Today we’d like to introduce you to Hesheng Bao.
Hi Hesheng, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My wife and I immigrated to the US and settled down in the beautiful city of Pittsburgh – which we are now proud to call our home for 34 years! While we love and appreciate the history behind Asian-American and fusion culture, I realized quickly that there was a unique opportunity to share unfiltered Chinese culture here. A growing spark of interest from the local community coupled with my passion and training in Chinese martial arts, and Win-Win Kungfu Culture Center was born. That was some 17 years ago, and the school has grown to be a wonderful, supportive community with students from all walks of life. It truly is thanks to them – those who dedicate their time and energy to learning, teaching others, and supporting the school by volunteering to support in high visibility events and competitions – that we are where we are today.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of our larger struggles has been overcoming stereotypes and even teaching what “wushu” and “kungfu” really are. Many people have an idea of what kungfu is based on movies and pop culture, but we do a lot of education on the principles behind kungfu and internal martial arts (like taichi and qigong). These are integral to people’s understanding behind our training methods and their own learning, and I do believe the opportunities we have been lucky to have to perform around the city have given us the ability to showcase what Chinese martial arts really looks like, without dressing it up in Hollywood lights and makeup.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
WHAT DO WE OFFER
Win-Win Kungfu Culture Center is a school that offers instruction in Chinese martial arts. Our main teachings include traditional and contemporary kungfu/wushu, taichi, and qigong. We also have added sanda to our curriculum as well, to teach students how to properly apply the principles and training they hone every day to self-defense measures. Additional offerings we have as a cultural center include Mandarin lessons and a summer camp for children to learn other aspects of culture in addition to kungfu – such as mahjong, Chinese chess, and traditional Chinese calligraphy.
WHAT ARE WE MOST PROUD OF
Our school has developed a community with a beating heart beyond our imagination. What had started out as a school born from my own hobbies and a passion for sharing Chinese culture with others has become a beautiful, supportive community. Our students come from all walks of life – those from every decade of life, a variety of religions, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds all come together to learn, practice, and hone their skills together.
WHAT SETS US APART
It is fairly common to see martial arts schools that have instructors that are one or two generations removed from its root culture. So in addition to this being a wonderful community, Win-Win is also incredibly proud to boast instruction based in authentic Chinese martial arts. Our head instructors have trained in China, are international medalists (from bronze to gold), and we occasionally will invite the most prestigious guest teachers from China as well for brief stints to supplement our students’ training. Everybody is welcome at Win-Win, regardless of their skill level. We train all, from beginners to hobbyists to international gold medalists. Our students that are members of the US Wushu Team train on the same mat as those who walk in never having heard of wushu before – and they share knowledge, strength, and support with one another all the same.
Our school also has a unique focus on “correct” training – we integrate strength and mobility training into our curriculum as well so that our students can learn how to properly warm up, stretch, and move their bodies while being mindful of strain and fatigue that can be caused to bodies young and old.
As a part of our larger initiative to promote Chinese culture with those who are interested, we also travel to competitions nationally and internationally and perform regularly at cultural events around the city. We have been lucky enough to branch out into our own East-West melding projects too – such as performing as part of the annual Pittsburgh Opera House’s fashion show “Threads of Destiny” (which posed an incredibly exciting challenge for our choreographers to figure out, having our performers doing kungfu on a catwalk) and choreographing a special taichi performance around a live pianist onstage with the Pittsburgh Cultural Center’s Chinese New Year Gala.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We love to give our students opportunities to perform and share the fruits of their labor with the city of Pittsburgh. We would also love to continue promoting our work to senior communities in Pittsburgh, as qigong and taichi are shown to benefit joint health, mobility, and cardiac health and are a low impact exercise option for that demographic. We have also taught at other facilities before – such as the Jewish Community Center (JCC) and the University of Pittsburgh – so we are always open to opportunities to teach outside of our own studio as well. Our mat/facilities are also available to rent in the daytime.
Pricing:
- First class is free!
- https://winwinkungfu.com/pricing
Contact Info:
- Website: https://winwinkungfu.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/winwinkungfu/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/winwinkungfu/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@winwinkungfu0
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/win-win-kung-fu-culture-center-pittsburgh-2
