While holding an extended narrow sword, one swift snap of the wrist can instantly poke a person’s eyeball out or slice his or her neck. Any person can learn how to do this on Tuesday nights in Yosemite Hall.

Although nobody is literally sliced, Michael Chen teaches the art of historical combative moves, known as Wushu. A grad student in recreation and leisure studies, Chen volunteers his time to teaching Wushu.

The Wushu club meets every Tuesday night at 7 p.m. in Yosemite Hall room 187. The club is always open to new members who want to join or try it out. The Wushu club in a part of the Martial Arts Organization at Sacramento State, which has been around for about nine years. The Wushu Club started about three years ago. Tuesday nights are intense for Wushu members. They practice for about two hours, and 10 minutes into practice they are dripping with sweat. It is physically demanding, and many weapons are involved.

Out of the several weapons used during practices, the swords hold the most cultural significance.

“What we do developed from warrior and combative traditions, and because Chinese warriors use swords, we’d be missing something if we didn’t have them,” Chen said. “It is also quite difficult to master.”

There are two different types of swords used during practice. The long thin sword is called “Jian” in Chinese. The Jian was traditionally used by elegant scholars such as Confucius and is very graceful, similar to a fencing sword.

This weapon is used quickly and swiftly. By mastering quick snaps of the wrist a warrior could pinpoint any crucial part of the body such as the wrist, neck or eye and the opponent would die or lose the match instantly.

The second sword is the “Dao.” It is a shorter and thicker sword. It is more rugged and was used for hacking.

Beyond the Jian and Dao, staff spears, chain whips, three-section staffs (similar to nunchucks) and rope darts are applied to practice.

“We don’t go around chopping people anymore, but a lot of cultural dances do not serve the original purpose of the past,” Chen said. “But using the weapons is to perfect your technique. It is very well ingrained in the art.”

These weapons are used during Wushu practice to preserve the importance of tradition. This is something that is very important to Chen.

“Traditionally Wushu started as military arts in ancient China and developed over the years and, more (recently), they want to get into the Olympics,” Chen said. “So they’ve modified it to be more sporty and less combative, and gradually, over the years, it’s still changing. They’re making people jump higher and spin faster just for the sport or competition. It’s for the judges and the Olympics, almost like ice skating.”

Chen said he is uninterested in the modernization and evolution of Wushu. His objective is to teach his students about the culture and tradition of the martial art.

“Nowadays, due to the evolution of the sport towards a sporty practice, people are concerned with how high someone can jump holding a sword,” he said. “That’s no good if the person can’t even use the sword.”

He wants students of Wushu to understand the meaning behind it. He said that every teacher is different and has his or her own prerogative.

“I got into it in the early 90s. I trained with an instructor (from Beijing) that lives in Berkley,” Chen said. “I would commute to train with her.”

He said she had different teaching techniques. She felt that the most advanced skills should be passed down only to women, so he was unable to learn certain things.

“She also feels some are more masculine, and some practices should be separated.

For example, some forms mimic animals like the monkey or the praying mantis. She felt those were not lady-like and she would only teach those to men,” Chen said. “Her teacher had different beliefs. Moves with the Jian are very pretty and she felt those should be passed down to women.”

Chen said he’s more open. It’s important that students likes what they learn, so he’ll give them the choice as often as possible.

Most of the drills and practices that Chen teaches originated in Northern China. Chen also teaches some Southern Chinese practices. The differences between the two styles are obvious and have geographical significance. Northern Chinese style portrays high jumps and swift movements because Northern China was spacious and had many horses. While in combat, soldiers or fighters had to jump high over the horses, Chen said.

He said opposite to that, Southern style depicts grounded and confined movements because the south typically was crowded with many people.

Although tradition is significant to Chen, the members practice Wushu for several different reasons.

Timothy Scully is the president of the Wushu Club and is a sophomore majoring in economics. His primary reason for practicing Wushu is the physical aspect.

“Wushu is more fast paced compared to other martial arts. It requires a lot of agility, a lot of speed and a lot of endurance. All the moves we do require you to be very quick and very agile,” Scully said. “I, personally, am a big guy, so lifting weights makes me bigger, but it doesn’t actually help me as far as speed and agility, so that’s why I come here.”

Dung Pham is a member of the Wushu Club and a junior majoring in computer science. He has been practicing Wushu for almost two years, and went all the way to China to train.

“The reason I went to China is because that’s where Wushu originated and where the best are. I wanted to go there to get better,” Pham said. “It was really different and a lot harder. I trained five days a week. People there train eight hours a day, seven days a week.”

Pham said he does not know what he will do with Wushu in the future, but he is very interested in the art.

The members of the Wushu club range in age, sex and do not all go to Sac State. Stephanie Sumner goes to UC Davis. She said she practices Wushu because she wants to follow in her mother’s footsteps.

Members are often involved in outside activities.

“Most years we participate in a large Wushu competition in Berkley. All the members who feel ready for it have the option of doing so and the club will pay for their registration,” Chen said. “It’s a big tournament with competitors coming from all over the country.”

“We’ve done major performing arts competitions in L.A., Santa Clara, San Jose and San Francisco. We have a demo team, which includes any members who are ready. Some years the Cherry Blossom Festival in San Francisco invites us to go perform and be in their parade. We’ve gotten a lot of awards in L.A. for performing arts competitions,” Chen said.

The drills and moves that the members practice look like scenes straight out of a Jet Li movie. Most of the Wushu members are big fans of Jet Li, since he is a Wushu master. Wushu is represented in almost every single Jet Li movie and other movies such as Star Wars Episode I and Episode II.

Mindy Yuen can be reached at [email protected]