The December 2013 Tai Chi Calendar is available here:
December 2013 Tai Chi Calendar

Our July Summer training is now over!
Thanks for all who attended, and we hope to see you in September!

The 4^th World Junior Wushu Championships at Macau has drawn to a successful close. Brianna Chan of Ji Hong won 1 gold and 1 bronze medals for Canada! This is a major International Wushu Federation event hosted by the Macau Wushu Association at the Tap Seac Multi-sports Pavilion in Macau. Over 500 athletes from 43 countries competed in 35 Taolu and 12 Sanda venues.

At the Canadian Wushu Championships selection competition held earlier in August 24^th and 25^th this year, a team of 6 male and 6 females athletes was formed. Brianna Chan with the higher score in her category and winner of 3 gold medals joined the A group. 9-year old Brandon Luo with the second highest score and winner of 1 gold and 2 silver joined the male C group.

Master Jennifer Gu of Ji Hong College,  a ten-time Canadian national Wushu coach, was among the team coaches leading the Canadian team to compete in this far-away city in southern China. After several days of intense and fierce competitions, Brianna Chan won a gold medal in Nanquan in the female group A category, and a bronze medal in Nandao. Brianna has won silver medals in Nanquan in the previous two world championships. To compete for gold in this championship, Brianna gave up her vacation travel plan and spent two months at the training camp at Ji Hong. On the last day of the tournament, on the strength of her solid basic skill and extraordinary performance, she won the appreciation of the adjudicators and over the many professional athletes from the Asian countries, took the gold medal in Nanquan and Bronze medal in Nandao.

Brandon Luo, the young athlete from Ji Hong sustained an injury in his leg muscles during practice. He insisted on competing despite the injury. This being his first world championship competition and hindered by the pain in his leg, he was not able to perform at his usual level in the Changquan in the male C group. However, in his second event, the Daoshu (Sabre), he performed brilliantly and was ranked seventh in this major world championship.

Ji Hong College Students Win 17 Medals at the Canadian National Wushu Championships, with Brianna Chan and Brandon Luo Selected to the Canadian Junior National Team

At the conclusion of the Canadian National Wushu Championships held in Toronto’s Centennial College, two athletes from the Ji Hong Wu Shu and Tai Chi College have been selected to the Canadian Junior National Wushu Team. They will represent Canada at the 4th Junior World Wushu Championship to be held in Macau on September 17th to 25th of this year.

In accordance with the regulations of the International Wushu Federation, the selection competitions were divided into the Taolu and Sanshou divisions. The taolu athletes are further divided into three age groups: group A, 16 to 18 years of age; group B, 13 to 15 years of age; group C, 12 years of age and under. Each athlete must compete in no less than 2 events and no more than 4 events. The national team selection criteria will be based on the total of the top two scores. Two male and two female athletes will be selected from each age group. The national team will therefore be comprised of 6 male and 6 female athletes for a total of 12 athletes. This team will compete in the World Junior Wushu Championship in September this year.

Athletes from around the country, who must first qualify at the provincial selection competition, competed at the two-day tournament. In the end, 9 students from Ji Hong won 5 gold, 5 silver and 7 bronze medals. Brianna Chan won 3 gold medals and ranked first in her group. She was selected to national team group A, Brandon Luo, only 9 year
old won 1 gold and 2 silver medals. Ranked second in his age group, he was selected to the group C of the national team. They will travel far on September 16th to compete in the 4th World Wushu Championship in Macau. Other medals winners from Ji Hong are
Isaiah Wong, 1 gold 2 silver; Curtis Wong, 2 bronze; Tobiah Wong, 1 bronze; Jonathan Huynh, 1 silver 1 bronze; Jeffrey Leung, 2 bronze.

Two years ago, Brianna Chan competed in Singapore at the 3rd World Junior Wushu Championship against many professional athletes from south-east Asia. Competing with poise and high level, she won silver in Nanquan and bronze in Nangun. Her results were the best for a Canadian athlete at the tournament. We wish her the very best in Macau and to again bring honor to Canada. We would also wish Brandon Luo, who at 9 years of age competing at his first world championship to bring home good results.

Ji Hong Wu Shu and Tai Chi College will be holding open houses at the Edmonton schools at downtown location and the Calgary school on Sunday, September 9th and at the same time, 2 to 3 pm. All are welcomed to the event. Please visit the college website at www.jihongtaichi.com for details.

Ji Hong Athletes Spectacular at the 33rd Can Am International Championships

The 33rd Can Am International Championships was held from July 6th to 8th at the University of British Columbia’s War Memorial Gym. This was a huge and historic event for the Western Canadian and Western United States regions. For the first time, the 1st Canada International Wushu Festival and the 1st Canada International Health Qigong Championship were held in conjunction with the grand tournament. More than 300 athletes competed at the championships.

The Ji Hong Wushu and Taichi College athletic team is one of the most powerful teams in all of Canada. It has been more than a decade since Ji Hong has sent an athletic team to the Can Am tournaments as the college has focussed on training and participating in major international and world competitions. At the earnest and persistent invitation of the tournament organizers and taking into consideration of the opportunity for the athletes to prepare for the Canadian Junior Wushu Team selection competition in August, Masters Hong Yuan Luo and Jennifer Gu decided to personally lead a team of some thirty elite athletes from the college to compete in Wushu, Taichi, Push-hand and Health Qigong events. After fierce competition and wowing the audience by their superb performances, Ji Hong athletes scored
spectacular results:

12 Wushu athletes competing in 25 events winning 20 gold, 7 silver medals;
10 Taichi athletes winning 15 gold 11 silver 2 bronze medals in individual events, and 1 gold 1 silver in group events; 3 gold medals in 3 Health Qigong events; and
within 8 Taichi Push-hand events, 8 gold, 7 silver and 6 bronze medals.

It is worth noting that for more than 20 years of competitions in push-hand in Canada, Ji Hong competitors have never conceded a single gold medal to opponents from other schools!

In the grand champion category, 5 Ji Hong athletes have been awarded for their outstanding performances:

Jonathan Leung – Men (over 18) Wushu
Brianna Chan – Women (over 18) Wushu
Raymond Ma – Men Taichi
Ivy Ho – Women Taichi
Richard Anderson – Taichi Push-hand

In the latest news, Ji Hong athletes are not resting on their laurels, but are busy preparing for the competitions in August for the Canadian Junior National Wushu Team selection and in October for the World Taijiquan Health Congress in Wudang Mountains in China. We wish them continue success in the coming events!

Master Hong Yuan Luo has won many awards for his contributions to Taichi. Here is another one: Taichi Master of the Year 2012 to be presented at the 14th World Congress of Qigong and TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) in Toronto May 25-28, 2012.

The World Congress on Qigong and TCM is, according to its official website, “the leading educational event in international Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine attracting attendance from the worldwide natural health communities, including Qigong, Tai Chi, acupuncturists, herbalists, martial artists, physicians, clinical researchers, as well as other healthcare professionals”.

Master Luo is invited to attend as an award recipient and a guest speaker. In recent years Master Luo has formulated the ground-breaking Model of the Integrated Human Elastic Body, and has presented many papers on the subject. At the congress, Master Luo will give two talks on the characteristics and movements of Taijiquan based on the model. One talk will be delivered on May 26^th Saturday, between 10:30am – 11:45am, the other talk will be delivered on May 27th Sunday, between 9:00am – 10:15 am.– For detail information on the event, please visit www.14wcq.com.