went along and he invited everyone to get together again in a few days time. Lu Yan went along and met up
with several people she hadn’t seen for a long time, including Li Zhizhou, who is now back in Beijing.
Wu Bin also organised a meal for all the old Beijing Wushu team members and there was a big turn out – probably about 50 team members
and their families went along. Wu Bin was really pleased with how the event ran and so there was talk of this happening again in Summer,
when overseas members of the Beijing Wushu team will be Beijing again.
I do have some pictures of both these gatherings but they are just awful (all out of focus – never buy a Sony camera) so I haven’t
posted them I’m afraid. If I get some better ones then I will post them up.
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Training here in Beijing in Winter is always pretty hard work – the cold here seems to seep into your bones, making it harder
to warm up and work hard. This did not deter Katherine though, a Wushu beginner, from getting started in this great sport.
Katherine recently moved to Beijing and wanted to get some instruction in the basics of Wushu. She already has good flexibility
from Yoga training and being a keen runner also has a very good overall fitness level. Hence she took to Wushu very easily and
after only a few lessons was already proficient at the Wushu jibengong.
On one occasion Katherine also brought a couple of her friends along to class and we went to eat jiaozi afterwards, which is always great fun!
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Recently we were approached by a German online magazine about doing an interview with Lu Yan. We obliged and the end result can now be seen on
their website, Always Inspiring More (if the Lu Yan interview is not on their main page anymore
then go to their ‘People’ section).
We think the article has been written and put together well - go take a read and let us know what you think!
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This month saw the World Wushu Championships come to Beijing. This event takes place every two years and is a well attended
international Wushu competition, with teams from all over the world competing in both taolu and sanda disciplines. It’s also
good as it brings together several of Lu Yan’s friends and old team mates, and as this year the event was in Beijing, it meant
that everyone was on our doorstep!
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 This
year Wang shifu from Tatwong Martial Arts was the Sanda coach for the US team, so he was over for the competition.
We managed to catch up with him and Tsai shifu for an evening of food and drinks after the competition. Hao Zhihua was
also in town so she came along too which was great as Lu Yan hadn’t seen her for about 5 years, so there was lots of
catching up to do!
After the meal we then went on to enjoy the compulsory Karaoke session well into the night.
We were also lucky enough to have one of the Canadian team, Nathan, join us for a few days training.
He competed in the southern styles of Nanquan, Nandao and Nangun, narrowly missing out on taking 6th place which would have secured him a
place in next year’s Olympic companion Wushu competition.
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STOP PRESS! Nathan qualified for the 2008 Olympic parallel event which is excellent news, well done Nathan! We're looking forward to
seeing you here again next year!
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Beijing has a very short Autumn, and this year was no exception, with the cold winds very quickly bringing in the start of Winter.
As it gets colder it also takes longer to warm up and the same stretch that you could do easily only a few months ago feels a lot
harder to achieve. But not to worry, in Beijing the heating comes on in November!
 Lu Yan generally
teaches short term students who come over for a few weeks at a time to concentrate on their training. We do occasionally get longer term students,
and in the case of Chad, some Beijing residents. Chad has been working in Beijing as a Physical Education teacher for some years now, and recently
decided that it was about time he enjoyed the benefits of living in a city with such a great Wushu tradition. Lu Yan was more than happy to help
him achieve his goal!
Previously Chad had trained some general Kungfu and Taiji, but wanted to learn some different styles so Lu Yan has been helping him to choose a style
that suits him and that he enjoys practising. So far Chad has learned some Bagua basic walking techniques, some two handed sword basics, but has
concentrated mostly on learning Nanquan. Nanquan actually suits Chad’s build very well, as he is very powerful and to perform Nanquan well the practitioner
needs a lot of speed, power and precision – all of which Chad possesses.
Over the next few months I think we will see Chad’s skill go from strength to strength… as long as he keeps up his out of class practice of course!!
Next month we see the 9th World Wushu competition come to Beijing. This should be an excellent competition as it really is a test run for the Wushu
competition that will be run alongside the Olympics next year. As such I am sure that the Beijing officials will be doing their utmost to make this
competition not only a great success, but also the best IWUF competition to date… I can’t wait!
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This month we unfortunately had to bid Ash farewell. Nothing seemed to go right for Ash from the moment he got off the
plane at Beijing Capital Airport. Money troubles, accommodation woes, and to top it all off problems with his flight home,
kind of sum up his situation.
