Four unnamed graduates from China's fabled Shaolin Temple have established a martial arts center at an undisclosed location in Lome, the capital and largest city of the Togolese Republic in West Africa, according to a report from the Global Times.
Dubbed as the "Chinese Martial Arts Center of Togo," or the acronym "CCAMT" for the French equivalent, the center was formally inaugurated on Thursday, Nov. 17, with Angele Amouzou-Djake, the Togolese Minister of Sport and Leisure, and Huo Yuntian, the deputy head of mission at the Chinese Embassy in Togo, in attendance.
Amouzou-Djake, who said the newly established center will strengthen Sino-Togolese cooperation, appealed to the Togolese people "to enroll in large number to learn [the] Chinese culture."
Huo, for his part, said that he wishes the center "serves as cultural gateway for people of China and Togo."
China officially established diplomatic relations with the Republic of Togo on Sept. 19, 1972, upon the joint signing of the "Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of the Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Togo."
Since then, the Chinese government has carried out or expedited projects in aid of Togo such as agricultural development, Kara-conference building, Anie Sugar refinery combined enterprise, Kara-hospital, Kpota sur Le Zio water-conducting irrigation project, the construction of the Lome Stadium, among others.
China and Togo also freely trade with each other.
The just-inaugurated Chinese Martial Arts Center of Togo will offer courses in "Chinese kick-boxing Sanda, Kung Fu combat techniques chaining, body building, physical and mental health maintenance Taichi and Kung Fu Shaolin teaching."
It will also be conducting classes on the Chinese language. Enrollment at the center will cost 15,000 CFA Francs or about $30 per student.
The original Shaolin Temple is situated in the forests of Shaoshi Mountain in Dengfeng County, Zhengzhou, Henan Province. It is the first temple that institutionalized the practice of kung fu, for which reason it is often called "the cradle of kung fu." In fact, there is a Chinese saying that goes: "All martial arts under heaven arose out of Shaolin."