china tour 2010 10m

Touring Tai Chi's Birthplace
by Maureen Miller

For ten days in April and May, I traveled through Chinese cities, towns and countryside. While this tour was planned months ago, it grew from a seed sown years ago. Conceived as homeward journey for Dr. Paul Lam, an Australian physician and the founder of the Tai Chi for Health program, and a varied learning experience for those of us who chose join him.
Physically, the China Dr. Paul introduced to us is a country of contrasts, full of yin and yang: old-new, big-small, grey-gaudy, crowds-emptiness. The variety of Chinese treasures, we soon discovered, is awesome. It's disparity in living and working conditions, eye-opening. Culturally, the gulf we Westerners felt, in understanding this country and people, was wide. But Dr. Paul and his wife, Eunice, were always there to help us to bridge this gap, as was our fantastic local guide, Carol Lu.
Our tour began in Beijing, China's most renown and capital city, with a population of over 14 million. A three day stay in this bustling place provided time for acclimatization, as well as an introduction to China's history, culture and food. With Carol and her bright yellow flag as our leader, we toured a number of ancient and spectacular sites; the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. Breakfasts, lunches and dinners proved an opportunity to practice our chopstick handling. Evenings found us comfortably ensconced in a five star hotel.
The highlight of our Beijing stay, a moment carefully planned by Dr. Paul and Carol, was a trip to the Great Wall to do tai chi. We arrived in the chilly morning air, bundled in jackets atop our Tai Chi for Health instructor shirts, and set off to be videoed playing tai chi in this ancient setting. Carol had picked the spot well; a little wandered cobblestoned area, below steep, uneven steps, with a precipitous drop-off to the front and impressive views of the Wall both behind and before us - a perfect photo shoot backdrop. Our warm ups and practice of TCA piqued the curiosity of uniformed guards and other tourists, who turned to stare or take photos of their own.
Curiosity and encouragement continued to followed us throughout our journey, particularly as we took every opportunity to play tai chi together. For not only did China's many ancient palaces and temples provide perfect backdrops, such as at Wudang Mountain the legendary birthplace of tai chi, but so too did roadside rest-stops, city promenades, parks and hotel grounds.
Daily, our Master, Dr. Paul, gave freely not only of his of tai chi expertise, but also of his thoughts and knowledge of his former homeland. For in addition to escorting us to the misty temples of Wudang, the beautiful Chinese city of Hangzhou, and peculiarly-shaped granite peaks of the Yellow Mountain, Dr. Paul led us through the nuances of Chinese tea drinking, introduced us to the cornucopia of Chinese dishes, took us to very house in which he spent the first sixteen years of his life and introduced us to his relatives as his "tai chi family".
It is difficult to describe the feelings, the energy and power generated during this trip. The personal discoveries made, as well as the bonding which occurred while touring and playing tai chi among China's treasures along with fellow Tai Chi for Health trainers and the person who united us, will last a lifetime. As will the memories of the country's architectural wonders, like the Great Wall built along mountain spines, a vision of the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty as protection from his warring neighbors. Such engineering feats, built and rebuild throughout the ages, like the people and culture of China themselves, have stood the test of time and are impressive. But no more impressive than Dr. Paul, who grew up in this land during the Cultural Revolution, with his current vision - to spread the use of tai chi for the safeguarding of health among the world's populations.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• china
• tour
• 2010
• 10m

[angelamsspi]

wow that was awesome, I really enjoyed the beautiful pictures of your country, but I especially loved the music. very relaxing. thank you for sharing it. :)

[manupai]

Fabulous images! Can't wait for our tour in October 2011.We will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Wellington School of Tai Chi Chuan!

[unclebonzi]

I am a better person for watching the video, thank you for sharing your journey.

[MrKaz106]

Beautiful video. This will give Ralph Dehner (our teacher) ideas about places to go with his Tai qi students next time.