In the past few weeks though Ash has been training a couple of days a week and has managed to more or less complete his Changquan set,
and has also learned half a Zuiquan set. It’s a shame that he didn’t get to finish them off but you never know, hopefully he will be
able to come back soon and complete them. Both Lu Yan and I wish him well and hope that he can get everything sorted out okay and then
head back over to continue his training when he gets the opportunity.
Ray and Andy from W1F have a new game. It’s called ‘Just turn up and surprise them’. It involves getting a flight to Beijing and then
just turning up to our training session without telling us… it’s a great game, and they find it very amusing! Actually it is funny
when there’s a knock at the door and there’s someone standing there who you chatted to on MSN the day before and they didn’t even give
you a hint that they were actually in Beijing! We will get our revenge… so beware…mwha ha ha!
It was great to have the guys turn up out of the blue though, and both Ray and Andy were on fine form. Andy reviewed his Fanziquan set and
Ray his Tongbei that Lu Yan taught them back in 2005 – the main reason for their trip was to party though so of course we had to go out
and eat a couple of times and squeeze in a Karaoke session too!
This month I had some bad luck. The memory card in my phone decided to corrupt itself so I lost all my pictures of Ash and of the W1F guys too.
So no pictures this month I’m afraid, sorry…!
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 Wow, what a great month! We’ve
had some excellent training this month, with a good mix of styles and students. It’s always exciting to welcome new
students over to train with Lu Yan, and this month we had several new arrivals.
Daniel from Spain came over to train Da Dao (also know as Kwandao) for a week. This was Daniel’s first trip to China and he had organised a very busy sight-seeing
schedule for himself, wanting to soak up as much of Beijing’s culture as he could in his short stay. He still managed to find time to learn a Da Dao
taolu and the majority of a Sanjiegun taolu too! Daniel worked very hard in each class, never stopping to rest or grab a drink of water – he really
is a very dedicated student and we look forward to welcoming him back to Beijing soon.
What was also really great about having Daniel over to train was that although his English was not great, and my Spanish is more or less non-existent, Lu Yan could
still teach him no problem. This is because Wushu has a physical language all of its own. Lu Yan would show a move and then adjust Daniel accordingly so that he
executed the move correctly. It just shows that the spoken word is not always the only means of communication!
 Yas came over from the US for 2 weeks to learn a Zuiquan (Drunken style) taolu, and to refresh his memory of the old compulsory Nanquan taolu. Zuiquan is a
fairly acrobatic style with lots of flips and rolls, but Yas wanted a slightly less gymnastic routine as he was a beginner to this style. Lu Yan obliged,
creating a Zuiquan taolu for Yas, and then added the appropriate level of acrobatic moves that she could see Yas was capable of. The result was an excellent
taolu that Yas worked hard on despite injury, and by the end of his training he was able to perform really well.
This month we also welcomed Ash to Beijing. Ash has never really had any concentrated Wushu training, but has been occasionally training Wushu and Gymnastics
in the UK for several years. He has come to Beijing hoping to start from scratch under Lu Yan’s direction. Ash already has a lot of the more gymnastic moves,
so Lu Yan has been concentrating on his jibengong and also teaching him a Changquan routine. This will help Ash’s general Wushu and also give him a focus for
his training whilst he is here. Ash hopes to stay for several months so we’ll be hearing more about him soon!
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The end of the month also saw Dung going home. Dung has been here for 6 weeks in total and has been training twice a day. In this short space of time he has managed
to learn a new Chang Quan taolu, a new Jian taolu and a new Qiang taolu! That’s impressive stuff.
Dung has been training his taolu hard with Lu Yan reinforcing the important facets of each move in every class. It’s a lot to learn and a lot to remember
but hopefully Dung can keep up this training regimen when he returns to the US.
Over the past few weeks there has been a really noticeable improvement in Dung’s general approach to training too. When you’re tired and your legs
ache it is really hard to persevere with your training. It was clear that Dung was in pain but he stuck with it and has reaped the rewards. If he can keep pushing
himself this way then his Wushu can only go from strength to strength.
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 This has been
an interesting month for Wushu. Wong shifu from Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy has been approached by Disney to help them host their
annual Wushu competition. He came to Beijing to enter into talks with the Chinese Government with the aim of increasing the attendance of
Chinese Wushu athletes at the competition.
