Awakening the Sleeping Tiger: The True Story of a Professional Chinese Athlete

by Yu Liu, Dawn Cerf

Overview

When Liu Yu, an impressionable Chinese girl, witnesses the venomous public trial of her mother’s co-worker and friend during the Cultural Revolution, her life is changed forever. The incident silences her voice but not her desire to escape from poverty and the wearisome fate her mother endures.

At age eleven, Liu Yu grabs her chance to avoid being sent to the countryside in the government’s plan to re-educate its young people even though it means leaving her supportive family behind. She catapults to the top of Communist society by becoming an elite professional athlete, living the dream of every child in China. Prestige and material comfort, however, are quickly overshadowed by loneliness and a brutal training regimen.

After Liu Yu endures nearly ten years of rigorous martial arts training, feuding coaches threaten her dreams of a national championship. She must then decide whether to follow her family’s values and her heart or push for the championship she feels is within her grasp.

Guided by her grandmother’s wisdom, the young woman realizes what she wants more than fame and fortune is the chance to control her own life. Liu Yu risks everything, finding the courage to turn against the cultural tide in China to seek her own destiny. In the process she rediscovers her voice, the one she lost as a child of the Cultural Revolution.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940012423016
Publisher:	Liu Yu, Wushu Taichi Center
Publication date:	04/20/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	398
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

By Chinese standards, Liu Yu led a charmed life as a professional wushu athlete (martial artist) on the Jiangsu Province Professional Wushu Team (1974-1985). Although the reality was altogether different, this didn’t stop Liu Yu’s quiet determination to become a champion. She later applied the same zeal to her college studies, winning the titles of China’s National Collegiate Taiji Champion in 1986 and City of Beijing Student of the Year in 1988. In 1989, she graduated from the Beijing University of Physical Education with a B.S. in Wushu and Physical Education. Since making her home in the U.S., Liu Yu served as the Head Coach of the U.S. Wushu Team from 1997-99 and continues as a judge at worldwide wushu tournaments. She resides in San Luis Obispo, California, where she is the owner of the Wushu Taichi Center. She is pleased to share her remarkable story, revealing the hidden side of Chinese sports training as well as the Chinese culture, and she does so with ample charm.

When a fascinating story fell into her lap, Dawn Cerf felt compelled to run with it. The conception of "Awakening the Sleeping Tiger" arose during a group tour of China with her taichi teacher, Liu Yu, where Liu Yu spoke about her amazing background of growing up as a resident professional Chinese athlete. Dawn encouraged Liu Yu to put her unique story in writing, and the two collaborated on the fulfilling venture of making a book. Dawn has always enjoyed writing, though she is a former C.P.A. with an Accounting/Business Education degree from San Francisco State University. Dawn Cerf began taichi lessons with Liu Yu in 1994 and never plans to stop.

Editorial Reviews

Liu Yu was just 11 years old when she left her family in eastern China. Over the next decade, she trained alongside professional athletes like future movie star Jet Li, enduring physical and emotional hardship to become one of the nation's most celebrated martial arts champions. Her journey from shy, scrawny girl to strong, confident woman is chronicled in the book "Awakening the Sleeping Tiger"...[which] offers a valuable look at a country and culture unfamiliar to many Americans.

The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, CA - Sarah Linn