Tai chi in Beijing

Calm Spirit/Ying Yu Jade China Trip 2006

Tai Chi in Beijing

It was still raining, but we hadn't had a chance to shop on Wang Fu Jing. I wanted to find some cloth tai chi shoes with smooth leather soles for a friend and myself, but none of the traditional cloth shoe stores had them in our large "da" sizes. We went to a market alley hoping to find some good deals on things because of the bad weather, maybe the sellers would give some good prices. I wanted some silk purses for my store, and found some but the price was high. We agreed on a price but she had only two that were acceptable and when I walked away she grabbed my arm because she wanted me to buy something else and Tom had to pry her fingers off me. The competition for sellers is so tremendous, I truly don't know how they can make a living. It was just too cold and rainy to shop so we decided to try the Pizza Hut in the mall, but the line was really long with so many people waiting and we went to the Mc Donald's instead. There were pictures of what to order with the price and we each got a hamburger, coke and fries for 10 RMB ($1.30) which is less expensive than it was last time I tried it. It was packed with people eating, too.

Charles invited us to his studio for the afternoon, with his tai chi student. We got foot and hand massages, then a tai chi lesson, and dinner on an antique dining table. His studio is near Capital Paradise, an hour from the center of the city. Many of the foreigners who work in China for their companies live in that area. You can really see the difference in the gated villas and the non-gated villas,the living conditions. And there's so much new construction, more villas being built, more shops being built with the hope of making money during the 2008 Olympics. I think there are going to be a lot of disappointed people who think they will get rich when the Olympic visitors come to China because foreigners are not going to be interested in the kinds of things they sell, like large "antique" and contemporary Chinese furniture, granite stone carvings. Nice to look at, and good prices, but not practical to ship home.

Charles is very disappointed in my tai chi practice. He calls it "old lady tai chi" because it is fine for flexibility and relaxing, but has no power in it. I learned tai chi in 1999 and have practiced almost daily since I started taking lessons. I think in the US tai chi is promoted as a form of exercise for health, but there is so much more to tai chi. Tai chi is a martial art, and it's intended to circulate qi, and to be very powerful. Charles taught Paula the correct way, which I could see immediately the big difference and feel the qi and power of her form. You can see in the photos how she is taking a large stride, using the power in her legs and back.

I have long arms and legs, and I always feel like my tai chi form is "all arms". Charles is telling me to take a larger stance, step out longer and with power in my legs, and to use my back muscles more and arms less.

The sequence we do our moves is quite a bit different, but we do all the 24 forms. It doesn't matter if we don't play tai chi exactly the same. What matters is the correctness of each movement. And Charles told me that I am much more coordinated than when he started teaching me in 2000, and stronger, but I still have a lot to learn.

We were rewarded with a carefully chosen "medicine meal", the best food we ate while in Beijing. Charles is getting another bottle of Tsingtao beer, and I'm taking the photo while Tom and Paula are eating on an antique Chinese dining table in Charles' tea garden.

If you would like to go to Beijing and meet with Dr Charles Li for medical treatment, or to learn tai chi or kung fu, contact me and I will let you know the best way to go about doing this with air travel and other arrangements.

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