Coaching and Training Jiujitsu in China

By Liz

Both of you have mentioned training and coaching jiujitsu in China. What’s that like?

Among a storm of issues, women’s perspective on periods in China is just one of many things that makes life interesting.

I remember when I was training in China a few years ago, and I asked one of my female training partners, “You gonna be in class on Friday?” She responded with a definite, “Nope.”

“Why not?” I inquired.

“Because I’m getting my period soon,” she said.

“...So?” I asked.

“...So I can’t train on my period.”

I was dumbfounded. Then I recalled one of my other female Chinese friends mentioning that she couldn’t work out or eat ice cream on her period. To be honest, it was one of those moments where the whole “cross-cultural exchange and communication” thing goes out the window, and all you can think is, “Are these people crazy or what?”

This conversation happened several more times the next couple years with my female Chinese training partners who would take a week off during their period. It never ceased to render me speechless. With jiujitsu it only kind of makes sense because Chinese women don’t use tampons, only pads. I can only imagine…

But it’s not just jiujitsu. They don’t do any kind of exercise at all during their period.

This year, I’m back in China and teaching class at my gym four times a week, more often than I have in the past. Which means that a few months down the road, someone is inevitably probably going to notice I haven’t taken any time off.

The girls at my current gym talk about their periods openly, even with our male training partners, saying casually, “Oh, I probably won’t be in on Wednesday because I’m getting my period soon,” or “I can’t come train because I’m on my period.”

Side note: There is lots of slang for period in Chinese, but two of the most common are “My great aunt has arrived (大姨妈来了da yi ma lai le), and to say that you’re taking your “regular holiday” (例假). There are other taboos associated with periods: Chinese girls don’t drink alcohol, consume cold beverages or food, or sit in cold air conditioning during their periods either.

I wondered when they were going to notice that I haven’t talked about it or taken any time off. I had a response ready in case the question came. If the question came in the presence of males, I was prepared to say, “I can’t talk about this with guys.” I knew they would be totally grossed out if they knew I trained with them while on my period. Mostly because they don’t understand women and periods, but also because they don’t know anything about tampons.

If the question came in the presence of women, I had an answer somewhat ready.

Indeed, last week, one of my female training partners mentioned, “I hope I get my period while I’m away on my business trip so that when I come back I can start training right away.”

Then she looked at me. “What are you going to do when you get your period since you’re coaching so much?”

Thank God I had already prepared for this one or else it probably would have caught me off guard.

“Well, first of all, I’m on birth control,” I explained. “So my periods are super light to begin with, they usually only last 1-2 days anyway.”

“But isn’t birth control bad for you?” she asked.

“Well not really, but also I have a hormone thing going on and I need the birth control to stay healthy.”

She seemed satisfied with this answer.

Then I said, “Also, we American girls have methods when we’re on our periods so that it doesn’t affect our training. Sometime if you come over to my house, I’ll show you.” I was planning to show her my DivaCup someday. “But also, we don’t have that tradition, that habit to take time off during our period. From the time we’re young, many of us still exercise while we’re on our periods.”

“But with jiujitsu that would be so gross and embarrassing with all the different moves and positions.”

“Yeah, well I have my ways." I knew that she had been a collegiate athlete in the past playing volleyball. “What about when you played volleyball?” I inquired.

“Well, if we were on our period, we could still drill, but just not exert any energy. But with jiujitsu even drilling would not be okay due to the positions.”

Cultural differences. It’s not right or wrong, it’s just different. At first, I thought it was kind of sexist and ignorant of them. But who am I to say, right? After all, we Americans are the ones who don’t like totalk about our periods with other people, whereas Chinese girls are very open aboutit and sometimes even expect special treatment from their boyfriends [check outthis reddit thread I found when doing research for this article]. After all, maybe it would be nice to take a break and pamper myself at home every month…

How does coaching and training jiujitsu in China give you a unique perspective on gender relations in China?

In terms of gender equality at the gym, I would say that China is probably about 75 years behind the United States (think 1950s era) in terms of gender stereotypes about women and female participation in sports. One of my female training partners has encouraged me several times to “Never tell a guy that you do jiujitsu because otherwise you will never find a boyfriend.”

Male newcomers at the gym openly laugh and gawk at me during their first few classes and tell me, “A Chinese girl would never do what you do,” completely ignoring the fact that there are other Chinese women in the class, not to mention the Chinese Olympians who take the world with gold medals each year. Some men feel super awkward in the positions, and some even make comments about not wanting to accidentally touch my breasts (WTF?).

Man-splaining has been brought to a whole new level. I regularly scold new students for telling the girls--who have been training with me for years--what to do.

That being said, I have some absolutely wonderful male teammates here in China who treat me like a sister and who have been supportive and respectful to me as their coach since day one.

Nevertheless, jiujitsu is still highly stigmatized against females in China. We think we have it bad in the US? It’s a walk in the park compared to China. At most of the gyms I have trained at, the gyms usually have 1-2 girls (~5%) per class.

However, I’ve found many of the Chinese women who stick with jiujistu to be, for the most part, bad-ass chicks who are going against some pretty strong stereotypes and cultural expectations to participate in the sport. Some even keep it a secret from their families and friends.

I look forward to many more years challenging gender stereotypes in China. It’s my hope that someday China’s cultural expectations will expand to include more open and inclusive understandings of gender.

In the meantime, I’m enjoying coaching in China. The cultural exchanges and challenges, such as with the period issue, are what make life in China interesting and exciting. 

Coaching in Chinese is not my ideal situation, and sometimes I find myself at a loss for words. However, I often find that demonstrating without language is more effective anyway. And because jiujitsu is such an undeveloped frontier in China, I consider at in-road into further cultural exchanges and gender norms in roads that are still unpaved in China.

At the end of long, tiring days in a foreign country, there isn’t anything better then leaving it all behind, stepping onto the mat, and rolling with people when few words are needed and cultural differences are forgotten.

Liz started jiujitsu in 2011, got her blue belt in 2013, and has competed in 11 competitions.