Couple passes on legend of wushu at home, abroad

Encounter

Hou met Lang in 1984, when she was 9, and he was 13. Both were among the first group of youth recruited onto the martial arts team of Tianjin. They learned and practiced wushu together, and they worked hard for their achievements.

Their hard work paid off. Lang was recruited onto China's national martial arts team in 1988, making him the first member of Tianjin's martial arts team to join the national team. He went on to win many awards in domestic and international competitions. Hou, on the other hand, became an eye-catching wushu athlete during the 1990s, especially after she won a top award — at the age of 15 — during a national wushu championship. She not only won awards in the individual all-round games, she also won gold medals in various single's events, including long boxing, broadsword play and cudgel play.