Source:
https://scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2098999/love-martial-arts-leads-marital-bliss-french-woman-and-her
China

Love of martial arts leads to marital bliss for French woman and her Chinese beau

Wife is so impressed with her lover’s mastery of wushu she takes lessons in the discipline from his mother

Wife is so impressed with her lover’s mastery of wushu she takes lessons in the discipline from his mother

A French woman said her Chinese husband might not be the most romantic man in the world, but his passion for martial arts impressed her so much she decided to take it up herself, according to mainland Chinese media.

The 26-year-old, identified only as Pauline, met 27-year-old Sun Renzhi at a Chinese culture exhibition in Paris in 2012 where he was performing a martial arts, or wushu, routine, the Yangzhou-based Jiangdu Daily reported.

Sun, who hails from Yangzhou, a city in eastern China’s Jiangsu province, was a student at a business school in the city at the time, it said.

The couple’s story came to the attention of the Chinese media after it was featured in a video produced by a Chinese blogger living in Paris, which is where Pauline and Sun also now call home.

After graduating in 2013, Sun decided to return to China, and Pauline went with him.

Pauline and Sun appear in the video produced by a Chinese blogger living in Paris. Photo: Handout
Pauline and Sun appear in the video produced by a Chinese blogger living in Paris. Photo: Handout

The daughter of a French military official said she had never been to China before, but had always been interested in its culture. On the couple’s arrival in Jiangsu she enrolled on a university course to learn Mandarin and help her settle in, the report said.

But that wasn’t all.

Pauline said she had been fascinated when she first saw Sun demonstrating his martial arts. However, it was only when she found out that his mother was also an expert and a wushu teacher that she decided to have a go at it herself.

“As the old saying, when you fall in love with someone, you fall in love with his city too,” Sun’s mother was quoted as saying.

With their passions now firmly intertwined, the couple tied the knot in Nanjing in 2015, capital of Jiangsu, before returning to France, where they held a marriage ceremony in a small village just outside Paris last July.

Twelve months on, it’s not just Sun’s physical prowess that impresses his Gallic bride. Pauline said she also loves his sense of humour, confidence, ambition and the respect he always shows her.

Not that he’s perfect, the report said.

Despite living in the romance capital of the world, Sun always forgets to buy his wife flowers on Valentines’ Day, she said.

For his part, Sun said that of all the things he loves about his wife the one trait he finds most attractive is her “independence”.

“French girls never ask their partners to carry their handbags for them, which I really appreciate,” he said.