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The Brazilian Letícia Pavim, an influencer from Ribeirão Preto, in São Paulo, embarked on a 56-hour journey to the Chinese city of Zhengzhou to train kung fu for three weeks at a school led by a master of the 36th generation of fighters, in the region where the martial art was created over 1,500 years ago. According to g1, the videos documenting the experience surpassed 4 million views, especially the images of the “iron body” technique, in which the Brazilian receives impacts from sticks on her body as a form of muscle conditioning.
The decision to cross the planet to train at a kung fu school was not impulsive. Letícia prepared for six months before the trip, changed her diet with nutritional guidance, and trained weightlifting and muay thai six times a week in Brazil to build the necessary conditioning. The dream of visiting China had been with her since adolescence, when she studied Mandarin for three years, but the pandemic and the loss of her father to Covid-19 in 2021 postponed her plans. The final trigger came months ago, when she watched a video of Master Shi Miao Hai on the internet: “I saw a video of the master and said: ‘My God, this is what I need.’ I became obsessed,” says the Brazilian. The school is located in the Dengfeng Shaolin district, in the Henan province, exactly the region where kung fu was born.
Six hours of training per day at a no-frills school
image: g1
The routine at the kung fu school starts promptly at 6 AM and extends through three training blocks totaling up to six hours of physical exercises daily. The first block is in the morning, followed by a period from 9 AM to 11 AM focused on combat, empty-hand techniques, and weapon handling. After lunch, the third and most exhausting period runs from 2:30 PM to 5 PM, from Monday to Saturday, with free afternoons only on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.
The camp structure is functional and without superfluous comfort. The rooms are shared, divided by gender, equipped with bunk beds and mattresses in the traditional Chinese style. The school offers accommodation, meals, and continuous instruction in a total immersion format, where the Brazilian lived with students from Italy, Russia, Qatar, and Iran. The community is organized around the concept of “Kung Fu Family,” where everyone supports collective development, but the instructors do not forgive a lack of effort.
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The “iron body” technique that went viral
The images that caught the public’s attention the most on social media show the Brazilian receiving impacts from sticks on different parts of her body. The technique, known in kung fu as Tie Bu Sha (Iron Shirt) or Iron Palm (Tie Zhang), is an ancient practice that aims to harden muscles, tissues, and bones through constant and controlled impact. The practitioner uses Qigong, a breathing and energy system, to contract only the area that will receive the blow, keeping the rest of the body relaxed to absorb the force safely.
The practice is not mandatory in training: the student chooses to undergo this level of conditioning. Letícia took on the challenge and trained daily with the sticks, even facing difficulty at the beginning. “I struggled a lot in the stick classes, but every day I practiced to get better. Nothing like consistency and brick by brick to get where we want,” describes the Brazilian. The videos of this practice were the ones that went most viral, surpassing 4 million views on social media.
Carrying 70 kilos on the back and the coach’s scolding
In one of the most memorable moments of the immersion, the group was commanded to carry a person on their back and take a complete lap around the school facilities, including going up and down flights of stairs. The Brazilian chose a lighter colleague, weighing approximately 40 kilos, and completed the course. The decision resulted in a severe scolding from the coach, who demanded compliance with the official rule: the practitioner must transport someone with a body weight equal to or greater than their own.
As a correction, Letícia had to redo the entire path carrying a 70-kilogram Chinese teenager on her back. “It was very tough. Later I even shed a few tears, not out of sadness, but simply because my body felt it a lot. But then you keep going, it’s part of it,” she recalls. The rigidity of the Chinese instructors is a fundamental part of the pedagogy: if the team notices the student’s commitment, the demands rise to the extreme. The Brazilian took it as a compliment, not as punishment.
The six months of preparation that prevented injuries
The physical preparation that Letícia did in Brazil before heading to China proved decisive during the three weeks of immersion. While other students suffered injuries and needed acupuncture in the first few days, the Brazilian completed the entire period without the need for medical intervention. “I spent three weeks unscathed. Of course, I felt pain, had bruises, but I didn’t need to take any medication. I did absolutely all the training and gave my best every day,” she says.
The six-month preparation with weight training, muay thai, and dietary re-education was not an exaggeration: it was a strategy. “I prepared a lot because I wanted to experience it in the best way possible. I wanted to truly reach the best version of myself to become something I don’t know yet,” Letícia explains. The approach contradicts the idea that radical experiences are resolved with courage and improvisation. For the Brazilian, methodical preparation is what separated a transformative immersion from an experience interrupted by injury.
Google Translate between the master and the student
Besides the physical effort, communication was one of the biggest challenges for the Brazilian at the Chinese school. Letícia had studied Mandarin in her teenage years, but the lack of practice over the years erased her knowledge of the language. English served as a common language among international students, but interactions with the masters depended on technology: “The master would speak and show the phone screen with Google Translate,” she says.
The Brazilian warns that mastering at least English is essential for those intending to do the immersion. “If a person doesn’t know how to speak either English or Mandarin, it will be an experience of just doing exercises, somewhat lonely and terrible, because they won’t communicate with anyone,” she reports. Interaction with colleagues from different nationalities was an important part of the experience, and without a common language, the training loses the cultural dimension that makes the experience transformative.
How much does it cost to train kung fu in China
The camp accepts anyone over 18 years old and charges fixed rates in local currency that vary according to the length of stay. The table starts at approximately R$ 2.5 thousand for one week and reaches about R$ 28 thousand for the complete six-month experience, including classes, meals, and dormitory. The Brazilian opted for the three-week package and, adding the cost of the hotel room in the initial days, invested around R$ 6 thousand in total.
For those planning the experience, the cost of the trip to China needs to be added to the camp’s price. The 56 hours of travel include flights with connections and ground transportation to the school, costs that can vary significantly depending on the origin and the advance purchase. Even so, the total investment for the Brazilian was within an accessible range for a three-week experience that includes housing, meals, and intensive instruction at one of the most traditional martial arts schools on the planet.
56 hours of travel, 4 million views, and a Brazilian who returned different
The Brazilian Letícia Pavim traveled 56 hours to China, trained kung fu for three weeks with up to six hours of exercises daily, faced the “iron body” technique with sticks, and carried 70 kilos on her back on staircases. She returned without injuries, with 4 million views, and with a message she has repeated since the beginning of her career as a content creator: “The purpose is to inspire women to travel around the world, break stereotypes, and showcase cultures as unique as kung fu in China.”
Would you have the courage to train kung fu at a school in China? Tell us in the comments what you thought of Letícia’s experience, if the “iron body” technique with sticks scares or inspires you, and if you would do the six months of preparation before embarking. We want to hear your opinion.
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