On a hot July day in Fairfax, Virginia, the couple team Christopher Pei and Zhang Guifeng are training their students while observing their emotions before their USA Wushu Kungfu Federation National Team Trials （选拔赛）.
"They are so nervous because they are experiencing competition anxiety," says Pei, co —founder of US Wushu Academy. "The anxiety allows me only an hour of sleep every night during the competition."
Wushu is a sport that combines elements of performance and martial arts. The USAWKF National Team Trials happen every two years. Coaches and students get up at 7 am each day to practice for the trials. For 30 years Pei and Zhang have been working in Wushu education.
Pei, who is in his 60s, moved to the United States from China with his family in 1972. "When we moved to Vestal, New York, I did not know any English and started learning English from alphabets," Pei says. "So I figured it might be a better idea to start learning Wushu in case I got into a fight and could protect myself." He later realized Wushu is composed of two Chinese characters, "zhi"（止）and "ge"（戈）which means to stop fighting.
The couple opened their first academy in Virginia in 1988. Students start as kindergartners and many continue all the way to college.
Chinese culture emphasizes mastering both literacy and martial arts in order to become a complete person. Zhang believes Wushu helps youth develop concentration because its two main principles include focus and respect. "Many parents who grew up in the U.S. as seconder third-generation Chinese need their children to not only learn traditional Chinese culture but also the correct way to become a better person." Pei says.
They devote six days of the week to Wushu education. Sunday is the only day when their attention is not on their students. ^Learning Wushu is difficult, Pei says. "But the students don't easily give up,'，
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