Martial arts visa

From what I understand, one can get a student visa if registered at a language institute for studying mandarin. Does anyone out there know if the same visa situation could be applied to someone who wishes to train at one of Taiwan’s martial arts schools? Any information would be helpful,
Thanks,
the hoovenmonkey

I did that back in 1991 when I was living in Jiayi County. Very tricky. I had to show a schedule, my teacher had to be a qualified teacher, his school had to be a registered school, he had to show tax receipts, I had to have a plane ticket out of here, and about 10 other conditions that I don’t even remember. In the end, I still had to use guanxi in the form of a local pol who went doen to the Jiayi County Police station and bullied them into doing it for me.

I once enquired about this issue to a local Chinese language school that offered “cultural” classes as an extra to their Chinese classes. At the time (2 years ago) they only had “tai qi” classes, but were hoping to get kung fu classes started in the future. Unfortunately I can’t remember the name of the school, but I found their ad in a local newspaper, maybe the China Post.

Good luck,

The Big Babou

It’s taiji, not tai qi. Just for your information.

from Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary (on-line)

Main Entry: tai chi chuan
Variant(s): or t’ai chi ch’uan /'tI-‘jE-ch&-’&n, 'tI-'chE-/
Function: noun
Usage: often capitalized T & both Cs
Etymology: Chinese (Beijing) t&ij&qu&n, from t&ij& the Absolute in Chinese cosmology + qu&n fist, boxing
Date: 1954
: an ancient Chinese discipline of meditative movements practiced as a system of exercises – called also tai chi, t’ai chi

Juba, I agree that it is “taiji” in pinyin. However, when writing in English, I think that I would use the spelling from Merriam-Webster’s.

But he had it spelled qi. Then people start confusing the qi with QI, like “Eating ginseng is good for the qi.” If you know what I mean.

If you’re interested in getting a martial arts visa just to teach, do the language school thing. If you’re really interested in martial arts, I can point you in some directions. Basically you need to learn from someone (or a school) that is “certified” (or something). I know of a few places that can do that, but if you’re just interested in the visa, do a language school. You’ll just piss people off signing up, doing the paperwork and skipping out. You’ll probably lose your visa really quickly too (just a warning, I have no idea what your intentions are).

I am genuinely interested in the martial arts training (one of the reasons for coming to Taiwan), and I wanted to see if I could combine endeavors and tackle the visa issue at the same time. Any information you could pass along would be very much appreciated. Thanks,
hoovenmonkey@hotmail.com

If you’re patient, you can try getting into the Chinese Cultural University’s MA program for Chinese Martial Arts. Not the most convenient place in the world, but it should get u a guarenteed visa for 4 years, and maybe an MA to boot!

You’ll have to wait until next March/April to apply (check with them about it!) and start next fall.

Greg

look on the web, or search forumosa, for “lo man kam” or “wing chun”. His school is certified, and also a very reputable place to learn kung fu. Has lots of students from Europe and North America.
I once extended my visa with his help. Only good for a month or two at a time, max six months before doing a visa run. SImilar to doing the language school thing, just get the right paperwork, he knows what it takes.