The 8th World Kungfu Championships was held from June 16-18 at the Chinese city 
of Emeishan. Under a central theme of "Sacred MT. EMEI Welcomes the World", the 
3-day event was sponsored by the International Wushu Federation and Chinese 
Wushu Association; organized by the Bureau of Sports of Sichuan Province and 
the Leshan Municipal People's Government; and supported by entities such as the 
Leshan Municipal Bureau of Sports. The scale of this event was the biggest in 
the history, which has drawn participation from more than 300 teams and 5,200 
wushu practitioners from 48 nations and regions such as Russia, Brazil, the 
United States, New Zealand and India. 

The World Kungfu Championships is held biennially and is currently the largest, 
most prominent and most influential large-scale sports event within the global 
wushu sphere. This event was comprised of three major categories, namely 
individual event, sparring event and team event, of which the individual events 
were further sub-divided into traditional boxing and traditional weapons 
categories. Tai Chi, Wing Chun, Emei, Qingcheng, Wudang, Shaolin and other 
schools of martial arts all showcased under the limelight of the competition. 
The oldest participant at this edition was more than 60 years old, while the 
youngest was merely six. 

It was the second time for Emeishan to play host to the World Kungfu 
Championships, after the success of the 7th World Kungfu Championships that was 
held there in 2017. As one of the homes of cutting-edge Chinese wushu and the 
cradle of the Emei sect of martial arts, the city of Emeishan has taken an 
active stance on the promotion of Emei kungfu in recent years, and has hosted 
six sessions of the "International Wushu Festival of Mount Emei, Sichuan, 
China". 

Emei martial arts is noted for its unique balance between both hard and soft 
techniques, and cultivation of both internal and external skills. With more 
than three millennia of history, the Emei sect is famed alongside Shaolin and 
Wudang as the three major Chinese martial arts clans. 

Being the birthplace of the Emei school, the eponymous Mount Emei is a World 
Natural Heritage, a World Cultural Heritage, as well as one of the Four Sacred 
Buddhist Mountains of China. Rising to a height of 3,099 meters, Mount Emei is 
located at an intersection of various natural elements and thus is well-endowed 
with remarkable biodiversity that includes a substantial number of distinct and 
indigenous species. There are more than 3,200 species of plants on Mount Emei, 
which accounts for one-tenth of the total number of species found in China. At 
the same time, Mount Emei also functions as the habitat for a plethora of rare 
animals, with more than 2,300 in total number of animal species. 

Mount Emei is famous around the world for its picturesque natural landscape, 
time-honored Buddhist culture and unique topography, thus giving rise to the 
saying "Emei, Most Elegant in the World". In 2008, Emei martial arts was 
inducted into the list of intangible cultural heritage of China, thereby 
becoming yet another emblem of the city of Emeishan. 


SOURCE: Leshan Municipal Bureau of Sports