Boxing

Two years ago, I studied Chinese at Beijing's Capital Normal University through Duke University's program. While there, I took an extracurricular class on Wushu (Chinese martial arts) offered through the program. I enjoy physical exercise, finding it both a relaxing break from rigorous study and a good way to stay healthy and energetic. Therefore, when I found out the local gym I'd joined here in Harbin offered boxing classes, I jumped at the opportunity. It would prove to be even more enjoyable and worthwhile than I expected.

Teacher Zhang is a 75 year old Harbin native, who has been boxing and teaching boxing for over 55 years. He learned from the Soviets back in the 50's before China's relationship with the Soviet Union grew cold. Although he's 75, he has the muscular build of a young man. He's a fantastic teacher, and has advice on everything from healthy living to getting out of a street fight. Some of my favorite quotes of his include "Tobacco and liquor are the enemies of the athlete," and "You'll learn fast because you're American, like Mohammad Ali." Within a few months, he taught me all the basics of the sport, including stances, defense, various strikes and rules. Not only is it fun, but I've been learning a lot of unique Chinese vocabulary, including everything from jab, cross, and roundhouse, to footwork and mouth-guard.
Sparring with the other students has also been a fun way to meet other college students and have fun.

My boxing class also encouraged me to see more of Harbin. My trip to Dacheng Street, which has a lot of sporting goods stores was an enjoyable excursion. I got to take a bus to a different part of Harbin and I was able to buy the things I needed such as boxing gloves, ankle supports, and fist wraps.

I often find Western travelers to other parts of the world are fascinated with what's different about a culture, and overlook obvious similarities. I guess this is true of all people who live outside of the culture they were born in, but usually looking a little deeper reveals similarities. In rural northern China people sleep on a large heated brick bed known as a Kang. This sure seems different from anything we have in the West, until one looks a little deeper and realizes the Kang is found throughout the world, including Eastern Europe. In Yiddish its known as a "pripichick". According to my father, my grandmother sang "On the Pripichick" to my dad, who played the song on the piano. Similar misunderstandings surround the martial arts. Kung Fu with its exotic kicks and moves and Taiji with its slow movement seem about as different from boxing as can be. Once while on a train in China, I chatted with an American who had been living here for a few months, teaching English. He talked about the Taiji class he was taking and how fascinating it was that the Chinese saw power as coming from the center of the body, a point just below the belly button, unlike Western boxing which uses the strength of the arms. Fortunately, when I first started taking boxing lessons in Harbin, I was also taking Taiji classes at the same gym.

Although, I eventually dropped the Taiji classes because of the time constraints of being a full time student, I was able to get some insight into Taiji, and from what I could tell the foundations were the same as boxing, only the ways in which that foundation manifested itself were different. In boxing, powerful punches also come from the center of the body and punches are delivered by twisting the core and shifting weight from one leg to another, motions practiced repeatedly in Taiji. When practicing the motions, the two arts really seemed to blend together in my mind. Then again, is it any surprise that there are similarities between Chinese and Western martial arts? Humans everywhere have two arms and two legs.

One of the most important lessons I've learned in boxing class was how to handle fear. Ironically, says my teacher, the more you fear getting hit in the face, the more you get hit. If you are calm, focused, and don't fear, then you can block, duck, make eye contact, and predict your opponents motions. It reminds me of the Roosevelt quote, "All we have to fear is fear itself." It's a lesson that applies to all aspects of life. Sometimes when studying Chinese, I get discouraged and fear I won't be able to learn a plethora of new vocabulary or new sentence patterns. But if I vanquish my fear and work hard, then I can learn it.