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.

In the last two or three years, Ji Hong has been actively promoting Health Qigong, hosting Qigong instruction seminars in conjunction with the Alberta Wushu and Taichi Association. Top-ranked Qigong masters from China were invited to conduct Qigong training for Ji Hong students as well as the general public. Ji Hong College has subsequently offered Qigong classes as part of the regular college curriculum.

This year, Ji Hong has gone one step further by sending three students to participate in the 4th International Qigong Tournament in Vancouver, September 17th to 18^th. All three students scored well at the tournament competing against Qigong athletes from around the world including those from China.  The results are as follows:

Grace Lee – 1 Gold, 1 Bronze
Grace Lam – 1 Silver
Krasimira Kuneva – 1 Bronze

All three students worked extremely hard in preparation for the tournament. The results reflect their effort as well as their talent. Congratulations! Keep up with your Qigong practice. May the Qi be with you!

Qigong Tournament Newsletter – Vancouver, BC

Ji Hong Taichi Athletes Rewarded at a Major International Taichi Tournament

The 6^th International Jiaozuo Taichi Tournament was held on August 20^th to 26^th in the city of Jiaozuo in China. This major event, sponsored by Chinese State General Administration of Sports and the provincial government of Henan, was hosted by the Management Centre for Wushu of the Chinese State General Administration of Sports, the Chinese Wushu Association and the municipal government of the city of Jiaozuo. This is currently the international Taichi competition of the largest scale and highest level. More than 3800 athletes came from all over the world to compete in this tournament. Ji Hong Wu Shu and Tai Chi College, led by Master Hong Yuan Luo, sent four students to the tournament and took home 3 gold and 2 silver medals.

Seven Outstanding Ji Hong Students Selected to the National Team at the Canadian National Wushu Championships

At the Canadian National Wushu Championships held at the Chinese Cultural Centre of Greater Toronto in August, seven Wushu athletes from the Ji Hong Wu Shu and Tai Chi College made it to the national A team and B team respectively. They will represent Canada at the 11^th World Wushu Championships in Turkey on October 6^th to 15^th of this year, and at the 9^th Pan American Wushu Championships next year.

The Canadian National Wushu Championships was sponsored by the Canadian Federation of Wushu Organizations and hosted by Wushu Ontario. Judges came from Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec. Wushu Taolu and Sanda formed the two divisions in the competitions. Taolu athletes may select a minimum of two and a maximum of four routines. The total of the highest scores of two of the routines selected will be used as criteria for the selection to the national team. The A Team is made up of the top five men and top five women competitors. They will compete at the World Wushu Championships in October this year. The B team is made up of the top ten men and top ten women athletes to compete at the Pan American Wushu Championships next year.

Onto the World and Pan American Championships

Wushu athletes from across the country, after competing in their provincial selection tournaments and qualifying to compete at the national selection tournament, converged in Toronto for two days of fierce competition. Wushu students from the Albertan division of the Ji Hong Wu Shu and Tai Chi College were outstanding in garnering 7 gold, 9 silver and 8 bronze medals. Seven athletes have been selected to the national team. Among them are Jonathan Leung who won 2 gold medals in Taijiquan and Taiji sword, Eric Duong who competing in Changquan, Sword and Spear, won gold in Sword, and Brianna Chan competing in Nanquan, Nandao, Nangun and Sword, won 2 gold and 1 silver medals. Jonathan and Eric have made the men’s A team and Brianna the women’s A team. All three athletes will compete in the 11^th World Wushu Championships leaving for faraway Turkey on October 6^th of this year. Four other Ji Hong athletes have qualified for the B team. They are

Alana Chan, Samantha Huynh, Alvin Chiang and Samuel Malone. Together with the three A team schoolmates, they will compete in the 6^th Pan American Wushu Championships next year.

In addition to the selection of the national team at the Canadian Wushu Championship, a tournament was held for the junior Wushu athletes in preparation for the national junior Wushu team tournament next year. Four Ji Hong students competed fearless of a strong field of competitors and performed superbly capturing 2 gold, 4 silver and 2 bronze medals.

Dear Students of Ji Hong,

Just a reminder that all continuing classes begin this Tuesday in Edmonton and Saturday in Calgary. Please come back to the same class as before, or according to the new schedule. If you do not have a schedule, please visit our website’s schedule posting, on http://www.jihongtaichi.com/?page_id=216

Please see the attached for Calgary and Edmonton Open House information:
Calgary_2011-09_Open_House
Edmonton 2011-09 Open House

Regards,

Jennifer Gu
Vice-President
Ji Hong Wu Shu & Tai Chi College

Dear Students of Ji Hong:

Summer is still lingering, but a change of the season is definitely in the air. I hope you all have a great summer full of activities and joy and that you are looking forward to a change of pace in your daily lives. In the traditional Chinese medical thinking, fall and winter is a time for nurturing, and replenishing the energy, so much of it has been expended in the vigorous summer days. I fully subscribe to this rather obvious observation in health, and I also happen to believe that Wushu and Tai Chi are the ways to build the body and mind for the summer of 2012.

