An empty parade ground fills the foreground. The camera pans upwards to reveal misty hills and fir trees and a thin black line of people.
Suddenly, a shout goes up and the black line rushes forward, revealing its great depth. Thousands of figures are charging now, roaring in cacophonous unison all the way as an orchestra crescendos them into proximity.
This is the opening sequence to “Dragon Girls,” one of the greatest documentaries I have ever seen, which also happens to be free to watch on YouTube.
The young protagonists of the film train at the Shaolin Tagou Kung Fu School in Dengfeng City, Henan province.
Shaolin Tagou is the biggest martial arts school in China - the grounds cover 550,000 square meters and are inhabited by over 25,000 students. "Dragon Girls" follows the journey of just three students, though; nine-year-old Xin Chenxi, 15-year-old Chen Xi and 17-year-old Huang Luolan.
Despite their immaturity, these girls are models of discipline and determination. Winning medals doesn't come easy though, scroll down to see what a typical day at Tagou is like.
Meet nine-year-old Xin Chenxi — her big sister named her after the morning Sun, which is chirpy and bright.
She arrived at Shaolin Tagou Kung Fu School when she was just 7 years old.
Her parents visited her every six months when she was 'little' but now that she's big, she doesn't seem them so often. Her family home is over 1000km to the south of Tagou school in rural Zhejiang Province.
She's part of the elite team, which requires extreme dedication — she says there's a lot of pressure.
Training doesn't come without risks — in this scene, Chenxi and her friends compare battle scars. Most of them seem to have various cases of frostbitten fingers or ears.
This girl has 16 stitches on her upper arm that were pulled through with 'fire tongs.' She says she wasn't given any anesthetic.
It's not all banter and comparing scars. A typical day at Tagou starts at 5:40 am.
Then they hit the training ground for a run and morning training — this lasts until 7:30 am.
They take a quick break and have breakfast. They have to be ready for more training by 8:50 am.
Training goes on until 11:50 am when they break for lunch.
Apparently, you better be quick with your meal — you have 10-20 minutes before training starts all over again.
There's just enough time to squeeze in something educational too.
At 6:20 pm, a horn sounds, and the students make their way to the dormitories to wash. They only get to shower twice a week, a wet cloth will have to do inbetween.
It's cold during winter, there's no heating. Perhaps that explains all the frostbite. Dengfeng City averages about 0 degrees Celsius during the coldest month of January.
Source: Travel China Guide.
At 8:30 pm, the final horn sounds — it's time for bed. A register is called in the dormitory then it's lights out.
15-year-old Chen Xi says her favourite thing to do is sleep — students only have Sundays off.
Life at Tagou is hard, but Xin Chenxi says tears are an expression of weakness, crying won't change anything.
Xin Chenxi strives to win competitions because they are logged on her record. When she graduates from Tagou, she hopes to find a good job — "Then I can save and give the money to my parents every month," she says.
Her dad says only if she comes first, will he come and visit her. That seems like motivation enough.
You can watch 'Dragon Girls', in full — for free — here:
