Woman from SW China’s Sichuan carries forward traditional Chinese culture through martial arts

Photo shows Ling Yun demonstrating techniques from Emei Martial Arts, a state-level intangible cultural heritage in China, using a spear in a game. (Photo courtesy of Ling Yun)

In her videos, Ling Yun from Ya’an city in southwest China’s Sichuan Province likes to showcase her impressive skills in Emei Martial Arts, a state-level intangible cultural heritage. At the same time, she is also committed to promoting traditional Chinese culture by integrating martial arts performances with traditional Chinese calligraphy, painting, and other intangible cultural heritage items.

Ling became an online sensation both at home and abroad more than two years ago, thanks to a video of her performing martial arts with a sword after throwing garbage into a waste bin. The clip attracted a large number of followers to her account on the popular Chinese short video platform Douyin, also known as Tik Tok overseas. So far, her Douyin account has drawn over 13 million followers.

However, Ling didn’t take advantage of her instant fame to make money. Instead, she returned to her hometown to start a business. Initially, Ling’s short videos were simple demonstrations of her martial arts moves. Now, Ling and her team create videos with well-designed scenes and plots, making more solid progress in showcasing the appeal of traditional martial arts.

To Ling, getting more young people to love martial arts is a priority in passing on the traditional art form. She believes that games and cartoons that are very popular among youngsters are ideal platforms for promoting martial arts culture.

“I hope to make use of games to get more young people interested in martial arts and learn martial arts through my efforts,” Ling said.

By showing martial arts moves and attending the filming of promotional videos for games, she has managed to get more young people to appreciate the charm of traditional martial arts.

In addition to promoting martial arts, Ling has endeavored to give her audiences a greater understanding of traditional Chinese culture through the art form.

She has produced martial arts videos demonstrating traditional elements such as Chinese calligraphy and paintings.

In one drama about traditional festivals, Ling explained the cultural meaning behind the traditional custom of presenting sachets during the Dragon Boat Festival, a traditional Chinese festival that falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month.

In a recent video about soy sauce, Ling introduced the traditional craft of making soy sauce, an intangible cultural heritage item in Hejiang county of Sichuan, and presented a stunning kung fu performance featuring a spear.

“Fine traditional Chinese culture is around us. I hope that my videos will rekindle people’s passion for traditional culture,” Ling said.