The kung fu way: Jake Pinnick’s journey from small-town America to China’s Wudang Mountains
- The 30-year-old left Kewanee in Illinois on a whim in 2010 to immerse himself in Chinese culture
- He now lives in the Wudang Mountains in Hubei province, with his wife and daughter, and hopes one day to bring Wudang martial arts to America
American Jake Pinnick hails from a small town in the state of Illinois called Kewanee.
It’s a perfect slice of Middle America, with fewer than 13,000 residents in a farming community about two and a half-hour’s drive west from Chicago.
Pinnick said when he told friends and family he wanted to go to the Wudang Daoist Traditional Kungfu Academy in China to train martial arts, the response was typical.
“I don’t think anyone really believed me,” said the 30-year-old. “No one really laughed at it, they were interested, but they didn’t really know what to ask, because it was so different. It’s not a usual thing to say, but it is pretty normal for kids to want to get out of a place like [Kewanee]. Most kids say something like they want to move to Hollywood and become an actor.”
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American becomes martial arts master in China’s central Wudang Mountains
