Press Release Source Chungju City Dept. of Culture & Tourism Contact Tel: 043-850-5174 Fax: 043-850-5169 Get a Crash Course on Martial Arts Learn the Secrets of Wellness at Chungju World Martial Arts Festival The Chungju World Martial Arts Festival will be hosted this year under the theme ‘Meeting with the Five-thousand-year-old Soul.” A program under the sub-themes, ‘Everyday Martial Arts’ and ‘Martial Arts and Well-being,’ will include demonstrations and competitions bringing together martial arts practitioners from countries around the world, cultural performances, participatory activities and exhibitions. The festival will take place between September 30 and October 8 in the historic city of Chungju. With Tangeumdae, a site slated for a future martial arts theme park, as its main venue, the festival, this year, expects participants from 33 countries. Featured in the exciting gamut of things to do and things to see are a street parade, a Martial Arts Hall where visitors can be initiated into all manner of martial arts, including Brazilian capoeira and Russian sambo, a Martial Arts Well-being Hall, and demonstrations of taekgyeon and wonhwado. Martial art jumps, demonstrations, and a Guinness record challenge contest are also among the highlights of the event. A lineup of cultural goings-on awaits visitors, like the Martial Art Film festival, Hall of World Animals and the Folk Music and Dances of the World. Local culture will be celebrated through a taekgyeon initiation program, performances at Ureukdang and more, to continue through the night. Combine a visit to the festival with a tour of local attractions such as Lake Chungju, Jungwon Goguryeo Stele and hot springs, or shopping at regional produce stores. Chungju is famed for its apples, and the World Food Market will titillate your appetite with cuisine from all over the world. The Chungju World Martial Arts Festival is intended as an opportunity to honor traditional values such as good manners, filial piety and friendship, which are the spiritual foundations of Korean martial arts, and to learn to care for our body, mind and soul. http://ww.martialarts.or.kr