Trainees show the Ma Family Spear. [Photo by Yang Weijian]

On the evening of September 27, a weather-beaten, century-old overseas Chinese house at No.47 Jiaozhong Street, Shachong Village in South District was illuminated. This is the former site of the Enzhong Memorial Hall and the Shachong Overseas Chinese Hospital. In recent years, it has become an inheritance base for the dragon and lion dances, martial arts and folk arts in South District. It is also the home of the Shachong Ma Family Spear Martial Club. 

Coach Ma Yuquan and more than 20 trainees, wearing brand-new martial arts uniforms and holding red-tasselled spears, were preparing in full swing for the upcoming performance for the South District Youth Community College. 

Ma Yuquan, 41, is the 25th generation of the Shachong Ma Family Spear. For decades, he and his father promoted martial arts culture and offered free instruction to villagers in schools. 

In the context of rural revitalization, Ma Yuquan led a team to the South District Youth Community College and opened modified courses in a bid to make Ma Family Spear, one of the municipal intangible cultural heritage projects, shine again. Today, this traditional project has benefited more than 300 local people. 

In recent years, Ma Yuquan often leads the students of the youth community college to participate in the exchange of intangible cultural heritage between Zhongshan and Zhuhai. They also take part in the non-profitable performance and experience-oriented teaching in the township public welfare parks. 

"Only when the students can make use of what they have learned and gain something from what they have learned, can this martial art, which has lasted for nearly a thousand years, be carried forward," Ma Yuquan said.