Kung Fu Destiny

This past weekend was the Chinese Culture Days at the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.  This festival is a yearly event that celebrates the diversity of St. Louis and the unique culture of China.  The Chinese community gets very involved with making this event such a success.

Although the event was almost a month earlier than it has been in recent years, the event could not have gotten any luckier with the weather.  It was a warm spring day with bright sun and cool breezes that made it an absolute pleasure to be out in the gardens.  All of flora were in full bloom including the 150,000 bulbs that were planted thickly throughout the garden in honor of the Botanical Garden’s 150^th anniversary.  The perfect weather and interesting entertainment brought out multitudes of people to enjoy the cultural festivities.

This year I was not performing and got a chance to enjoy the entertainment and beauty of the garden at a much more leisurely pace.  I watched the opening parade with lion dances, drum dances, and dragon dances.  I watched the New Shanghai Circus Acrobats perform several highly entertaining performances that included comedic acrobatics, plate spinning, and several drum routines.  I also spent some time in the Chinese Garden listening to live traditional Chinese music, and Chen Style Taiji Quan demonstrations.

I was asked by several of the local Chinese  participants if I would be performing this year and I replied that this year I was only an observer.  It was a nice change of pace not having to deal with hectic and chaotic schedules and not being able to go too far from the performance locations and really enjoy the festival.  Next year I hope that I can get back involved with the Chinese Culture Days.  I would like to get my school, the Jiu Long Pai, involved in the entertainment of the Missouri Botanical Garden’s patrons.  This way we can help introduce and educate people to the unique culture of China and its martial traditions.