343 Martial Arts

Martine Niven is the UK Shaolin temple instructor and also a Kung Fu instructor. She tells the story of how as a young girl she started to practice martial arts, becoming quite good at the physical side of it. Then, after moving to London, she came into contact specifically with Shaolin Kung Fu and really took her training to the next level after becoming an apprentice under a Chinese Shaolin master. ShaoLan explains through the Chinese characters how in the kung fu way, the relationship between master and student is so important that students are supposed to hold the master in the same regard as their own parents! Martine also tells the story of visiting Shaolin temple in China and climbing a tall mountain to a cave with something extremely special inside!

The Chinese word for martial art is 武術/武术. The first character 武 refers to anything to do with military or fighting, the second character 術/术 means “skill” or “technique” so the “fighting skill” or “fighting technique” is 武術/武术, the martial art!