Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour

Updated 更新时间：2026 年 02月 20 日 February 20

What’s new?

And how did I Celebrate New Years? Though I have many sports friends, even living nearby, I have a tradition to bike or run up the closest mountain every New Year Day! This Fire Horse Year I biked. And, given I’m working on a world record for slowness, I didn’t want to bore any of those friends to death or cause them to lower their bike records by going slow enough to match my awesome speed going up or down that ferocious mountain!

我怎么庆祝新年呢？虽然我有很多运动朋友，甚至住得很近，但我有一个传统，每年的元旦都会骑车或跑步登上最近的山！这个火马年我选择了骑车。而且，鉴于我正在挑战世界最慢纪录，我可不想把那些朋友无聊死，也不想因为我上下那座凶猛山峰的惊人速度而让他们的自行车记录被迫降低到与我一样慢的水平！

Like that? 像那样吗？

Not exactly. 😨🤣

As for the Kung Fu aspects of such a ride, going up involves tenacity. Coming down requires locking oneself to the bike with no tension anywhere because it’s pretty steep and one has to ride the breaks at all times. Tension will cause stiffness (even numbness) and slow reaction time. It’s a stony mountain with plenty of dips that can throw someone off their bike it not firmly attached and even a small stone can be disaster at high speed. With switchbacks every few hundred meters one must stay in the right lane and remember cars coming up can and do cross that line from time to time. Fun? Absolutely, when caution is maintained uppermost in mind at all times. It’s a sport and art, to be sure.

至于这种骑行的功夫方面，上坡需要坚韧不拔。下坡则需要全身放松地紧贴自行车，因为坡度相当陡，必须一直刹车。紧张会导致僵硬（甚至麻木）并减慢反应速度。这是一座崎岖多石的山，地形起伏很大，如果没有牢牢固定，甚至一个小石子也可能在高速下造成灾难。每隔几百米就会有一个发夹弯，所以必须保持在右侧车道，并记住迎面来的汽车有时会越线。好玩吗？绝对好玩，只要始终将谨慎放在首位。这无疑既是一项运动，也是一门艺术。

What else is new? 还有什么新鲜事吗？

1. I saw the new crescent moon last night. Ramadan has started. A reminder for all: Those who have survived the hottest fires of oppression have the greatest appreciation of compassion (ren 仁), righteousness (yi 義), propriety (li 禮), wisdom (zhi 智), and trustworthiness (xin 信): The five primary Confucian virtues are universal values. Periodic fasting cleans the body and mind. Don’t forget: Those with a leaner body tend to live longer. 昨夜我见新月初现，斋月已启。谨此提醒众生：历经最炽烈压迫之火者，最能体悟仁义礼智信——这五项儒家核心美德乃普世价值。定期斋戒可净化身心。切记：体态清瘦者往往更长寿。
2. Always interested in linguistics and philosophy, I’ve known for many years Nafs (نفس) is an Arabic word for “self” or “soul.” It refers to the essence of an individual – their inner self. It can be the higher self or the lower animal self. Recently I learned it is related to the word Nafas (نفس) which means “breath” in Arabic. In poetry and literature, it can refer to life and/or spirit. Nafs and Nafas are related words and reveal some overlap, as in “self-control.” (يجب عليك أن تسيطر على نفسك “You must control yourself.”) This potential for overlap is not so different from Prana (प्राण) in Sanskrit and Qi (气) in Chinese. Oh! There is a long, long list of compound words with “qi” (气) in Chinese. 我向来对语言学和哲学感兴趣，多年来一直知道“Nafs”（نفس）是阿拉伯语中表示“自我”或“灵魂”的词汇。它指代个体的本质——内在自我，既可指高尚的自我，亦可指低级的动物性自我。最近我了解到它与“Nafas”（نفس）一词相关，后者在阿拉伯语中意为“呼吸”。在诗歌与文学中，它可指代生命与/或精神。Nafs与Nafas作为关联词汇，揭示出某些重叠含义，例如“自我控制”（يجب عليك أن تسيطر على نفسك “你必须控制自己”）。这种概念重叠的特性，与梵语中的“Prana”（प्राण）和汉语中的“气”（qi）并无本质差异。噢！汉语中含有“气”字的复合词，其数量可谓浩如烟海。
3. I’m also working on a video about a Han Dynasty archeological site I found here in Beijing. I visited with some dear friends not long ago… and am continuing on background research. Time travel is real for those who dare to look. 我也在制作一个关于我在北京发现的汉代考古遗址的视频。不久前我和一些亲爱的朋友一起参观过……现在还在继续做背景研究。对于那些敢于观察的人来说，时间旅行是真实存在的。

The AMAZING 10th World Kung Fu Championships held October 14 – 20 in beautiful Emei Mountain (Emeishan in Chinese), in Sichuan province.

