The Beijing Wushu Team ( ) is a world-renowned wushu team from

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, China. The team has produced many famous international stars such as

Jet Li Li Lianjie (courtesy name Yangzhong; born 26 April 1963), better known by his stage name Jet Li, is a Chinese film actor, film producer, martial artist, and retired Wushu champion. He is a naturalized Singaporean citizen. After three years o ...

Donnie Yen Donnie Yen Chi-tan (; born 27 July 1963) is a Hong Kong actor, martial artist, and action director. Yen is one of Hong Kong's top action stars. Yen is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts (MMA) into the mainstream Asian cinema by cho ...

Hao Zhihua Hao Zhihua (), also known as Patti Li, is a Chinese wushu practitioner. She started her training at the age of nine at the Beijing Sports Academy under the instruction of Wu Bin, director of the Beijing Institute for Wushu Research and a pionee ...

, Huang Qiuyan,

Zhang Hongmei Zhang may refer to: Chinese culture, etc. * Zhang (surname) (張/张), common Chinese surname ** Zhang (surname 章), a rarer Chinese surname * Zhang County (漳县), of Dingxi, Gansu * Zhang River (漳河), a river flowing mainly in Henan * ''Zha ...

and Wu Jing. The Beijing team members also work with movie producers to make films. Aside from Jet Li, many other athletes have also been featured in movies (e.g. Wang Jue has starred in ''

Shaolin Temple Shaolin Monastery (少林寺 ''Shàolínsì''), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a renowned monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak of the So ...

''.) Every year, the Beijing Team performs demonstrations of wushu for the citizens of Beijing as well as visiting dignitaries. They have performed for former

US President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 76th governor of Georgia from 1 ...

as well as many other foreign heads of state when they visited Beijing.

History

The Beijing Wushu School was created in order to prepare the city of Beijing for the first

National Games of China The National Games of the People's Republic of China (), sometimes known as the All China Games (though not to be confused with the All-China Games), is the premier sports event in China at national level. It is usually held once every four yea ...

in 1959. Beijing Sports University (now Beijing Physical Education University) wushu department graduate Liu Peiwei was appointed the team leader and coach. In 1974, the school was reformed as the Beijing Wushu Team in November 1974 by Wu Bin and Li Junfeng. Since then it has been based at the Shichahai Sports School. In the nearly three decades since its founding and through the hard work of the athletes and coaches, the team has achieved remarkable levels of success. From 1974 to 1997, they won the National team championship 11 times. From 1975 to 1985, the Beijing Wushu Team achieved a feat that no team has ever accomplished, before or since – winning the championship for ten consecutive years. The Beijing Wushu Team received 40 individual gold medals during this 10-year reign. Many of the earlier generations of Beijing Wushu Team athletes have gone on to teach wushu abroad. Many have emigrated to the US, Australia, Japan and other parts of Asia.

Members

First Generation Beijing Wushu team

Coaches * Wu, Bin Beijing, China * Li, Jun Feng TX, USA * Cheng, Hui Kun Beijing, China Men's Team Members * Li, Jin Heng: Arizona, USA * Yan, Ping: Beijing, China * Dong, Hong Lin: Beijing, China * Wang, Qun: Beijing, China 1960 - 2008 * Sun, Jian Ming: Tokyo, Japan * Wang, Jian Jun: Tokyo, Japan * Li, Zhi Zhou: Singapore * Yang, Yong Li: Beijing, China * Yu, Shao Wen: Oregon, USA * Cui, Ya Hui: Beijing, China * Li, Lian Jie: (Jet Li) Shanghai, China * Tang, Lai: Wei Australia Women's Team Members * Li, Xia: Tokyo, Japan * Ge, Chun Yan: Singapore * Mi, Jin bei: Beijing, China * Zhang, De Hua: Beijing, China 1960 -2008 * Zhou, Jing Ping: California, USA * Huang, Xiao Feng: Beijing, China * Zhang, Gui Feng: Maryland, USA * Hao, Zhi Hua: California, USA * Zhang, Hong Mei: California, USA * Huang, Qiu Yan: California, USA * Wang, Xiu Ping: Beijing, China * Hui, Xu Na: Beijing, China * Lu, Yan: Beijing, China

Beijing Wushu Team Performance Tours

The team has showcased its skills through the Beijing Wushu Team Tour many times over the years. The worldwide tours showcase a mix of veteran athletes and rising stars demonstrating their very best routines.

1974 Tour

The Beijing Wushu Team's debut world tour in 1974 is often as the beginning of modern wushu in the west. During this tour, Jet Li was reputed to have performed a two-man fight for US President

Richard Nixon Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...

on the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

lawn. According to Li, he was asked by Nixon to be his personal bodyguard. Li replied, "I don't want to protect any individual. When I grow up, I want to defend my one billion Chinese countrymen!"

Other Tours

In 1995 they performed in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

Berkeley, CA Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emery ...

and

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, Canada. In 1999 they were invited to perform at Arnold Schwarzenegger's Annual

Arnold Classic The IFBB Arnold Sports Festival, also known as the Arnold Schwarzenegger Sports Festival, is an annual multi-sport event consisting of professional bodybuilding (''Arnold Classic''), strongman ('' Arnold Strongman Classic''), fitness, figure ...

. The team performed and served as judges for the 1998 and 1999 Intercollegiate Wushu Championships (now known as the Collegiate Wushu Tournament) in America as well. In early 1999 they performed in Hawaii during a tribute to Jackie Chan. The 2005 tour saw the team performing in

Washington DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

, San Francisco and Los Angeles. In January 2012, the team returned to the United States with a limited four show tour in the San Francisco Bay area.

References

External links

Beijingwushuteam.com - unofficial website with information about the Beijing Team and Wushu

Beijing Wushu Team 2005 Tour

Beijing Wushu Team 2005 Photo Galleries

Beijing Wushu Team 2012 Tour Site
{{Jet Li 1974 establishments in China Sports entertainment Articles containing video clips Wushu organizations