When the bastion of wushu (martial arts) holds an international competition, Chinese are expected to dominate unchallenged.

At the Second World Traditional Wushu Championships, which opened yesterday in Henan Province's Zhengzhou, roughly half of the 2,000 contestants are from overseas and determined to make their mark.

One of them is Brown Jamel of the US, who has been doing squats lifting a 160-kilogram barbell for the past six months to make him jump even higher.

"My dream has come true now that I am here in China as a wushu contestant," said the 21-year-old from New York.

The four-day event, the biggest gathering of its kind in the world, has drawn about 2,000 competitors from 66 countries and regions.

Henan is the home of the world-renowned Shaolin Temple, long a custodian of Chinese martial arts. Since 1991, in a successful effort to raise wushu's global following, seven Shaolin wushu festivals have been held here.

Chen Guorong, vice chairman of the Chinese Wushu Association, said: "Traditional martial arts have developed over thousands of years in China and evolved into 129 types of boxing, of which 11 have been selected for athletic martial arts events."

A series of cultural events will also be held during the festival, including a grand ceremony at Shaolin Temple with 15,000 local kung fu practitioners showing off their skills.

Among those watching in rapt attention will be Jamel. "I am simply overwhelmed to be here at the motherland of wushu," he said.

Jamel, a member of the New York Shaolin Wushu Team, first encountered the martial arts two years ago when he accompanied one of his basketball teammates to a Taiji lecture and was soon hooked. His interest in Chinese culture now extends to the language, calligraphy and painting.

"Back in my community, many, just like me, have discovered the benefits of practicing wushu not only for physical, but also for mental and spiritual health as well," he said.

An eminent monk at Shaolin Temple said more than 300 foreign disciples had been admitted in the past years.

According to Chen Guorong, the International Wushu Federation has continuously made great efforts to raise the sport into the Olympics and kung fu matches will hopefully be held during the Beijing Olympics as a "specially-set" sport.

Chen stressed that since the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has committed to keeping the size and cost of the Olympics in check, including a cap of 28 sports, 300 events and 10,500 athletes, wushu will certainly not be included in the 28 medal sports, but probably appear as a "specially-set" match during the 2008 Olympiad instead, as part of China's cultural and sporting heritage.

Chen confirmed that the entry of kung fu into the Olympics was still under detailed discussion, with a final verdict expected this year.

IOC senior officials, including Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the Coordination Commission for the Beijing Olympics, will also attend the event in Henan and watch martial arts performances.

(Xinhua News Agency, China Daily October 17, 2006)