To achieve this goal Wong shifu has enlisted the help of Lu Yan and another Martial Arts Grandmaster, John Tsai. Tsai shifu has been practicing
Chinese Martial Arts since he was a child and is one of the world’s foremost authorities on cultivating internal power, having published many
books on the subject. Both Tsai shifu and Lu Yan are helping Wong shifu to make the Disney event a much more international affair.
The competition is in Orlando, Florida in October, and if time permits Lu Yan will be attending the competition as a Judge. If you are interested
in watching or competing then visit the Disney Martial Arts Festival page for more information.
After almost four months of training with Lu Yan the time has finally come for Thai to head home to Canada for the Canadian National Wushu competition.
He has worked extremely hard, especially this last month where he was training four hours a day, and has achieved an enormous amount.
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He now has three individual taolu’s all worked out, but his nandu do still need more work – even so, what he has done in a few months is no small
feat! If Thai had an extra month or two here then I think he would have his nandu moves landing most of the time. Either way, he should feel very
proud of himself for his hard work over this summer, and go into the competition confident of his abilities. Both Lu Yan and I both want to wish
Thai every success with the competition, Jiayo!
 We’re also
really pleased to welcome back another of our students from last year, Dung. Dung is going to be training Jian and Qiang, and Lu Yan will
be helping him put together his own individual taolu’s.
So far in his training Dung has shown a great improvement over last year. He is stronger, his moves all show a degree of power that he didn’t have
previously, and he is a lot faster, cleaner and accurate in the execution of his moves. Lu Yan was really pleased to see that all the hard work
that she put into teaching - and Dung put into training - last year has really helped.
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Beijing is getting hot now, summer is definitely here! And so our summer training can now really begin. Summer is a great time for Wushu training, as the heat
really helps the muscles to stretch and which in turn helps make movements more fluid… just remember to drink lots of water though!
 This month one of Xue Xingfu’s students,
Meiqi, came and trained with Lu Yan. Meiqi has been training with Xingfu for a couple of years now and she wanted to come to China for a few weeks to enhance her skill
set. She had previously learned the old compulsory Changquan and Jian routines, and she wanted Lu Yan to help her hone them, as well as help her Jibengong.
Lu Yan focused on trying to improve Meiqi’s strength, as she was lacking power in her stances. Lu Yan also concentrated on making Meiqi’s movements cleaner, trying to
help her improve her general posture and co-ordination. Facial expression and general attitude is also fundamental to Wushu and Lu Yan helped Meiqi understand where
and when it was most important.
Thai’s training is now going from strength to strength. His new Changquan and Jian individual taolu’s are now completed and he is beginning to work on the small
movements that will give him the final touches he needs. Lu Yan is now starting to put together a Qiang taolu for him as well. His nandu still need some work but
come the competition in August they should be about there.
Although 4 months seems a long time to prepare for a competition, Thai has a lot to fit in. He needs to learn and perfect 3 individual taolu’s, Changquan, Jian
and Qiang, and work his nandu so that they are flawless. Most Chinese athletes would have their taolu’s all worked out six months before a competition, spending
the six months prior to the competition drilling their nandu and combinations. So it’s a big task that Thai has set himself, one that hopefully Lu Yan can
help him achieve.
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This month Xue Xingfu made a fleeting stopover in Beijing and we managed to catch up with him for a bite to eat. Xue Xingfu has been very busy organising a
large group of his students to come over to Beijing to train at Shichahai for a few weeks in June, so we’ll be looking forward to seeing him again next month too!
Ho Huaikun also popped up from Tianjin for the day so that he could meet Xue Xingfu. It’s always great to have Huaikun train with us for a class or two,
as his kicks are extremely fast, so it gives Lu Yan’s students an idea of the sort of results that can be achieved from hard work and determination.
Wang Deming, who is the head Wushu coach at the training centre where we now train in Chaoyang, was also around so we all went to eat together at the restaurant
across the road. Wang Deming is a great character, and we all enjoyed a good meal and plenty of conversations about Wushu.
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 Wow, April already, this
year is whizzing by! We’ve done so much already this year that I can’t believe that we’re only a third of the way through it!
This month we welcomed back one of last year’s students, Thai. You may remember that last year Thai trained double broadsword, but this year he wants to
compete in the Canadian Nationals, so his focus is on the competition events of Changquan, Jian and Qiang.
Thai already has a very high skill level, so Lu Yan has been concentrating on putting together new competition sets for him. The next few months will then be
spent honing the sets, reprising them if needs be, and practising the nandu movements so that they become more and more fluid.
If Thai keeps up his training then he has every chance of performing to his best potential at the Nationals in Montreal at the end of the summer.
