Mou Jiahui sorts her uniform at her fencing training club. [chinanews.com]

Mou Jiahui, 27, has trained more than 2,000 fencing enthusiasts since she opened the first training center six years ago.

Mou began practicing martial arts in childhood and won many prizes at domestic and international events as a member of the martial arts team of Northeast China's Jilin province.

During her years as a martial arts practitioner, she realized that people in northeast China's Jilin Province were not familiar with fencing so she took up the sport.

After retiring from the martial arts team in 2010, she gave up the chance of becoming a coach in Singapore and opened the first fencing training club in Jilin province with a partner after receiving training at a course opened by the local sports bureau.

"At the time, the public in Jilin did not recognize fencing. Sometimes not a single person came to our center in a whole month," she said.

"Fencing, like martial arts, is embedded with an indomitable spirit. The never-yielding rule in fencing inspires me. The setbacks encountered in the initial years of entrepreneurship did not beat me," she said.

Mou returned to the fencing training center after her son was six months old. Years of persistence have paid off. To date, she has taught more than 2,000 enthusiasts, with the youngest being three and the oldest 63.

Her hope is that she could do more to promote fencing in Jilin and have more people fall in love with the sport.

Mou sorts out fencing tools at her training club. [chinanews.com]

(Source: chinadaily.com.cn)

Editor: Jane Wang