令人惊叹的第十届世界功夫锦标赛于10月14日至20日在美丽的峨眉山（中文名：峨眉山），四川省举行。

I was honored to be asked to assist in doing the English language voiceover for this history making event. Some 5,092 athletes from 54 countries and regions participated. Hosted by the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) and Chinese Wushu Association (CWA) it was four non-stop days of live action covering three floors with 10 competition areas on each floor! This biannual international sporting event was established in 2004 and is always a truly HUGE event.

我很荣幸被邀请为这一历史性事件的英语配音提供帮助。共有来自54个国家和地区的5,092名运动员参加。由国际武术联合会（IWUF）和中国武术协会（CWA）主办，这次活动连续四天不停的精彩赛事在三层楼上进行，每层楼设有10个比赛区域！这一每两年举办一次的国际体育赛事始于2004年，总是一个真正盛大的活动。

At the opening ceremony, Chinese actor Wu Jing was appointed as the new wushu image ambassador for the IWUF and the Chinese Wushu Association, succeeding kung fu actor Jet Li, known as Yi Lianjie in China.

在开幕式上，中国演员吴京被任命为国际武联和中国武术协会的新武术形象大使，接替了在中国被称为李连杰的功夫演员。

Wu Jin was very famous mainly in China until 2017 when his Wolf Warrior 2 movie hit the silver screens worldwide and he became a true international celebrity actor, martial artist and director. In his most recent movie, “The Meg 2: The Trench” he co-stars alongside box office mega-star Jason Statham. Some of his other greatest movies are listed here: https://collider.com/wu-jing-best-movies-ranked.

吴京在中国一直非常有名，直到2017年他的电影《战狼2》登陆全球银幕，他才成为真正的国际影星、武术家和导演。在他最近的电影《巨齿鲨2：深渊》中，他与票房巨星杰森·斯坦森合作主演。他的一些其他经典电影可以在这里查看：https://collider.com/wu-jing-best-movies-ranked。

Wrapping it up this competition was beautifully organized, in an awesome location, with spectacular action and came off without a hitch making it all appear easy, which I’m very sure it wasn’t for the athletes, organizers and officials all of whom deserve an enduring round of applause for their roles in making this a truly splendid celebration of China’s martial arts by people of all ages from all around the world.

总结来说，这次比赛组织得非常出色，地点极佳，比赛精彩纷呈，整个过程顺利无阻，让一切看起来轻而易举，我很确定对于运动员、组织者和裁判来说并非如此，他们都值得我们长久的掌声，感谢他们为这场真正辉煌的庆祝活动——由来自世界各地不同年龄的人们共同参与的中国武术盛会——所做的贡献。

Where to find the Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour online?

在哪里可以在线找到丝绸之路功夫友谊之旅？

My humble multi-media efforts focus more on information content than visual effects, probably because I’m not trained in video production. Nevertheless, I hope people enjoy and learn something from those efforts.

我谦虚的多媒体创作更注重信息内容而非视觉效果，这可能是因为我没有接受过视频制作的专业训练。尽管如此，我仍希望人们能从这些创作中获得乐趣并学到一些东西。

www.tiktok.com/@SilkRoadMartialArts

Below is the QR code for my Chinese TikTok called Douyin.

And, I’ve been running, swimming, biking and practicing martial arts with ever greater enthusiasm. NEVER, NEVER, NEVER stop training! A way can be found if one searches for it.

而且，我一直在跑步、游泳、骑自行车和练习武术，以更大的热情。永远不要停止训练！

17个丝绸之路国家，无数公里的陆路旅行，至今已有12000年的历史。

Silk Road traveler, writer, martial artist and founder of the Silk Road Martial Art Friendship Tour Gregory Brundage, better known as Abdul Rashid, 石龙 Shi (meaning “stone”and pronounced “Sure”) Long (meaning dragon), started learning Judo and Taekwondo in 1969, Karate in 1971, and Kung Fu in 1972. He first moved to southeast Asia in 1992, and started the Silk Road Kung Fu Friendship Tour and Silk Road Taekwondo Quest in 2015 while living in Beijing. First, his articles are published in Kung Fu Magazine (California) and then he collects those articles and publishes them in books. A similar arrangement was made with Taekwondo Times magazine also published in the US and a book emerged as well.

丝绸之路旅行家、作家、武术家和丝绸之路武术友谊之旅的创始人格雷戈里·布伦戴奇，更广为人知的名字是阿卜杜勒·拉希德，石龙于 1969 年开始学习柔道和跆拳道，1971 年开始学习空手道，1972 年开始学习功夫。他于1992年首次移居东南亚，并于2015年在北京居住期间开始了丝绸之路功夫友谊之旅和丝绸之路跆拳道探索。首先，他的文章发表在《功夫杂志》（加利福尼亚州）上，然后他收集这些文章并将它们出版在书中。美国出版的《跆拳道时代》杂志也做出了类似的安排，并出版了一本书。

“Kung Fu” refers to a transcendent level of skill development.

它是关于建设，而不是破坏。

It is about building, never destroying.