Early birds
Yesterday we got up at 5:30am to check out a group of people who do Tai Chi Chuan in Fuxing (pronounced Fooshing) Park. They meet every morning at 6:15am to 6:45am and some even practice whatever the weather! As you can see it wasn't easy rising at such an early hour but I'm sure with a bit of practice we'll get into the swing of things. I have to, my Chinese course at university starts at 8am!Shanghai was already wide awake as we rode to the park and when we got there I was surprised to see the park full to the brim with OAPs enjoying the first part of the day. 
We went there to find the group of people who were taught by instructors at a Tai Chi school Yaning had found for me and which we went to see on Sunday, but we had a bit of a problem finding them as there were so many different groups, some practicing Tai Chi, some learning traditional dances, some practicing Qi Gong and others doing just what they felt like to keep fit and wake up to the day. One thing that struck me was the contrast to the UK the scene would have made. In general, in Western culture, when you get old most people feel you are more or less ready for the knacker's yard but here they are still in good health and mobility, I saw one group of old ladies stretching against a fence with their legs up on the top rail!
The Tai Chi school I'm going to teaches Wu style, one of the oldest styles. It is a bit of a bike ride to get to and from but it
looks very traditional and well established and apparently the head teacher has been to over 40 countries lecturing on Tai Chi. He seemed a nice and sincere fella too. The main problem is that the lessons are understandably given in Chinese, but there is one other Westerner there and the teacher is starting a smaller group on Sundays so I will join that one until I get up to speed and can join the main group. I'll make a post about how it goes on Sunday after my lesson.
I say Tai Chi Chuan but I believe the proper pronunciation in mainland China is Tai Ji Quan, Tai Chi is the Cantonese pronunciation and is more well known among the rest of the world as the majority of Chinese outside of China are from this area. The main difference is in the style of Tai Ji that is practiced. I only know of Wu and Yang styles but I am sure there are many more.
We went there to find the group of people who were taught by instructors at a Tai Chi school Yaning had found for me and which we went to see on Sunday, but we had a bit of a problem finding them as there were so many different groups, some practicing Tai Chi, some learning traditional dances, some practicing Qi Gong and others doing just what they felt like to keep fit and wake up to the day. One thing that struck me was the contrast to the UK the scene would have made. In general, in Western culture, when you get old most people feel you are more or less ready for the knacker's yard but here they are still in good health and mobility, I saw one group of old ladies stretching against a fence with their legs up on the top rail!The Tai Chi school I'm going to teaches Wu style, one of the oldest styles. It is a bit of a bike ride to get to and from but it
looks very traditional and well established and apparently the head teacher has been to over 40 countries lecturing on Tai Chi. He seemed a nice and sincere fella too. The main problem is that the lessons are understandably given in Chinese, but there is one other Westerner there and the teacher is starting a smaller group on Sundays so I will join that one until I get up to speed and can join the main group. I'll make a post about how it goes on Sunday after my lesson.
I say Tai Chi Chuan but I believe the proper pronunciation in mainland China is Tai Ji Quan, Tai Chi is the Cantonese pronunciation and is more well known among the rest of the world as the majority of Chinese outside of China are from this area. The main difference is in the style of Tai Ji that is practiced. I only know of Wu and Yang styles but I am sure there are many more.posted by Nick at
11:21 am
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