S China event will help promote martial arts abroad

The 2017 Heshan Wing Chun International Invitational scheduled for next week is expected to help promote Chinese wushu, or martial arts, and culture abroad, organizers said.

Jointly organized by the Heshan city government, Guangdong Radio and Television Station and Guangdong Wushu Association, the event will take place Nov 19 and 20 in the Pearl River delta city, attracting about 1,000 Wing Chun players, practitioners and fans from around the world.

Zhang Mingzhong, director of the Heshan sports bureau, said the event, the largest of its kind to be held in Guangdong province, will help further spread Wing Chun and wushu in Heshan, known as a hometown of wushu.

"Heshan, birthplace of Wing Chun master Liang Zan, has more than 300,000 residents now practicing Wing Chun," Zhang said.

Wing Chun has now replaced traditional broadcast exercises in all local primary and high schools.

Liang Zan (1825-1894), founder of Wing Chun, taught the master of Ye Wen, or Ip Man in Hong Kong, another famous Wing Chun practitioner who was well-known at home and abroad.

Ye was the Wing Chun teacher of kung fu star Bruce Lee.

Wing Chun, one of the major Chinese martial arts, is particularly popular in the southern Chinese region, including the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions.