Erol from France shares his experience training at the Yuntai Mountain School in China.
Hello, my name is Erol. I am the first Frenchman to have joined the Shaolin Training Centre for a two-month stay. I was given a very warm welcome by Shi Yanlin, his three assistants and all the students who were already at the school.
The school has a very good reputation and offers quite acceptable living conditions compared with what you might find elsewhere in China (shared rooms for two people with private bathrooms and the possibility of taking hot showers). The old-fashioned style of the place may only come as a shock to people who are used to living in luxury… The food is better than I expected, although a little greasy. In short, all the conditions are in place for hard training… if you are willing to push through the pain. The day starts at 6 am and consists of three to four training sessions of approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes each, as well as two Chinese lessons per week and Sanda and Taichi classes.
The training is mainly based on flexibility, kicking techniques, acrobatics and the study of forms with bare hands, followed by forms with weapons such as the staff and sword, once the basics have been mastered.
However, practitioners of Kung Fu styles that focus on maintaining postures and internal development may be somewhat disappointed.
So much for the general information… I would now like to warn anyone who has never practised Kung Fu before coming here and who has formed their image of it from Chinese martial arts films.
Kung Fu is difficult and demanding work that requires a great deal of energy, willpower and patience. Only by repeating the same movement thousands of times can you achieve the perfect technique. It doesn’t happen overnight, and the discipline imposed here is the only way to achieve it. The results come after long days of hard work, and that makes the reward all the greater. Unfortunately, I saw some people struggling when they realised that the experience was nothing like what they had expected. It is a shame to go to so much effort only to find that it is not what you wanted.
Good luck to all of you.
Germany · 3 months 
Switzerland · 5 weeks 
New Zealand · 3 months 
France 
Russia