Studying Martial arts and language?

[jamflanuk]

Hi, Im thinking of spending maybe (im not sure yet) a couple of months in Beijing during a gap year. Ive been looking at companys such as 'worldlinedu' but Im unsure as to what that company is like. Has anyone here used them before?

If I do go, I want to study both martial arts and Mandarin, thats why 'worldlinkedu' grabed my attention as you can do both.

Can any of you nice people suggest any other firms that do a similar course or whether, applying directly to universities in Beijing will allow you to study both martial arts and language?

Thanks alot and best regards,

James

[puja]

Hi James,

To my knowledge there are only worldlink and educasian (http://www.educasian.com/) who offer Wushu Programs. With educasian I'm not sure if they do have wushu & language but you gotta ask. At least Wordlink has such a program and if the programs don't fit your needs you can talk to them.

However if you can manage to apply on your own it's much cheaper as worldlink takes quite some money for "organizing" your trip.

Applying for language programs at the universities is very simple so you can really save some money there.

However I don't know how it is with wushu courses. Usual Unis like BLCU don't have such, but you can perhaps find some private wushu schools like this one for example: http://www.qmhjzx.com/Top_page1.htm There should be many schools in BJ teaching wushu, but I don't have any info on that - sorry.

Also I don't know if you're really into contemporary wushu or want traditional kungfu (which isn't that athletic). The latter you usually can't find at any standard school. You usually have to find some teacher and then hope to get taught ;) Or you get intorduced by someone which would be the easier way

Best reagrds,

Puja

[roddy]

You might want to have a look at this topic, which will have some info of interest.

My own perception is that, rather than limit yourself to a provider which organises both, you should decide which one is more important to you (language / wushu) and make the best choice for that. Then when you get here, set up the other. There's certainly plenty of private language schools / teachers you could use alongside a formal wushu course, for example.

Roddy

[jamflanuk]

Thanks alot, its defently given me some more to think about . Thanks again, James

[free_radical]

Hi James

I do not recommend going through a company such as Worldlink, it's horrendously expensive and in my opinion not worth the money for something you can arrange yourself.

http://www.cipe.net.cn/cenweb/website/cipeCover/index.html

Check out the link above, it's the sports institute that some of these companies send their students to. If you apply directly it will be cheaper, your accom. will be on campus and you could work something out about studying both wushu and Mandarin.

You should also check out Beijing University of Physical Education (Roddy has already given the link).

Good luck.

free_radical

[Zhende ma?]

When I was at BNU I was also interested in martial arts so I took a beginning Wushu class they had for the Chinese students every Tuesday. It was cool, we learned beginning 剑法 (swords) but also there were other wushu and taichi classes taught at the school's gym so there were choices. I would say go with a university. You will save money and then be able to take wushu wherever you want with the money you save. Many universities have it as a class though.

[got_no_jaffas]

i've also been considering the martial arts programme but i'm more interested in the contact fighting than wushu forms. the martial arts course sounds good but my only concern is that there are only 10 x 45min languages classes per week if you also take the language course.

compared to 20 hours per week for regular language programme only.

my priority is to learn the language but i would also like to keep my fitness levels as well.

[mr.stinky]

from reading the various university websites, it appears that language classes

normally run from about 8am until noon mon-fri. after the lunch break there are

electives, including various martial arts classes, which are free to students as

part of the paid tuition.

with the agencies, don't the electives cost extra?

[snarfer]

After spending quite a bit of time researching the various options, as you can see from the thread Roddy linked to, I've decided that the best option for this kind of program is to sign up for martial arts classes (or whatever you want to take) that are conducted entirely in Chinese, and then hire a private tutor through a classified ad.

As for Worldlink and their competitors, my verdict is that they are completely unnecessary. I visited Beijing University of Physical Education (aka BSU) in person and they told me that I could start studying Wu Shu any time I wanted, just sign up, pay by the month, and start the class the next day. It was also possible to learn other sports, such as gymnastics and so forth.

If you sign up for Wu Shu classes at Beijing University of Physical Education they will also handle your visa for you. It is perfectly OK to study there on a tourist visa, and they will arrange extensions or a 6 month business visa, whatever the most cost-effective solution is.

[wenlie]

hey snarfer

how long did you study in BSU? cuz i'm planning to study there next year..and how much did it cost you?