As the first day of the Second World Traditional Wushu Championships neared, Zhengzhou was busy in preparation. Displays in Dengfeng, Shaolin, and in the city itself were being prepared, as were the competition venues.
Finally, October 15th 2006 arrived, the first day of the event. With a morning warm-up session for the athletes and an introduction meeting for all the coaches and judges, everyone was provided a first look at the Zhengzhou No. 47 High School, the primary competition menu for the foreigners. Looking more like a modern university campus, the school covers an impressive area and boasts truly world-class facilities.
The highlight of the first day for most came in the evening, where a kilometres-long convoy of busses carried all the attendees off to Dengfeng County (the town closest to the Shaolin Temple). During this trip, the scale of the preparations of the event became obvious—all over town there were banners and billboards proudly proclaiming the event along with dozens of slightly cheesy-sounding slogans to help underline the international scale and importance of the event. The convoy itself, complete with police escorts, and streets closed off the entire way, was another indication of the impressive scale.
As the convoy passed through Dengfeng, rather than heading to the Shaolin Temple as most tour busses do, the convoy was directed to a different location, to a venue even most of the Zhengzhou natives didn’t know existed. Lining the streets and walkways leading into the venue were thousands of young wushu students from Dengfeng’s famous Tagou school. It was obvious this was something big, as was indicated by a dozen spotlights pointed into the sky from a mountain ridge overlooking the site, and it was also something new, as some of the facilities were still under construction, and the wooden structures inside still smelled of freshly-milled wood.
All 3000 or so attendees were seated in three sections facing up a mountain valley, only visible in the dark night sky because the skyward-facing spotlights outlined the top of the ridge. No one knew what to expect though, and I recall hearing several people asking “where is the stage?” expecting that this would be just some standard Shaolin Wushu demonstration. As it turns out, the entire mountain valley was the stage for a show unmatched in scale perhaps anywhere in the world.
As the show began, more and more of the landscape was revealed by impressive lighting, all to a traditional Chinese music soundtrack. Soon, areas on one side of the valley were illuminated showing drummers, then the other side of the valley came alive with figures and lights. Later, a traditional styled pagoda-like building several stories high was illuminated, more than 500 meters from the audience, and the finale was the once-skyward pointing spotlights illuminating an enormous rock face behind the entire set, perhaps 800 meters high and several kilometres away. There were multiple stages in front of the viewers spanning the whole field of vision and beyond, and at some points during the performance there was so much going on sometimes people didn’t know where to look. Traditional dancing, incredible music and sound, and martial arts displays unmatched by any other performance made this an unparalleled event.
An investment of over 270 Million RMB (US$32 million) by the government has made this incredible vision of a show a reality. The attendees of the 2nd World Traditional Wushu Championships were among the first groups to see the finished spectacle, one that will no doubt become a world-class tourist attraction on its own very soon.
After heading back in the convoy back to Zhengzhou it was time to get some rest and prepare for the first day of competitions.
