will Chinese martial arts show in Beijing olympic?

DENGFENG, China (AFP) — Not far from Shaolin monastery, the cradle of Chinese martial arts, a wall poster exhorts people to "cherish the culture of kung fu, strengthen the Olympic spirit."

The slogan stresses the importance of wushu to the national heritage but fails to mention that the sport, better known outside China as kung fu, will not feature on the programme of the August Beijing Olympics.

The poster stands at the entrance to Tagou school, one of China's most famous martial arts centres whose students share the same mountain valley in central Henan province with Shaolin monks.

Here 20,000 students aged from three to 19 live in what amounts to a martial arts city, founded in 1978.

They train in groups of around 50 under orders from their instructors in open areas around school buildings that house classrooms, dormitories and gymnasiums.

The students leap, twirl, thrust and parry, punctuating their lunging attacks with loud shouts that cut through the cold morning air like a steel blade.

At rest, other students gaze at posters that show off the Beijing Olympic logo and give detailed information about the August 8-24 Games.

But any link between wushu and the Olympic Games is purely wishful thinking, at least for now.

Despite appearances and the efforts of the Chinese side, kung fu, popularised in the West since the 1970s by films and TV series, will have no place in the Beijing Games.

Wushu was left out in the cold despite a China-led campaign that won the backing of the Olympic Council of Asia, the region's top sports body, that included wushu in its own version of the Olympics, the Asian Games, in 1990.

The Japanese may have managed to have judo enshrined as an Olympic sport and the South Koreans also succeeded in getting taekwondo, Korea's own brand of martial art, adopted.

But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has turned a deaf ear to the more recent appeals on behalf of wushu.

"Wushu has not been included as an official sport at the Olympics but I hope that after the Games we can make the sport better known to all the people of the world," said Jiao Ruiping, aged 16, who has been learning wushu since she was nine.

China's wushu association is making the best of the situation by getting approval from the government to stage a tournament in Beijing that will take place during the Olympics.

The IOC have insisted that the event has nothing to do with the Games but many Chinese think otherwise.

"Even if wushu is not an official competition sport in Beijing, we are satisfied that it has its own demonstration programme," said Cha Huimin, a teacher at the Tagou school.

"By taking advantage of this demonstration event, we can raise awareness about wushu throughout the world," she added.

Given the current mood within the IOC, wushu is unlikely to be elevated as an Olympic sport in a hurry.

IOC chief Jacques Rogge is opposed to any expansion of the Olympics with the addition of new sports and any further rise in the already huge cost of staging the four-yearly event.

Recently actor Jet Li, China's most famous wushu master who helped promote the sport in several Hollywood films, told his compatriots that they may have a long wait before their traditional combat sport is enshrined.

"I think we need to work for a few more generations to get wushu made into an Olympic sport," he said in the Chinese capital late last year.

"But we will not give up and we will achieve this Olympic dream one day."

Students train in the martial art of wushu

Students train in the martial art of wushu

Students train in the martial art of wushu