The Academy and People

The academy is located in north eastern (also referred to as dongbei - in chinese eastnorth) China in Jilin province close to the village of Yehezhen. The actual academy grounds are about 10km from the village of Yehezhen on quite a steep hill which gives a 180 degree view of the surrounding area that mainly consists of many small farming villages and currently unusable corn fields. There is also a castle directly outside the academy called Yehe na la cheng or Yehe Ancient castle. The elevation here is about 300 meters and the coordinates are North 42 degrees 44.846' and East 124 degrees 35.630'. The castle is actually not that ancient, I reckon about 15 to 20 years and it was originally built to film a movie.

View 四平少林文武学校 in a larger map

About 10 years ago the first bunch of foreigners came here to train and they used to live and train in the castle, during 2003 the current academy was built and a school for local chinese children was also built. The owner and founder of the academy is called Che Wen Long, he is quite a successful man in this region, many foreigners claim he has ties with the triads and that he is extremely wealthy. However the only contact I have had with him were replies to my emails, he isn't actually at the academy.

The academy and ancient castle from a distance

The road leading up to the academy

The academy main gate

The academy dorms (for foreigners)

Entrance to Yehe Ancient Castle

The academy is run by a headmaster and headmistress that don't really seem to be involved in martial arts in any way, as far as I have gathered the headmaster is Che Wen Longs brother and he is referred to as Erge (second) and the headmistress is just there to help assist him.

The full name of the Academy is Northen China Siping Shaolin Martial Arts Academy or in Chinese 中国四平少林武术学院. There are foreigners and local children that train at the academy. The children also have a formal education here together with their training. There are a number of foreigners here (17 including myself), I'm actually going to write their names and countries down so you have an idea of the diversity.

Steffen - Norway
Umit - Norway
Marcus - UK
Deepak - UK
Joshua - UK
Wasseem - UK
Clement - France
Aurane - France
Michael - France
Nirup - Holland
Thomas - Belgium
Chima - Trinidad
Raul - India
Prashant - India
Luisa - Australia
Nurbek - Kazakstan

This may be a shaolin academy but there are actually four different types of martial arts that can be learnt here. Sanda, Baji, Taiji and Shaolin.

Shifus/masters here are not true monks like the website states however they have lived monk lives and have been training martial arts most of their lives, even if some of them are only in their twenties.

Many foreigners have told me that there is a lot of blackmail, deceit, politics and some half truths and whole lies going on at the academy (by academy management) and that the website makes many promises that can never be fulfilled. Not a great welcoming but at least I know what to expect and I will definitely have some updates on the academy politics. I was expecting something like this, I don't know how bad it will be but there is a notice on a notice board here that says "remember this is China, not your home". At the end of the day I came here to train and I'm not going to pack up my bags when the going gets tough, I will push through regardless what they throw at me.