The Brazilian brother and sister pose for a photo.
Coming across the names of Brandon Porfirio da Silva and Brenda Porfirio da Silva, people are tempted to assume they are siblings, and surely they are. The Brazilian brother and sister were competing side by side for the first time at the ongoing BRICS Games.
Elder brother Brandon is 22 years old, and his young sister Brenda is only 12. He had come over to China four times earlier, and the inaugural BRICS Games became his fifth, and her second trip.
The BRICS Games in China also provided the best chance for the Silva family to pay homage to the cradle of the Wushu sport, when the siblings competed as a team under the guidance of their Wushu-addicted father.
Although Brandon is 10 years older than his sister, they are still privileged to cherish an unbelievable experience by competing together, as the Brazil national team at the BRICS Games combined both junior and adult athletes.
"We feel tired together, but together we share the joy," said the siblings, who, despite being young enough, had rich experience of practicing Wushu as Brandon started at four years old and Brenda at five.
Dressed in traditional Chinese attire, Brandon and Brenda displayed their Wushu skills at ease with powerful moves, leaving deep impression upon both judges and the Chinese audience.
The Silva siblings owed very much to their father Joao Silva who became obsessed with the Chinese Wushu after watching movies of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li. He traveled to China time and again since the 90s to learn Wushu and acupuncture, and nowadays he teaches Wushu in Brazil.
Training is something hard, but their love for Wushu keeps growing since their childhood.
And Wushu is becoming more and more popular in Brazil, as there are more than 60 teenage students at the school of their father.
Without competition, Brandon and Brenda stay in Brazil, help their father teaching Wushu.
"In our country, people like all kinds of Wushu, Changquan, Tai Chi and so on."
As Brenda only speaks Portuguese, Brandon volunteers to be an interpreter.
"She said Wushu is our life," Brandon interpreted, then he introduced in Chinese their daily training: "Changquan, Gunshu, Daoshu (long fist, cudgel play and sabre play)."
Their Wushu skills were learned from their father while his Chinese language is acquired from his training in China.
Brandon has nearly perfect pronunciation of "Beijing Tiyudaxue (Beijing Sports University)" and "Shichahai (Beijing Shichahai Sports School)". The two places are where he trained earlier in China, and Shichahai is also the school where Jet Li, the idol of their father, graduated from.
"Wow, this is Wushu!" That's what Brandon thought when he visited China for the first time at 15.
Although training in China is something difficult for a kid like him, Brandon felt happy to be in this country. "I don't know why, but this country makes me feel like in Brazil, people are very nice and hospitable. I really love the food and culture here."
Brandon even showed the tattoo on his left arm, of Guan Yu, a legend during the Three Kingdoms period of ancient China, who has the reputation of "Saint of Wushu".
"Guan Yu gives me strength at the matches," Brandon said.
During the BRICS Games, the Brazilian siblings also cherished the chance to communicate with other Wushu players from Russia, India, South Africa and surely China. When they completed their competition, they also visited the Guangdong Provincial Wushu Center.
"We wish there will be more and more BRICS Games in the future," said Brandon and Brenda.
