On the morning of April 23, 2025, a special lecture on “Wushu Branding and Cultural Development” was held in Beijing, China. Mr. Liu Ruiqi, IWUF Honorary Vice President and Founder of Hengyuanxiang Group, as the keynote speaker, delivered a speech on the branding and international promotion of wushu. Ms. Zhang Yuping, IWUF Secretary General and Chair of Marketing and Development Committee, Mr. Li Yongqiang, Chair of Technical Committee, Mr. Jin Xiaobing, Chair of Judges’ Committee, and Ms. Liu Xiaojin, Vice Chair of Marketing and Development Committee and other distinguished guests attended the event. Nearly 60 representatives from the IWUF Secretariat, Chinese Wushu Association, Hengyuanxiang (Beijing) Co., Ltd. and BoYa Group participated on-site. The lecture was hosted by IWUF Vice Secretary General Mr. Chen Chong.
Honorary Vice President Liu Ruiqi, from a pragmatic and innovative perspective, systematically elaborated on innovative approaches of wushu brand building by drawing upon classic cases of Hengyuanxiang brand’s deep integration with sports initiatives from five dimensions of competitive sports, artistic expression, lifestyle aesthetics, philosophical thought, and cultural inheritance. He particularly emphasized that “Wushu is not merely a competitive sport, but a cultural symbol embodying oriental wisdom. It should evolve into a healthy cross-border, healthy lifestyle through the modern expressions of 'appealing to watch, fun to play, practical to use '.” In terms of the key topics in wushu’s global development, Liu Ruiqi provided in-depth analysis on the following: the reforming of competition rules, strategies of wushu's inclusion into the Olympic Games, the building of star athletes IP, the construction of a multi-media communication networks, and the exchange and mutual learning between wushu and other countries’ traditional sports.
The lecture triggered enthusiastic responses from the audience. In his concluding remarks, IWUF Vice Secretary General Chen Chong pointed out that Honorary Vice President Liu Ruiqi's lecture offered both strategic insights on top-level planning and practical pathways for implementation, which provided important insights for further advancing the international development of the wushu cause.
