Young Chinese people parkour in ancient buildings

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CGTN

If you were a fan of the French action film "District 13" or of the video game series "Assassin's Creed," you must be stunned by the dazzling moves of those protagonists. They can easily climb up high walls and jump between roofs, leaving the furious villains at their wits' end.

In downtown Wenzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, a group of young people are turning the film into reality. Making use of the urban facilities and their own gears, they jump and roll among all the obstacles they encounter. The group is called Wenzhou Parkour Alliance (WPA).

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Parkour is a sport focused on obstacle passing with no fixed styles or venues. Originated in the suburbs of Paris in 1980s, it was further developed by David Belle, who was highly trained in gymnastics, athletics and martial arts.

To complete the seemingly impossible moves such as climbing and vaulting, the traceurs have to move fast and utilize momentum. Landing also requires special techniques to prevent falling injuries.

Photo courtesy of Zhao Yaoming.

Zhao Yaoming, 27, is one of the main players in WPA. He fell for the sport at the age of 18 after watching a video by foreign traceurs: "Those people were so cool!" Since then, he's been fond of overcoming obstacles set up by the city.

"I was afraid at first. But once you did it, you'd feel so good for pushing yourself beyond limits."

This shy young man gradually became the star in many parkour videos. In 2014, the WPA owned its venue, and named Zhao the group's head coach shortly afterwards.

Photo courtesy of Zhao Yaoming.

Themed "freeing yourself and embracing your life," they started to share videos of the traceurs running among the vast forest, the deserted buildings and the grand bridges.

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Like many sports that originated in foreign countries, the localization of parkour became necessary as it spread to other parts of the world.

"We should do it in our own style. Therefore we chose these buildings with traditional Chinese features.”

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Their silhouettes fly over the ancient stone steps, the while marble railings and the beautiful ponds. Because of these young traceurs, those lonely gardens and alleys are now once again awakened.

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In addition to the amazing moves, the group pays more attention to the aesthetics of the motion pictures. Combining their body movements and the featured surroundings, the "imported" parkour is now infused with more traditional cultural elements: "We want people to see the beauty of traditional Chinese buildings."

CGTN Photo

"Parkour changed my view of the world," says Zhao. "Surpass yourself" is the motto of many traceurs. With their techniques, persistence and courage, they definitely would keep passing any obstacles in the future.

The story is one in The 1.3 Billion series exploring the diverse lives that make up China.