Viral sensation carries on family legacy of imparting the wisdom, heritage and skills of Chinese martial traditions to a new generation, Wang Ru and Ma Jingna report in Lanzhou.

Martial artist Zhang Hanliang practices tai chi in a garden in Lanzhou, Gansu province, in 2021. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

In 2021, a video which shows a woman wielding more than 20 traditional weapons one after another went viral online, providing a feast of Chinese martial arts for the viewer. The slender woman, dressed in black, wielded swords, broadswords, clubs, daggers and even heavy hammers quickly, skillfully and with vigor, just like a heroine in a martial arts novel.

Since then, Zhang Hanliang, who has practiced martial arts for more than two decades, has uploaded more videos of her using other traditional Chinese weapons, and continues to attract attention online. The number of followers she has on China's video platform Bilibili has, thus far, reached 1 million.

Confidence, courage and careful thinking are very important for improving your martial arts skills.

Zhang Hanliang, PE teacher, Tianshui Normal University

She was also invited to demonstrate her techniques at last year's Lantern Festival Gala broadcast by China Media Group, and this year's CMG online Spring Festival Gala.

Zhang, 36, a champion of many domestic and international martial arts competitions, now works as a physical education teacher at Tianshui Normal University in Tianshui, Northwest China's Gansu province, where she imparts her martial arts skills to her students. In recent years, she has trained many successful competitive martial artists. She also works to spread the culture of China's martial arts abroad, in countries like France, Russia and Malaysia.

Zhang was born in 1987 into a family of martial arts practitioners in Wushan county, Tianshui. Her family discovered that the girl had talent, so when she turned 9 years old, they sent her to a sports school in Wuwei, Gansu, to systematically learn the necessary skills.

At the time, she was the youngest student at the school, but the difficulties of learning martial arts didn't scare her. According to Zhang, she and her classmates got up at 5:30 am every day to start their practice. They ran in cold winds during winter and through the scorching days of summer, and she still recalls the pain of stretching and pulling her ligaments to warm up for practice every day.

Zhang (front) leads some tai chi lovers from Norway at Tianshui Normal University in Gansu in 2019. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

When she was learning a difficult maneuver or how to wield a new weapon, she often got injured. For example, when she learned to do a flip, she often landed on her head, which was not only painful, but also left her dazed. But, undeterred, she would insist on trying again and again until she mastered the skill.

As well as the assigned daily practice, she actively sought further tasks to learn by herself, trying her best to polish her techniques.

"The first lesson I learned from practicing martial arts was to be tough and conquer difficulties. In the face of obstacles, you must defeat the fear in your heart at first. Confidence, courage and careful thinking are very important for improving your martial arts skills," says Zhang.

Her efforts were not in vain. She won her first championship at a swordsmanship competition in Gansu, when she was only 13. Later, she took the first place in a number of other domestic and international martial arts competitions she participated in.

She also learned how to wield many weapons from her family members, just as she shows in her videos. Among them she has a special favor for swords. "A Chinese folk saying mentions that, 'the sword is the weapon for a person of virtue'. I spent much more time improving my swordsmanship than using other weapons. Therefore, I'm especially good at it," says Zhang.

Zhang learns martial arts from her father. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Now, collecting various weapons has become a hobby of hers. "I feel excited when I see a new weapon and want to try it," says Zhang.

Zhang has learned from practicing martial arts that they are not only about techniques, but also the cultural connotations behind them. "When I learned martial arts from my father, he told me the arts are not only about certain movements, but a profound culture, like the pursuit of harmony between people and nature. When you think about the martial arts more deeply, you can find philosophical wisdom contained within," says Zhang.

Zhang's father, Zhang Hongmou, used to be a master of Tongbei Martial Arts, a school that originated in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). He gained great fame as one of the 100 martial arts masters in China by the Wushu Administrative Center of the General Administration of Sports of China in 1995.

The family tradition has endowed Zhang Hanliang with a lasting love for the culture of Chinese martial arts, and a sense of responsibility to spread it. "When I say I want to spread the culture of Chinese martial arts, I mean I want to spread the skills of martial arts, their cultural background and the lofty moral standards they highlight," says Zhang Hanliang.

According to her, moral standards were very much emphasized by martial arts practitioners in the old days. "Older generations of my family pursued both professional excellence and moral integrity, and it was very difficult to be a master's apprentice, unless they went through long-term tests," she says.

She tutors some students at a school in Lanzhou last year. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

But now, learning martial arts is no longer that demanding, since anyone can pay to learn them. "Martial arts develop with the times. I think it's reasonable, but that can only be done on the basis of keeping its traditional culture and not destroying its system," she adds.

From Zhang Hanliang's perspective, martial arts in today's society still have a valuable function. "People learn them not to become a swordsman, but for self-defense and the health benefits they offer," says Zhang Hanliang.

Years of being put through the mill has tempered her, made her tough, and kept inspiring her in daily life. "That's why I hope more people can get to know and learn martial arts," she says.

In 2003, she was enrolled at Gansu University of Political Science and Law in Lanzhou as an undergraduate majoring in English, and was recruited by Tianshui Normal University as a PE teacher in 2007.

"After my videos became popular, that seemed to ignite my students' martial arts dreams. I can really feel their curiosity and passion," says Zhang Hanliang.

According to Ran Jianfei, who used to be a student of hers, Zhang Hanliang is a very careful and hardworking teacher. "She patiently and repeatedly taught us the martial arts movements. Moreover, she reminded us to keep improving our morality and to learn more general knowledge, encouraged us to read ancient classics, as well as stressed the importance of possessing both integrity and ability," Ran said in an interview last year.

Contact the writers at wangru1@chinadaily.com.cn