World Wushu Championships back to U.S. after almost 3 decades

HOUSTON, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- The World Wushu Championships (WWC), a top-level global competition of China's traditional martial arts, is set to come back to the United States after almost three decades, organizers said on Monday night.

The tournament will run from Nov. 16 to 20 in Fort Worth, a city in the second largest U.S. state of Texas.

It will be the second time for the United States to host the tournament after the third WWC was held in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1995.

Hundreds of athletes from more than 70 countries and regions across the world will compete in the tournament featuring the men's and women's Taolu and Sanda events this year, Wu Tinggui, director of the 16th WWC organizing committee, said at an online press conference.

At the opening ceremony next Thursday, about 150 American Taijiquan fans from various ethnic groups and walks of life will collectively present a performance, said Wu.

"The graceful movements of Wushu are a language that does not require translation and have long attracted people from all over the world," Wu added.

Taijiquan, also known as Tai Chi, was born in the mid-17th century in a small village in central China before it spread to more than 150 countries and regions, attracting more than 100 million people to practise. It was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020.

According to the International Wushu Federation (IWUF), the logo of the 16th championships has a modern figure of a Wushu player in the shape of a ribbon on the top and a decorative outline of the Texas longhorn on the lower part. The theme is "Solidarity, Peace, Friendship."

The biennial world event debuted in 1991 and always captures the excitement and range of Wushu both in the explosive full-contact combat Sanda bouts and the dynamic movements and distinct weaponry of Taolu forms competition.