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Martial arts create a bridge to North

JOE FIORITO

Master Lee Chi Wai laughed out loud.

He is a 31st generation Shaolin martial arts monk from Mississauga by way of Hong Kong. He is 40 years of age. His hair is closely cropped. He is lithe, moves lightly, laughs easily.

He laughed because he is also an acupuncturist, and there is a naked, life-sized porcelain man standing guard by the door to the clinic in his gym. The porcelain man is mapped with a network of acupuncture points; yes, it is anatomically correct. I could not help noticing that there are no acupuncture points "down there." And so I observed that "down there" is a very good place not to get stuck with a needle.

But I had not come to make Master Lee laugh.

He has recently returned from a successful sporting trip to North Korea. Reports from that country are quite discouraging these days. The leader, Kim Jung Il, is a golf-loving, movie-star-kidnapping, population-starving, bad-hair-day-having, nuclear-weapons-developing ... well, let's just say Kim has some issues.

I know very little about the martial arts and even less about North Korea. Naturally, I was curious.

Master Lee said, "I was there to participate in the First International Martial Arts Games. This is a kind of Olympics of the martial arts.

Kim Jung Il came to do a speech the first night of the Games. He didn't say too much. We didn't get to meet him.

"The Games were held in Pyongyang. When you arrive at the international airport, a very small airport, they take your cellphone away; when you leave, they give it back. They don't say why. I think they don't want you making calls to the outside world. If you want to make a call, you have to go through the hotel operator. You cannot phone by yourself. And you cannot carry a laptop with you.

"We stayed in a tourist hotel. We travelled in groups. Each group had a translator, really more of a minder. We didn't see the poor side. We just saw the things for tourism.

"The Games lasted seven days. During our stay, they served the Canadian athletes what they thought was Canadian food — bread; boiled chicken, very tasty; also fried fish and fried beef, but it was not steak. I myself don't eat beef. Only white meat. Why? Because I made a promise to my teacher long ago."

Such is the loyalty of student to teacher, and such is the life-long discipline of the martial artist; speaking of which, Master Lee won a gold and a silver medal in competition.

"The gold was for weapons in the Chinese division; the short sword. I had to beat 15 others for the gold. It was very tough. The toughest are the Chinese. They are more experienced. They practise all the time. Here, we are part-time. But I have enough experience."

Master Lee is far too modest. He is to the martial arts as Alice Munro is to the short story. He said, "Short sword is a bit like fencing. You fight three rounds of one minute, with a minute of rest in between. One touch is one point. I was fighting a Chinese guy for the gold medal. After the first round, the score was one-all. After the second round, he led two-one. But the score at the end of the third round was seven-six for me.

"And I won a silver medal for hand form. It's just a demonstration of kung fu form, it's not fighting. The judges want to see power, movement, speed, and how the form looks.

"The games were on television every day, on Korean TV, and also in Germany and France. The idea of the games is to draw all the martial arts together — tae kwon do, karate, kung fu, all the arts.

"There were thousands of people watching in the stadium. The crowd was very interesting. Not much cheering. Just clapping — very quiet, then clapping. Not like here, where there is cheering all the time."

And when he was not competing?

Master Lee said, "We went on tours by bus. You cannot go anywhere by yourself. Also you cannot find any cabs. There are no cabs. Also, foreigners cannot get Korean money. People use Chinese dollars and Euros in the stores. Koreans will take American money but they don't like it.

"The people there don't know anything from the outside world, the latest movies or popular music. The electricity is very bad. The power is off at night and there is no water between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. I think it is like China 60 years ago. Overall, though, the people are very nice. They understand they are living in tough times. But I think it is opening up."

As usual, sports continue to be a useful tool for bridging not just culture and language, but also politics.

Master Lee said, "The next International Martial Arts Games will be held in Kazakhstan or perhaps in Turkey. We're not sure yet. We're still talking."

I hope some of the talk in this country includes financial support for Canadian athletes.

Master Lee said, "I paid for the trip myself. It cost about $7,000."

He raised the money by teaching, and also by sticking acupuncture needles in his patients, according to the map of dots on the porcelain man guarding the door to his clinic.

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