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After a week in Shanghai (for my work rather than Lu Yan’s) we headed down to Hong Kong to catch up with our friends from
the Wushu and Arts Centre. We hadn’t been to see them for a year so we were both
looking forward to seeing everyone again.
 Lu Yan
managed to catch up with Lin Quan and Huang Huizhen for a long lunchtime chat, followed by a marathon shopping session
taking advantage of Hong Kong’s Chinese New Year discounts. Huang Huizhen is now the Nanquan coach for the Hong Kong team, which
is not surprising really considering she was Chinese National champion of Nanquan for 8 consecutive years!
Unfortunately Zheng Zhihao did not manage to make it down this time as he is busy setting up an international Sanda competition that he is hoping
to get started this year in August.
Wang Yanghai from the Wushu and Arts Centre asked Lu Yan to help teach some classes
so she did some individual spear and sword training for two of Wang Yanghai’s students, and then she took a class for him as well,
concentrating on their jibengong.
 Wang Yanghai
has just had three of his students accepted into the Hong Kong team which is great news, but like all good coaches
he is looking for more success for his students.
He is very keen for Lu Yan to help him encourage his students to train harder and hopefully have more promoted to the Hong Kong team.
...And last but not least, Happy Chinese New Year!
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This month Lu Yan helped Wang Deming take some classes while he went to Italy to visit some Wushu schools. Coach Wang is actually one
of Sun Zhijun’s most senior students and he asked Lu Yan to help him teach his kids classes and his adults Chen style Taiji classes while he was away.
Lu Yan enjoys teaching kids so she had fun taking Wang Deming’s class for him. She taught the youngsters a sword form and some spear routines in
the three weeks that she took their classes. To start with the kids were pretty naughty, so Lu Yan made sure that they knew who was boss!
Before long though they were all training hard and Lu Yan was pleased with how the kids progressed – the parents were also pleased, complementing
Lu Yan several times on her teaching method.
The Chen style Taiji class was composed of adults who have already been learning Yang style Taiji for several years, and are now making the
first steps towards learning Chen style. There is a big difference between the two styles, so Lu Yan initially made sure that the students
were all well versed in the Chen style jibengong. She then went on to polish their performance of the Chen Competition form, ensuring that
some of the subtleties in the style were not missed.
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We also had an unexpected visit from Master Wong and Darryl from the Tat Wong Kung Fu Academy.
Lu Yan went to the US in 2002 to teach a few seminars for him and they have been friends ever since. Master Wong also brought along another
one of Lu Yan’s old friends, Ma Zhongxuan. Ma Zhongxuan used to be in the Shandong Wushu team and competed Changquan and Jian shu. Recently
he has been doing a lot of film and stunt work, mostly directing and stunt choreography, and he was also involved in Li Lianjie’s recent
film ‘Fearless’. We all had a very entertaining evening out which started with a meal and ended with a Karaoke session lasting well into
the early hours of the morning.
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Overall it’s been a busy month for Lu Yan, and with a trip to Hong Kong planned for next month, March also looks like its going to be busy too!
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Now that Christmas is over it’s time to get back into the swing of teaching and training – work off some
of that excess weight put on over the festive season. This month though we had a couple more special
occasions to celebrate, so the waistline reduction plans had to go on hold for a while!
 Firstly
Ge Chunyan came over from Singapore for a brief visit, and we caught up with her and Mi Jinpei for some tea and a chat. Ge
Chunyan predominantly teaches Bagua and Chen style Taiji now and was over in Beijing to see her instructors, Sun Zhijun and
Feng laoshi. Feng laoshi just celebrated his 80th birthday and is still as fit as they come, showing the benefits that can be
reaped from training a lifetime of Taiji.
Shortly afterwards, Lu Yan’s old coach Li Junfeng came to Beijing for a short visit as well. He was very busy this trip so
we were very pleased that he and his wife managed to come and spend an afternoon chatting with us.
Mi Jinpei also made it along, as did Hui Xuna and her husband Antonio Flores, who we haven’t seen for a long time, so that
made the occasion all the more entertaining.
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February promises to be a busy month, as Lu Yan is going to be doing some teaching to help one of her Wushu colleagues, Wang Deming.
She will be teaching a Chen Taiji class, and also some Jian and Qiang jibengong to one of the kids classes.
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Want to learn more about Wushu? Visit the
Articles pages
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Coaching Career pages
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Train with Lu Yan pages
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