THREE MONTHS' KUNG FU TRAINING IN FAWANG TEMPLE ~ Alessio (Italy)

Fawang Temple welcomes foreign students all year round (except in winter season).

Alessio has lived in SongShan Fawang Temple in China for kung fu training from May to August this year, for three months.

Back to his home country Italy, La Sesia, a local newspaper has published an article about his experience in China. Here is its translation (partially summarized) ;

<Three months in China to learn kung fu>

Alessio Maraventano lived in a temple for a Shaolin kung fu training. Now he has been back home, and talks about his experience;

“I have always wanted to take on such a experience. I had already practiced martial arts, so once I realized that time had come, I decided to go ahead.

I had no idea where to go nor whom to contact there, so I asked my teacher for advice. He told me about Fawang Temple in Dengfeng, a small town located in 700 kilometers to the south of Beijing.

Training in Fawang Temple was very hard. The whistle sounds at 5 o'clock in the morning. The first exercise was very physical and athletic, based on running, physical exercises such as push-ups, sit-ups, and flexibility workout --- Shaolin warriors’ nightmare.

The steps could be used in a thousand different ways --- frog jump, with one leg, with a partner on the shoulders....

After breakfast, came kung fu class. Positions, individual and group exercises, forms and their applications, learning weapons such as staff, in my case I learned broadsword. The third training in the afternoon, was to repeat the techniques which we had learned in the morning.

I was impressed by the skill of the children that in their tender age, they were mature like adults. Fawang is practically a training school. The parents send their children in this temple to ensure them a brighter future. Many are destined for the military departments, others to the police, and maybe the luckiest become actors.

--- What did this experience bring you? A great improvement in kung fu practice at the technical level. Skills, knowledge, and great friendships..."