Our schools are getting ready for the new fall sessions. Open House is set for September 11, Sunday 2:00 to 4:00 pm in our downtown location. We will have our Wushu and Taichi demonstrations of course. I urge you to attend this function and bring along family and friends. There is no better introduction to these wonderful forms of exercise than to witness the performance first-hand. Please see attachment and forward it to your friends.

For this past summer, the school has not been all that quiet. There has been regular free practice for the Taichi group which were well attended. It is great that our students took advantage of the opportunity to keep up with the Taichi practice, and more importantly to stay in shape.

For the Wushu kids, well some have worked very hard this summer in preparation for the Canadian National Team Selection Tournament in Toronto in August. Their hard work has paid off. Their accomplishments at the tournament are:
7 gold medals, 9 silver medals and 8 Bronze medals.
3 student has been selected to the Canadian National Wu Shu Team ( Team A, Female top 5 and Male top 5 ) . They are Jonathan Leung, Eric Duong and Brianna Chan. They will be competing at the 11th World Wushu Championships in Ankara Turkey in October this year. We wish them continue success and a wonderful trip to that exotic land across the ocean.
7 students has been selected to the Canadian National Wu Shu Team ( Team B, Female top 10 and Male top 10 ). They are Jonathan Leung, Eric Duong, Brianna Chan, Alana Chan, Samantha Huynh, Alvin Chiang and Samuel Malone. They will be competing at the 9th Pan-Am Wushu Championship to be held in Mexico in 2012. Congratulations to these members of our school.

So my dear students of Ji Hong, may I welcome you to a brand-new season. I look forward to see you, as are all our college instructors, in class and continue to assist you in your journey to better and more vigorous lives ahead.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Gu
Vice-President
Ji Hong Wu Shu & Tai Chi College

Please view the updated schedules for Calgary and Edmonton for the upcoming fall semester under the “Schedules” tab.

– Ji Hong

The 9th Hong Kong Wushu International Championship was held at the Hong Kong Ma On Shan Sports Centre and the Tsuen Wan Town Centre. Raymond Ma, a student of the Ji Hong Wu Shu and Tai Chi College put on an outstanding performance winning three gold and one silver medals. This being its ninth year, the Hong Kong Wushu International Championship continually expands from 1000 participants in its inaugural year to over 8000 athletes this year from 30 countries and 889 teams. The untiring efforts of the organizers of this tournament have made it one of the great international Wushu gatherings.

One Athlete Competing in Four Taichi Styles

Ji Hong College was invited to send a team to the tournament. Unfortunately several members could not go for various reasons. Master Hong Yuan Luo personally led the lone team member of Raymond Ma who signed up to compete in four Taichi styles: Chen, Yang, Wu and Wu-Hao.

It is well-known within the Taichi circle that the four styles are very much distinct from one another: the Chen style displaying the complementary elements of hard and soft, fast and slow; the Yang style expansive and rhythmic; the Wu style soft like willow branches swaying in the wind, leaning yet well centre-balanced; the Wu-Hao packed with internal power. To compete in all four styles is a daring attempt in accepting high degree of difficulties. In preparing for the competition, Raymond received instructions from Master Luo and with diligence and hard work, achieved breakthroughs in all the routines.

As the long competition progressed, Raymond amazingly was able to revved up his competitive intensity to take the gold medals in Chen, Wu and Wu-Hao and a silver medal in Yang style.

Raymond Ma is a veteran dentist by profession with a passion for sports. He was active in soccer in his earlier years. His interest in Taichi began a decade or so ago when he joined the Ji Hong Wu Shu and Tai Chi College. The depth and scope of Taichi completely captivate him and he studies hard and practices diligently in Taichi classes to finally become an elite student of the college.

In 2008 he competed in international Taichi tournaments in Handan and Shantou in China and won three gold and two silver medals. In this tournament he has once again accepted it as a personal challenge and has taken another giant leap in his pursuit of excellence. Well done and congratulations Raymond!

Seminar Topics:

Demystifying the Essence of Tai Chi

The Integration of the Total Elastic Body – Theory, Training & Application

講座題目:太極拳精要理法揭秘 — 人體彈性能的整合理論,訓練和應用

Seminar:

Date: April 22, 2011

Time: 10:00m – 11:30am

Place: Scarborough School – 3241 Kennedy Rd. Unit 9

Fee: $15.00

Workshop 1:

Date: April 22, 2011

Time: 1:00pm – 4:00pm / 6:00pm – 8:00pm

Place: Scarborough School – 3241 Kennedy Rd. Unit 9

Fee: $70.00

Workshop 2:

Date: April 23, 2011

Time: 2:00pm – 4:30pm

Place: Richmond Hill School – 10 East Wilmont St. #21/22

Fee: $35.00

Celebration Dinner:

Date: April 24, 2011

Time: 6:30pm – 10:00pm

Place: Century Palace Restaurant 世紀皇宮 – 398 Ferrir St, Markham

Fee: $38.00

Open House:

Date: April 30, 2011 & May 1, 2011

Time: 2:00pm –  4:00pm

Place: Scarborough School – 3241 Kennedy Rd. Unit 9

Tel: 416-704-9288

Open House:

Date: April 24, 2011

Time: 2:00pm – 4:00pm

Place: Richmond Hill School – 10 East Wilmont St. #21/22

Tel: 647-921-1368