Wu Bin

Wu Bin (zh-c|c=吴彬) (1937-) is a world-renowned wushu coach who has produced more Wushu champions than any other coach in China. Among his students are Jet Li, Li Jinheng, Zhang Guifeng, Zhang Hongmei, Hao Zhihua, Huang Qiuyan,Kenny Perez, Tang Laiwei and countless more.

Wu began his career after graduating from the Beijing Physical Culture University Wushu Department in 1963 by becoming a coach of the famous Beijing Wushu Team.

From 1986 to 1992, Wu Bin also held a position as Chairman of the Technical Department of the Chinese Wushu Research Institute. Presently, Wu Bin is the president of the Beijing Wushu Institute, the director of the Beijing Wushu Team, as well as holding top positions in the Chinese Wushu Association, Asian Wushu Federation, and the International Wushu Federation. He has also written 18 books, and is one of only 19 9th-level duan masters in China.

In 2001, Wu Bin was caught in controversies ^{[http://www.straightsword.com] [http://www.beijingwushuteam.com/articles/wubinletter.html]} engulfing the United States of America Wushu Kungfu Federation (USAWKF).

In 2003, Wu Bin became involved with a group called Young Champions. The program was founded by Bonnie Hood around 40 years ago. It originally consisted of a group of cheerleaders from Michigan. The program was designed to promote self-esteem, coordination, and physical fitness in children from 4 to 15 years of age. Today, Young Champions is a nation-wide program that also has other sports under its belt, such as self-defense, wushu, and hip-hop dance. Four years ago, Grandmaster Wu Bin was invited to host summer wushu camps in the United States. He was accompanied by three world champion students, and traveled to eight different states and taught over 1,000 students. Since then, he has hosted camps in California, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Minnesota. Since 2004, he has been active in creating a wushu curriculum for beginners, and has sent students to train and sight-see in China. So far, the wushu program has gained substantial improvement and prestige; in March of 2006, the Young Champions demo team won the championship at the 30th Battle of Columbus Martial Arts World Games. The program has since expanded into Wisconsin, Tennessee, Missouri, and North Carolina. Wu Bin likes the Young Champions program because it is a vehicle for expanding wushu to caucasians in America. "The good thing about Young Champions is that it's like a chain store, so wushu can spread extremely fast," he says.

External links

* [http://www.uswushuacademy.com/members/coaches/wubin.htm Wu Bin]
* [http://www.beijingwushuteam.com/articles/wubin.html My Instructor Wu Bin by Jet Li]
* [http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=694 Wu Bin - The Father of Modern Wushu]
* [http://www.aayaofil.com Young Champions of Illinois]