UpDate - Vol. 15, No. 12, Page 7
November 16, 1995
Visiting Chinese martial artist teaching on campus

     Helping to familiarize Americans with the finer aspects of
Chinese culture, including martial arts and micro painting, while
enlarging his skills as a teacher and researcher, are the goals of a
visiting Chinese scholar.
     Matt Johnson, known in his home country as Zhang Xichun, is
teaching Taiji Quan, a branch of the Chinese martial art Wushu,
through Recreation and Intramural Programs.
     Director of the training department of Shaanxi Province, China,
an international cultural exchange center, this teacher of martial
arts and English said he chose the name "Johnson" because phonetically
it bears a resemblance to his Chinese name.
     "Being a teacher of English, I wanted the name of a writer for my
first name," Johnson said, "so, I chose Matthew after one of the
writers of the Gospels."
     Visiting the United States as a representative of the Sino-
American cultural exchange, Johnson said he wanted to experience in
the country modern American society first-hand.
     He also said he wants to communicate the new ideas and thoughts
gained by this experience to his students when he returns home.
     In addition to teaching English and martial arts to his Chinese
students at the Shaanxi center and the Xian Physical Education
Institute, Johnson has taught Wushu to foreign students from Japan,
Australia, Belgium and America.
     Wushu, he explained, is Chinese for martial arts, and is based on
Chinese philosophy, including Buddhism, Taoism and the teachings of
Confucius.
     "In order to fight well you have to use philosophy," Johnson
said. "The best fighters use their minds to determine their strategy.
This form of concentration is very effective."
     To attain this level of concentration, students are taught to
focus on the inner energy of the mind and body, learning how to
breathe and meditate.
     In the first of the three schools featuring types of Wushu,
students practice-using certain areas of the body, such as the shins,
hands and forehead-to apply force against another object. Although
primarily concerned with toughening these areas, this form of Kung Fu
also stresses it is the force that is inside a person that determines
one's ability to perform.
     In the second school associated with Wushu, the force, or
movement is incorporated through various forms of motion, including
eagle boxing, kick boxing, Shao Lin boxing, Tai Ji Quan and Xing Yi
boxing.
     In the third type of school, that focuses on fighting, is where
the lessons learned by years of practice and discipline are ultimately
put into effect.
     "The basic techniques of fighting involve distance, timing and
power," Johnson said. "The question is: Can you put what you have
learned into practice?"
     Almost as if choreographed, curved, arc-like movements are used
by some fighters to retain calmness and control in the midst of a
heated match.
     Taiji Quan, or the "bravest of Wushu," is one of the 2,000
different kinds of Wushu taught internationally in martial arts
classes.
     Johnson said all kinds of people from different age groups and
skill levels, including students and faculty, sign up for his classes.
When he isn't teaching or practicing Wushu, Johnson stays involved
with the sport by serving as a first class national Wushu referee.
     Having done postgraduate work in China at Xian Physical Education
College, Johnson said he would like to pursue a master's degree in
physical education at UD.
     Parallel to his interest in physical education and martial arts
is a desire to improve his English skills, which Johnson said will
help him in his role as a translator of both English and Chinese in
his native country.
     Currently at work on a book dealing with the basics of American
English, Johnson also is researching the interpretation of phonetic
alphabets, specializing in the pronunciation of American English.
     Although extremely proud of Chinese culture, Johnson said he
enjoys reading the works of many American writers.
     His favorites are Mark Twain and Ernest Hemingway, and he also
has read the speeches of such American leaders as Abraham Lincoln and
Martin Luther King Jr.
     While Johnson is satisfied teaching martial arts to Americans and
American English to his Chinese students back home, he said he feels
most strongly about spreading information on the richness and depth of
his cultural heritage.
     "There are so many good things about Chinese culture," Johnson
said. "I want to teach them to the rest of the world."
                                                         -Jerry Rhodes