--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: U.S. wushu masters gather for international festival image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltda5e389f19380aa8/6a4b523b8b93e50f325ad78b/6D13944BC0934AFBBE79127150AD2D01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- # U.S. wushu masters gather for international festival  _This content was paid for and prepared by China Daily, an official publication of the People's Republic of China. The TIME editorial and advertising departments were not involved in the creation of this content._ _Taiji_ grandmaster Chen Zhenglei leads an exercise during the first International Kungfu and Taiji Festival held in Houston, in August. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY By MAY ZHOU Matthew Lee is a lover of _sanda_ — a form of modern competitive _wushu_ — and a former member of the U.S. _wushu_ national team. Coming to Houston from Maryland, he joined hundreds of others to take part in the first International Kungfu and Taiji Festival held from August 22 to 24. “It’s a rare opportunity to learn from the best in the country, and it’s also a fun opportunity to learn some other things,” Lee said. The festival was a gathering of “who’s who” in the US world of wushu. Some are legendary: “_Taiji_ Prince” Chen Sitan, who won more than 30 medals before he retired from competition; _taiji_ grandmaster Chen Zhenglei, who was named one of the top ten martial arts masters of the present day; and Gao Jiamin, who was once called “Queen of _Taiji_.” The last time a gathering of this caliber occurred in the United States was in 1995, when he was just a baby, Lee said. He eagerly seized this opportunity and took quite a few classes. Besides taking sanda and taolu classes, he also registered to learn traditional _wushu_ such as _fanzi quan_ and two-handed sword from master Narcyz Latecki. “He learned from authentic traditional _wushu_ master Ma Xianda, who taught (actor) Jet Li,” Lee said. Latecki, who now lives in the Boston area, is originally from Poland and immigrated to the U.S. on account of his _wushu_ talent. Growing up in a tough neighborhood, Latecki said _wushu_ had given him purpose and confidence, and saved his life. Besides performing at the opening event and teaching classes, he said he enjoyed the early morning exercise to learn the basics of _taiji_ and _qigong_ from the masters. For three days, the taiji masters led a one-hour exercise beginning at 6:30 a.m. More than 200 people participated, making it one of the festival’s highlights. “What I see from all the _qigong_ classes is how _taiji_ should embrace health. I think that’s a very good direction,” Latecki said, adding that _wushu_ practice is good to help people get away from drugs, staring at phones and being glued to chairs. Lee also took a class to learn _hung gar_ under Jacob Brinnand, a fifth-generation disciple of direct lineage from the legendary master Wong Fei-hung. Brinnand has studied hung gar in San Francisco and moved to the Houston area a few years ago. He is currently running the Iron Wire Martial Arts Academy with more than 200 students. “It made me so proud because kung fu is used to help. It is used to heal. It is used to build you up,” he said of the festival. “To see all these masters together, it just makes me very, very happy. I’m very humbled.” Brinnand said the festival brought a sense of brotherhood or sisterhood. “Instead of arguing about who’s No 1, who’s the best fighter, we are coming together as a family to bring up the culture. This is the greatest thing that I’ve seen.” Shi Xinghao, founder of the Houston Shaolin Kung Fu Academy, echoed a similar view. He taught Shaolin kung fu at the festival, his two children took some classes, and he, along with his wife, worked as event volunteers. “This is the first time we came together not to compete but to exchange. It’s a great way to come together to learn and promote _wushu_,” Shi said. “Everyone is happy to be part of it.” That was exactly the goal for Anthony Goh, founding president of the United States of America Wushu Kungfu Federation, who created and organized the event. According to him, more than 30 masters offered more than 70 classes to over 300 participants, including competitive events, traditional _wushu_, acupuncture and coach training. “_Taiji_ proved to be the most popular. The festival turned out better than we expected, with very positive feedback. The masters told me that they learned from each other too,” Goh said. “The success is encouraging. It means that we are on the right track, and we will definitely continue to organize this event next year.” U.S. wushu masters gather for international festival ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/us-wushu-masters-gather-for-international-festival/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/us-wushu-masters-gather-for-international-festival/"},"headline":"U.S. wushu masters gather for international festival","datePublished":"2026-06-18T14:28:13.700Z","dateModified":"2026-06-09T07:28:06.109Z","description":"","url":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/us-wushu-masters-gather-for-international-festival/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/branded-content/china-daily/us-wushu-masters-gather-for-international-festival/","name":"U.S. wushu masters gather for international festival"}}]}] ```