International students at Nankai University practice wushu. [File photo]

They come from different parts of the world, but here in China, they have the same passion: the martial art of Wushu.

Love by accident

Zhou Aile, 27, is an international student from Gabon studying at the University of Science and Technology Beijing. In 2008, she came to China at the age of 20 on a scholarship, along with her younger brother.

She says she stayed here because she loves China and Chinese culture, especially Wushu. Aile began her martial art journey by accident, when she saw a handsome green-eyed foreigner practicing the discipline on campus and struck up a conversation with him. He has graduated and left China, but Aile's love of Wushu remains.

As the only international student in her major, Wushu adds color to Aile's life. When she first saw a chef in the campus canteen making noodles by stretching dough and pulling noodles to make them thinner, she asked him whether he could do kung fu. After that encounter, the chef began to show her his unique skill whenever he saw her, which Aile regarded as "Chinese hospitality."

But Aile complains that few Chinese students practice Wushu. Once she badgered her roommate, saying "Wushu is your culture. Now, foreigners have learned Wushu and you have not - are you willing to see foreigners teach it to your children in the future?"

Aile entered a Wushu competition for international students this year and found many foreigners who shared her interest. She won second place in Women's Tai Chi.