Taekwondo gains popularity in South China's Guangxi

Dressed in a white suit, 18-year-old Wei Qiteng is practicing offense and defense gestures with his partner in a taekwondo center in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Attracted by shows on TV, Wei began to learn taekwondo for fun and he has been practicing it for seven years. Now he takes it as his major at Guangxi Vocational College of Performing Arts.

"The high-intensity physical training is painful, but the time and effort will pay off. Taekwondo teaches me how to persevere," said Wei.

26 students at the Guangxi Vocational College of Performing Arts are studying in the taekwondo center.

"Thanks to its educational and artistic value, the number of taekwondo learners is increasing, and we have more than 30,000 registered members," said Chen Long, director of the teaching and research committee of Guangxi Taekwondo Association.

In September 2020, the World Taekwondo (Wuxi) Centre and Guangxi Taekwondo Association decided to cooperate in five aspects, including education and training, event operation, and member management.

"The popularity of taekwondo reflects people's diverse demands for sports," said Chen, adding that more and more people will come to like taekwondo and make their own contributions to developing it.