Meet Si Miaotian: Son of Princess Karina of Bulgaria gets new Chinese name, Shaolin Temple’s only Western student
Prince Simon, a 19-year-old member of the Bulgarian royal family, set a record when he decided to leave the luxury of the Sofia palace and travel to China to attend a Shaolin Kung Fu boarding class. His mother is Princess Karina of Bulgaria, who is world-famous for her athletic body transformation. It turns out that the prince is also keen on physical exercise. Prince Simon received extensive training in Taekwondo in South Korea before focusing on Kung Fu.According to Huo La, the prince went to Songshan, Henan in November last year. After completing the preview, his Chinese name was “Si Miaotian”, which means “Disciple of the Majestic Heavenly Buddha”. The school said Prine Simeon is their only Western student.“After passing the exam, what makes him most happy is that he was officially accepted as a disciple by Master Wang Hengying, which means a lot to Simon. Master Wang Hengying, who is committed to spreading and promoting traditional Chinese martial arts culture, has always been his guide and trainer,” the school said.The prince’s daily life at school was very strict. He wakes up at five in the morning, trains hard for eight to ten hours a day, and follows the same daily routine as all other students. After passing the exam, he received his first diploma from master Wang Hengying. For two months, he was without a cell phone. Only when he arrives at school and before the end of his stay can he call his parents.Prince Simon’s daily life in China starts with running in nature at 5 am. These running breaks lasted all day, and they practiced Kung Fu for 8-10 hours each day leading up to the day.The school said the only exception they made for the prince was for him to stay with his trainer, but that wasn’t because he was a prince, but because there was a language barrier between the prince and his classmates. So the authorities let Prince Simon live in a 58,000-square-meter complex near the town of Dengfeng in Henan province and sleep with his trainers in the All-Lion building.
