Thu, Oct 08, 2009 page2

• FEATURE: Former truant finds inspiration in kung fu

  DREAMING The kid who used to run away from school found his life changed when he started learning kung fu and now hopes to establish a school to help other kids

  • By Flor Wang / CNA
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  The future looked bleak for Chang Ching-kuo (張青國) when he dropped out of school at the age of nine and occasionally ran away from home. His life changed, however, when he saw the films of Ashton Chen (釋小龍), a child kung fu star of the early 1990s.

  Inspired by Chen, the Keelung native begged his father to send him to the Songshan Shaolin Temple Film and TV Kungfu Academy in China’s Henan Province. The move changed Chang’s life, and now he harbors the dream of using his martial arts training to help troubled youths — just as the Shaolin academy helped him.

  “My biggest dream is to set up a nine-year martial arts school to help kids and teenagers who have lost their way lead normal lives and build up their moral integrity,” Chang said.

  

  Twenty-seven-year-old Chang Ching-kuo, a lay graduate of the Songshan Shaolin Temple Monks Training Base Mission in China’s Henan Province, strikes a martial arts pose at a riverside park in Taipei yesterday.

  PHOTO: CNA

  The idea crosses the 27-year-old's mind every time he sees children or teenagers wasting their time on the streets or in Internet cafes.

  “Seeing this always makes me feel that a kung fu school would be good to help these kids get back on the right track,” he said. “Learning martial arts — such as kung fu — is really tiring and requires single-mindedness, but my personal experience is kids are motivated to spend time studying after completing kung fu practice for the day.”

  Chang speaks from experience. His parents divorced when he was only two years old, leaving his grandmother to look after him. He started running away from home and regularly missed classes after entering elementary school.

  “Every member of my family thought I was hopeless,” he said.

  In 1990, he entered the Songshan Shaolin Temple Film and TV Kungfu Academy, which teaches children basic martial arts. Chang spent five years at the academy.

  “Those days were beset with difficulties, and it took me several years to adapt to the extremely restrictive and disciplined environment,” he said. “Apart from getting only bland meals, we had to get up at 4:50am every day and start our training routine by running around the base of two nearby mountains. With senior students chasing us with whips, we had to run faster than rabbits.”

  The students were also subjected to physical discipline by older students when their kung fu movements did not measure up.

  “Our thighs often bore bruises,” Chang said, and resting in the dormitory often provided little respite from the daily hardships.

  “During the night, more than 20 people would sleep on a two-level bed in a dormitory of about 100 square meters,” Chang said.

  “During summer, we had to endure temperatures of 40°C without air conditioners or fans, while in winter, we faced temperatures below zero while meditating,” he said.

  After five years of basic training at the academy, Chang received a recommendation to attend the Songshan Shaolin Temple Monks Training Base Mission, becoming the first Taiwanese student there.

  He was then allowed to take part in a warrior monk group and performed around China in the following years until he returned to Taiwan in 2000 to serve his mandatory military service.

  However, with just an elementary school education, Chang had trouble finding work and ended up doing odd jobs as a construction worker, private security guard and waiter.

  Not until he appeared on a local TV show in 2007 did he achieve some level of recognition, but even then he was criticized for “seeking fame.”

  In the face of the mounting criticism, Hua Lin (華琳), secretary-general of the Taiwan Zen Buddhist Association, came to Chang’s defense, praising his martial arts skills as a genuine accomplishment.

  “Chang’s hard qigong, such as punching, flying kicks, swordplay, iron head and weapon wielding, is really amazing and is evidence that Chang has mastered the techniques of the so-called 18 types of Chinese martial arts,” Hua said.

  The association now frequently invites Chang to teach Shaolin martial arts in different regions of the country. He also returns to the Songshan Shaolin Temple every year or two to perfect his techniques.

  Speaking of the years he spent mastering kung fu in China, Chang attributes everything to destiny.

  “I do not regret all the years I spent learning kung fu in China, even if I missed the chance to go to college in Taiwan, because it taught me to be an upright person,” he said.

  Hoping to contribute to society, Chang regularly helps the underprivileged, such as visiting the Taichung Drug Abuse Treatment Center to help addicts with their rehabilitation.

  He also stages qigong performances for charity at nursery schools and institutions for the mentally challenged.

  Establishing a kung fu school, though, remains Chang’s major goal.

  “Learning kung fu can help kids achieve a healthy state, both mentally and physically,” he said. “As Abbot Shi Yan Zhang told me, a kung fu practitioner is nothing without a strong sense of morals. The main tenet of kung fu is to cultivate one’s moral character.”

  Hearing that the Miaoli County government is planning to establish a kung fu school next year, Chang wonders when his chance will come.

  He said his goal remains no more than a distant dream hindered by stiff challenges.

  “Given the lack of support from the government or the private sector, it is a very difficult task,” he said, but added that he would not be deterred from his goal because he was committedd to doing something for children with problems.

  “My experience at Shaolin Temple made me aware that adults must find an appropriate method to educate hyperactive children, who can easily become a good for nothing by missing school or running away from home,” he said.
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