On August 13, the Ninth NTD World Chinese Traditional Martial Arts Competition is set to take place in New York City, with nearly a hundred martial arts experts, including competitors from Taiwan who have passed through the preliminary rounds in the Asia-Pacific region, gathering from around the world to showcase their skills, promote martial virtues, and demonstrate the profoundness of Chinese traditional martial arts. During the event, NTD Television will live stream the finals and award ceremony worldwide through the internet.
The NTD World Chinese Traditional Martial Arts Competition is one of the series of international art and cultural events organized by NTD Television. The martial arts competition aims to inherit and promote the spirit of traditional martial arts, uphold martial virtues, and revive the divine culture of China.
The organizing committee of the competition stated that the core of this competition is to showcase the essence of Chinese divine culture, advocating for competitors to cultivate themselves with a mindset of humility, sincere learning, maintaining good thoughts, and righteousness as the foundation of their practice. Participants are encouraged to uphold traditional moral concepts of respecting teachers, prioritizing ethics, with the goal of showcasing the true spirit of traditional martial arts. Through the exchange of martial arts skills, the competition aims to embody the principle of self-improvement through martial arts and ethical cultivation, fostering the revival of Chinese divine culture.
Lucy Zhou, the chairperson of the NTD series competition organizing committee, emphasized that this edition of the competition places a greater emphasis on “traditional martial arts,” expecting participants to excel in this aspect.
“This martial arts competition held in Manhattan will feature over 110 matches, showcasing the nearly lost art of Chinese traditional martial arts to both the live and online audience, as well as to martial arts enthusiasts around the world,” Zhou said.
The competition is divided into two categories: fist forms and weaponry, classified based on the age of the competitors into youth, men’s adult, and women’s adult groups.
For this edition, former Chinese martial arts champion, martial arts master, and traditional Chinese medicine doctor, Mr. Li Youfu, has been appointed as the chairman of the judging panel. Mr. Li revealed that this year’s event will present “traditional martial arts projects that have not been seen for 60 years,” offering martial arts enthusiasts a feast for the eyes.
Mr. Li has always emphasized the demonstration of “martial virtues” by competitors in past editions of the competition.
“The emergence of human culture came from morality. By cultivating ethics, human civilization was created. Martial arts are an essential part of human culture. This culture is based on a series of ideas such as ‘literature governs a country, while martial arts secure a nation’ and ‘self-cultivation, family harmony, governing the country, and bringing peace to the world,’ where martial arts play a significant role,” Mr. Li mentioned in an interview with Dajiyuan newspaper.
Mr. Li highlighted the importance of “martial virtues” in today’s society, citing Laozi’s words, “when the Way is lost, virtue arises; when virtue is lost, benevolence arises; when benevolence is lost, righteousness arises.” It then progresses to the ideas of benevolence and righteousness, followed by the Legalist school using strict laws to govern.
“In today’s society, morals, benevolence, righteousness, and laws have all been compromised. Mainland China does not have real laws; whatever it says becomes law. This signifies that the human race is on the brink of destruction,” Mr. Li expressed. “As a result, traditional martial arts are no longer prevalent in modern society as moral decay and the lack of transmission of traditions have contributed to this situation.”
According to Mr. Li, traditional martial arts focus on cultivation, where ethics form the basis for success. He emphasized that with “virtue,” one can achieve “accomplishment,” thus advocating for the importance of “martial virtues.” This year’s martial arts competition will emphasize the demonstration of martial virtues, as anything lacking in martial virtues cannot be considered authentic.
So, what exactly are martial virtues?
Mr. Li explained, “Martial virtues involve believing in cause and effect, understanding that good deeds are rewarded with good outcomes, and bad deeds with negative consequences; it means distinguishing between right and wrong, stopping evil, and promoting goodness. It includes acts of courage, selflessness, prioritizing others over oneself. The chivalrous spirit of the past was characterized by selflessness and humility. ‘Martial virtues’ emphasize substance over material gain.”
Therefore, achieving a high ranking is not the most crucial aspect of the competition. In the previous edition, Mr. Li advised participants, “During the preparation for the competition, adapting to the environment and enhancing oneself, both technically and psychologically, to showcase your martial arts skills and improve your performance, embodies the elevation of ‘martial virtues.'”
In addition to focusing on “martial virtues,” this year’s competition will heavily emphasize whether the participants can embody the style, characteristics, and essence of traditional martial arts; presenting a pure and consistent portrayal of the traditional martial arts’ spirit throughout the process, encompassing qualities of strength, courage, focus, precision, as well as yielding, evasion, softening, adapting, and understanding the difference between real and fake movements — all reflecting the essence of “martial virtues.”
Furthermore, competitors are required to wear traditional martial arts attire and bow to the judges before and after their performance (such as making a fist gesture, bowing, or showing respect in other traditional ways), upholding the traditional martial arts spirit of placing martial virtues first and observing courtesy and civility. Any breach of etiquette or uncivil behavior will result in disqualification from the competition.
Preliminary and semi-final rounds will be held on August 13th and 14th, with the finals and award ceremony taking place on August 15th.