Friday 12 October

A typical group of local women
practicing tai chi and chi gung

One of the reasons I wanted to teach in China was to have  the opportunity to improve my tai chi. There are four main styles (Yang, Sun, Wu & Chen) and many different forms within each, and some forms that incorporate more than one style.

A form is a set of movements that are developed by a particular school or governing body. I’ve found tai chi to be great for mental and physical relaxation and also good for balance, and strengthening the lower back and legs.

Ren Zhou Kun and her friend

The group I regularly practice with
just after dawn

While in Australia I was trying to learn some of the Chinese forms plus the Vietnamese  Chiu Chuk Kai form. Of course I am not proficient in many of them as it takes quite a while to learn them in depth, and I only had limited time.

Unfortunately, teaching full-time, I’ve found the same situation here in Quzhou. Most days though, I practice with Ren Zhou Kun and her friends from 6-7 am, before classes which start at 8 am. Some of the women in the group are over 70 years old

One of the most universal forms has become the Beijing 24. This form was the result of an effort by the Chinese Sports Committee in 1956 which brought together four t’ai chi teachers to create a simplified form of t’ai chi as exercise for the masses.

Tai Chi on television

Due to this official promotion, the 24-form is probably the one with the most practitioners in China and the world (Wikipedia). This is the one we practice most, along with the 40 form which is a combination of mainly Yang and Sun styles.

Enclosed below is a (slightly shaky) video of  Ren Zhou Kun (in purple), one of her friends and me practicing the Beijing 24 form in park near the college.

As you can see, they are much better than me although both are almost 60 years old.