Dozens of kung fu specialists stood with fists at the ready, swords and other weapons drawn and looks suggesting they wanted to practice their skills. I sat still hoping not to break their focus, hoping they wouldn't break me. Luckily, entertaining the audience of the Red Theatre Saturday concerned them more.

Located in Chongwen district of southeast Beijing, the Red Theatre has hosted more than 2,900 performances of "Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu" since July 2004. The theater now has 14 shows per week.

The Red Theatre has hosted "Chun Yi: The Legend of Kung Fu" for six years. [Courtney Price/China.org.cn]

A cast of 60 performers, who are between 10 and 28 years old, fuse martial arts with dance to give a performance featuring explosive punches and kicks, seemingly impossible stunts with blades and hammers and jumps reminiscent to those in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."

Unlike many action-adventure stories that reduce plot to an afterthought, this play combines action and story, which is driven by narration. The narration, which is provided in Chinese by subtitles above the stage and audibly in English, tells a Siddhartha-like coming-of age story.

"The play is about a young monk named Chun Yi who endured enormous ordeals to finally become a great kung fu master," said Cao Xiaoning, the general manager of China Heaven Creation, the troupe that runs the show. "It contains the eternally inspirational theme of 'tribulation and growth.'"

While the road to become a kung fu master is long, the journey teaches both the main character and the audience lessons.

"Mind, body and soul must work together in the quest for enlightenment," a young pupil is told in the play by Master Chun Yi, whose name means "the pure one" in Chinese. "Kung fu is not about conflict or violence. You will learn to fight but for peace."

Suddenly, the warriors didn't look so frightening.

Even though the lesson was uttered in a play, it is true according to Yang Jwing-Ming, a practitioner of Chinese kung fu for nearly 50 years and founder of 45 martial arts schools in 18 countries.

"Part of martial arts training is morality," Yang said in an interview with the International Kung Fu Federation.

Finding peace in a fighting style may sound contradictory, but kung fu is more than punching and kicking. Chun Yi and Yang agree it's about finding harmony and learning lessons from nature.