|
Ren's mixing of martial arts and bullfighting
worries his mother, but the 24-year-old has never been hurt.
Besides, he says, grappling with a snorting bull is exciting.
"It symbolizes the bravery of a man," Ren told Reuters in
Jiaxing in China's eastern province of Zhejiang.
Unlike Spain's more famous sport, the Chinese variant of
bullfighting involves no swords or gore but instead fuses the
moves of wrestling with the skill and speed of kung fu to bring
down beasts weighing up to 400 kg (882 lb).
"Spanish bullfighting is more like a performance or a show,"
said Hua Yang, a 41-year-old enthusiast who watched a bullfight
during a visit to Spain.
"This (the Chinese variety) is truly a contest pitting a human's
strength against a bull. There are a lot of skills involved and
it can be dangerous."
The physically demanding sport requires fighters to train
intensively and they typically have short careers, said Han
Haihua, a former pro wrestler who coaches bullfighters at his
Haihua Kung fu School in Jiaxing.
Han calls the bullfighting style he teaches "the explosive power
of hard 'qigong'", saying it combines the skill and speed of
martial arts with traditional wrestling techniques.
Typically, a fighter approaches the bull head on, grabs its
horns and twists, turning its head until the bull topples over.
"What do I mean by explosive power?" Han asked. "In a flash! Pow!
Concentrate all your power on one point. All of a sudden, in a
flash, wrestle it to the ground."
If the first fighter gets tired, another one can step into the
ring, but they have just three minutes in which to wrestle the
bull to the ground or lose the bout.
The bulls, too, are trained before entering the ring, Han said,
and learn themselves how to spread their legs or find a corner
to brace against being taken down.
"A bull can also think like a human, they are smart," Han added.
Although he says his bulls get better treatment than the animals
involved in the Spanish sport, animal rights activists believe
Chinese bullfighting is still painful for the animals and cruel
as a form of entertainment.
"In Chinese bullfighting, we cannot deny the bulls experience
pain," said Layli Li, a spokeswoman for animal welfare group
PETA. "As long as it exists, that means there is suffering."
(Reporting by Jiang Xihao and Martin Pollard; Editing by John
Ruwitch and Darren Schuettler)
[© 2017 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2017 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
