Getting his kicks

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(Xinhua) 09:35, August 11, 2013

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While more and more Europeans fall in love with Chinese kung fu, Maik Albrecht says it is a pity that modern Chinese are not so interested in traditional martial arts. (Photo source: Provided to China Daily)

Maik Albrecht, 32, never expected that an old Chinese kung fu movie would make him a martial-arts champion and bring him an intercultural marriage."Kung fu is either a hobby or sport. It's a passion that never fades in my life," says Albrecht in Mandarin.

He is both apprentice and son-in-law of kung fu master Li Zhenghua from Wuhan, Hubei province, who used to teach kung fu at the Wuhan Municipal Public Security Bureau.

Albrecht's interest in Chinese martial arts was piqued by a 1980s Chinese kung fu movie, Deadly Fury. Five years old at that time, he was fascinated to see how the small hero defeated the big and strong Russian with baguazhang (strong push with the palm).

Like other youngsters, his interest was stimulated by the kung fu movies of Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan. He started to learn karate, taekwondo and boxing, but wondered whether Chinese martial arts were more brilliant.

In 2000, when Li went to Germany to visit his daughter Li Qiaofang, who was studying there, he opened a short-term kung fu training class. Albrecht came to see what he could learn.

He told Li, "If you are a real Chinese kung fu master, defeat me. Or please don't waste my time or money".

With a height of 1.85 meters, the 19-year-old Albrecht seemed to take the wind. When he tried to deliver a right-handed blow, Li dodged cleverly and grasped his arm, throwing him to the ground.

With a heartfelt admiration, he begged Li to be his teacher.

Three months later, Li came back to China. Albrecht, who had been saving money after his military service ended, flew to China in January 2001.

He and master Li could only communicate with body language. But later, Albrecht went to Wuhan University to learn Chinese, so as to better understand Chinese kung fu.

He says compared with Chinese, Europeans' bodies are a bit rigid, but Chinese kung fu is about flexibility. So he has to make more efforts than Chinese to achieve the same level.

"He perseveres," says Li, who allowed Albrecht to learn, live and eat for free at his home after half a year of training.

Albrecht had to learn many things from scratch, including leg kicking, leg pressing and breathing. He practiced at least eight hours a day and even trained bare-armed on snowy days outdoors.

He not only broke the iron bed at Li's home with leg presses, he also kicked holes in closets and desks while practicing. He used to wear lead weights heavier than 20 kilograms to build leg strength.

In October 2006, he volunteered to represent Hubei province in the second World Traditional Wushu Championships in Zhengzhou, Henan province, where more than 2,000 kung fu practitioners from 66 countries gathered.

He won the gold medal in egret-style boxing and the silver medal in men's cudgel play. His was the only gold medal for Hubei province that year.

"It's a pity that modern Chinese are not so interested in traditional martial arts. But more and more Europeans fall in love with Chinese kung fu," he says.

Back in Germany, Albrecht often practiced tai chi with the master's daughter, Li Qiaofang, and the two fell in love gradually. When he came to China, they often communicated with each other via telephone and e-mails.

More than one year later, Li Qiaofang told her parents they were in a relationship, but they were against it. Master Li started to observe Albrecht as he had to make sure the German would treat his only daughter with heart-felt love and a tolerant attitude.

To cultivate his tolerance and calmness, master Li taught him a unique kung fu, which is very slow and is good for health. Although he wasn't used to the slowness at first, Albrecht kept practicing.

In 2007, he married Li Qiaofang but still called Li Zhenghua "master".

"In Chinese 'shifu' means master. 'Shi' refers to teacher, while 'fu' has the meaning of father. In my heart, he is both my teacher and father," says Albrecht, while writing down the two characters.

In 2010, he co-founded Albrecht & Rudolph - Institute of Martial Arts Research with German martial artist Frank Rudolphin based in Germany, to do research about Western and Eastern martial arts.

One year later, he co-authored the book Wu - A German with the Masters in China with Rudolphin, which offers a journey though the landscape of Chinese martial arts.

Albrecht concludes in the book that the essence of kung fu is to learn a way to help others rather than compete with others to become famous. Several thousand copies have sold in Germany, and he has two other books about kung fu in the works.