Young men take to wushu in a big way in Burundi

In 2008, Nilrenganya returned to Burundi and started spreading wushu in different areas of Burundi. In 2017, he created Burundian Wushu Federation with support from the Chinese embassy.

"Wushu is a very important game that every Burundi needs to know," he says. According to him, everyone in Burundi are very excited to see Chinese movies, which include very impressive movements, but people can only see them in film, so he came up with an idea to gather people to do martial arts.

Nilrenganya expected that one day he could represent Burundi to compete in Wushu with people from other countries.

Technician Issa Havyariuana, 28, is Nilrenganya's first student, who started learning Wushu in 2008.

Havyariuana says because of movies of Bruce Li, wushu has become a favorite game in Burundi. "I first learned Shaolin wushu, then we started learning the new forms referring to international wushu," he says.

"I want to be Bruce Li or Jet Li. Learning wushu helps my technician work, I can do my job faster. I also know how to live with and respect others from wushu."

Some Burundian Wushu students can speak Chinese, including 27-yea-rold Ininahazwe Bonfils Ildephonse.

"I like kung fu, it's my hobby. It is also a kind of Chinese culture," says Ildephonse, whose Chinese name is Li Zhixuan.

Besides Wushu, he also likes Chinese dancing very much, said Ildephonse, who learned Chinese language at Confucius Institute in Burundi.

"Chinese martial arts could help Burundian people understand Chinese culture and traditional Chinese philosophy. We hope to enrich culture exchanges between China and Burundi through exchanges of Wushu," says Chinese Ambassador to Burundi Zhuo Ruisheng.