The Opening Ceremony

I hadn't been eating well in Shanxi, for some reason the food did not agree with me; and I didn't realize how dehydrated I was becoming, as a result of the hot cups of water I was given when thirsty and the questionable bottled water I was drinking. Along with the training regimen I had undertaken, and the constant activity, I felt a bug coming on. When I tried to eat the strange food, my stomach would expand like a balloon, after eating a few mouthfuls of rice. When the head chef of the hotel kitchen found out I was not eating, he offered to cook me some "Western Food." He said he had been head chef of a restaraunt in Beijing, and had cooked for many westerners. He asked me to make a list of what kind of food I wanted. I requested macaroni and cheese, grilled cheese and tomato sandwich, french fries, and a few other simple things. The chef returned the list to me, saying he could not make any of those things. Next, I told him that any kind of Western food would be welcomed and appreciated. At lunch time, he was smiling broadly as he hand-delivered me the Western-style food. It was a plate of iceburg lettuce, sliced tomato, pineapple and some kind of soggy potato thing. I ate a few bites of the wilted lettuce, determined to finish the meal but my stomach would not allow it. Immediately I felt full, bloated and uncomfortable and had to stop eating.

As I walked into the stadium for the opening ceremony, the enormity of the event began to register. Hundreds and hundreds of "teams" similar to the Nanjing Xingyiquan Association were filing in, each dressed in the colors of their group or team. I have a video of most of this, which I will post in the future, but I will try to describe the spectacle. Loud patriotic-sounding music was blaring through speakers that filled the stadium, as the athletes, xingyi boxers, taiji performers, and san shou fighters somehow found their spots in the middle of the stadium grass. Jindao was pulling me by the arm and barking questions to officials, before grouping me with a young Chinese girl who was holding a sign with Chinese characters, translated below: USA. After a lot of confusion, yelling, milling around, socializing and announcements of the loud speaker, the music stopped. Then another announcement, followed by a kind of marching music. The girl carrying the USA sign began walking and I was told to follow her as other nation's contingents fell in behind me: Poland, Brazil, Korea, Japan, Macao, etc. We were marching through the stadium, and USA was first in line--and USA consisted of me. As I followed behind the girl, dressed in my black silk brand new kung fu uniform, crowds of people were smiling and waving at me from the sidelines and from the bleachers. About halfway through the circumvention, a distant roar of applause began, and I looked high up into the stands to see the official contingent of tournament officials, government official, and other important dignitaries. They were applauding for me and I raised my right hand up and began to wave back at them, just like I'd seen Olympic athletes do. This gesture seemed to induce a more intensified applause and shouting from them, and I felt my formerly tightened face break into a big smile. Might as well enjoy the moment.

When I reached the place where I had started the parade, I was instructed to stand there. I took out my video camera and filmed the rest of the athletes, kids, teachers and whoever else felt like marching, apparently. Some very serious-looking martial artists walked past, some carrying shoulder bags, swords, spears, knives, poles, chains, guan daos, hooks and almost every kind of Chinese tradional weapon. The Nanjing Xingyiquan Association stepped past, led by Yu Chang Lin with his ever-present teacher by his side. Yu waved to the dias and then turned and saw me there. In a deep booming voice he yelled: "Hey!", smiling as his team filed past me. When all the athletes had paraded past the officials area and been formerly announced, a voice came over the speakers in Chinese. When it was finished, the voice began speaking in English, the speech that Alicia and Pei Pei had written and asked me to fix the grammar. This was followed by fan dancing performances, a huge taiji performance with a couple hundred people doing taiji in unison, then push hands.

I walked around and had my picture taken with Jindao, Teacher Shu, various judges and officials, and my xingyi boxer buddy Sun Jin Quan (see above photo). That night I would step out and demonstrate traditional Shanxi xingyiquan in front of a huge crowd. I kept the image of Mr. Chen in my mind, struggling out of bed to correct my movements; and his daughter Jinling's voice: "Of course you can't win a prize at the competition, because those people have been learning xingyiquan all of their lives." And Mr. Chen's voice: "People will know that you are my student, so if you perform poorly, it will make me look very bad."

Jindao and I returned to the hotel, where I passed out on the bed. When I woke up a couple hours later, Jindao told me to get ready, it was time to go to the competition. The streets were filled with people selling tickets for the competition; vendors hawked kung fu shoes, satin uniforms, t-shirts, soft drinks, snacks. It was about 8 p.m., and probably eighty degrees. We arrived at the gymnasium, I signed a few more papers and showed my credentials and then went inside. I sat up in the stands with Jindao, watching the competiton events unfold. Young children would come up to me and say "haloo", and I would say "hello", then they would say "haloo" followed by my "hello" until Jindao would speak gruffly to them and wave them away. It seemed that there were thousands of people in the gym, and most of them were smoking cigarettes. I almost couldn't breathe, but my time to perform finally came about 2 hours later. Alicia and Pei Pei found me and told me to go stand in line with the others. About twenty of us lined up in front of the judges, and then walked to the side. One-by-one they stepped out and performed, and soon it was my turn. Alicia and Pei Pei told me to go.

I walked to the center of the floor, saluted to the judges and did my xingyiquan. Once I began the form, my mind went somewhere else but I just kept going. Saluted the judges and walked off the floor, taking in the noise, applause and heat. I waited on the side as the judges made their calculations and then held up their signs: 8.6, 8.7, 9,....I couldn't really see the numbers too clearly. After the judges put their signs down, I saluted again and took my place in the stands with Jindao, feeling a great sense of relief.

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