An Family Kung Fu – School Review

Part of my job at StudyMartialArts.Org involves visiting and reviewing martial arts schools. I take this responsibility very seriously. Only by actually visiting the schools and taking part in the training can you genuinely advise others on the various schools, masters and training. This means that each year, I pack my bags and set of to visit both new as well as revisit existing schools I work with. This weekend I visited my friend Shifu An Jian Qiu in Dezhou at his new school.

An early start

Setting off early Saturday morning I boarded the high speed train to Dezhou from Beijing south railway station. The journey to Dezhou along the Jinghu High-Speed Railway which links Beijing to Shanghai takes 1.5 hours. Trains on the Jinghu High-Speed Railway line travel up to 300km per hour so be-careful not to miss your stop!

This was my third visit to Dezhou. The first in the summer and the second in winter during Chinese new year. The last time I’d been to the school was two years ago so I was excited to see the new school and catch up with Jian Qiu.  Shifu An Jian Qiu runs and manages a traditional family kung fu school steeped in hundreds of years of family tradition and history. There are very few martial arts schools remaining like this in China that are as easily accessible to western students. His school offers full-time and part-time classes to both Chinese and International students. International students attending the school are primarily taught by An Jian Qiu or his father. An Shifu’s school caters to both short and long term students providing accommodation and food on site. All-inclusive training package range from 6700 rmb per month on a sliding scale depending on how long your stay.

What’s next?

An inside scoop that I’ve brought  back for our readers is that Jian Qiu is planning to offer intensive and training camps in Xingyi and Bajiquan next year for instructors and experienced martial arts students. These are likely to be scheduled at either end of the summer.  A two week Xingyi quan training camp around June-July and a month long Bajiquan training camp during August. For further information you can email me david@studymartialarts.org – The sooner I hear from you the better the early bird discount I’ll be able to secure for you. Another interesting opportunity discussed over the weekend with Master An were his plans to accept an experienced trainee instructor(s) who would be willing to commit 1+ years, and become one of his long term disciples.  If accepted you would be expected to help him teach and manage his school in exchange for free accommodation, tuition and food.

Over the coming month I will be helping Jian Qiu with these plans and assist him in his search to find a disciple(s) and trainee instructor(s) so stay tuned or email me for further information.

A warm Dezhou welcome (Sharing a meal with An Shifu, two of his students and a number of representatives from Dezhou martial arts community).