Shaolin school aims to lift lot of instructors

The Shaolin Institute will host Chinese martial arts instructors from around the world to study how martial arts teaching conditions can be improved.

The conference, the Chinese Martial Arts Teaching Service Standardization conference, will be held Feb 22 at the Shaolin Institute in Norcross, Georgia. The discussion will delve into why martial arts instructors make less than their educational services counterparts.

"If the main focus of the Institute is health and happiness of each individual who is willing to travel on that high conscious health path preserving thousands of years of wisdom of China and of the Universe, there should be generations of sufficient income to pay those valuable staff members for their services," an unidentified conference coordinator from the institute said in a Jan 2 press release.

The conference also seeks to foster discussion on what is lacking in martial arts instruction, and approaches to raising instructor pay, the institute said.

"Chinese martial arts schools must embrace students' value-based experience along with the drive for a 'warrior character' and honor," said the institute's head master, Shi DeRu, in the release.

As the field of martial arts teaching expands, instructors should be "able to enjoy higher compensation", said the coordinator.

"The institute recognizes the true value of its instructors in providing a true experience of ancient Chinese martial arts and is currently paving the way for all Chinese martial arts schools worldwide to pay instructors between $25,000 to $50,000 a year in salaries and wages," the coordinator said.

The Shaolin Institute is the largest private institute of its kind outside of China, teaching students traditional Shaolin kung fu and modern mixed martial arts. The institute has four locations in the South: Atlanta, New Orleans, Alabama and Louisiana. It has plans to expand across the US and around the world, it said.

"With generations of experience in translating the life values taught by the great ancient Chinese arts and minds here in the US, the Shaolin Institute is an established cultural, health-wellness and martial arts institute, focusing on high conscious communication, personal health and safety education, mind-body training," the institute said.

Shaolin kung fu - also called Shaolin wushu - is one of the oldest martial arts forms in the world, developed and used by monks in the Buddhist Shaolin temple sometime in the fifth century. This form of martial arts has influenced different fighting traditions in the rest of Asia, including Japan's karate and Korea's tae kwon do.

amyhe@chinadailyusa.com