We were a motley crew. Chairman Gary on his first trip to China his idea of drinking whisky on the plane seemed sound at the time. We had two paediatricians, Luce from France, Anthony with wife Candice from Trinidad and Tobago, a quiet Englishman called David, personal trainer Beko, two Scots in the shape of Editor Ron and your correspondent and our leader, the splendid Faye Yip.
A Saudi Arabia-based American called Lisa joined us at our rather splendid hotel in Shanghai though the point of having the glass shower cubicle look into both bedroom and WC eluded me. Food as you’d expect in Shanghai was pretty good.
Huggling the Tree
Next morning we went early to the park. The Tai Chi and Qigong groups were either welcoming or ignored us. The recent government directive allowing only authorised groups to practice publicly was evident in that teachers wore green ribbons pinned to their shirts. While watching one group I wanted to sit down, noticed the benches were full, so sat down on the paving beneath a tree. Barely had I done so than an irate parky ran up and told me I would be ejected from said park if I didn’t get up immediately. I got up.
The same day we flew to Zhengzhou, our ultimate destination for the 2nd World Traditional Wushu Championships. The hotel again was pretty good, but the buffet food had obviously been toned down for the tastebuds of foreign friends, though not enough evidently for the Cubans, who were dining at Macdonalds come day 2.
Day 2 was supposed to be free for all except officials who were to be in meetings all day to discuss the rules. I told Faye that I had the utmost confidence in her ability to attend to this task and that I would instead be taking some of the crew to the Chen village which I’d last visited in 1995. I didn’t tell her that the prospect of shaking hands (though this was to change), smiling and talking about the rules before accepting whatever the organisers wanted to do was not an alluring prospect.
Morning Exercise
The road to the Chen Village from Zhengzhou is still partly mud track and the Village itself is hardly a place of culture and refinement. It took us about three hours to get there by taxi everyone the drivers asked assured us it was only another 10km – this for more than an hour. When we finally arrived it was unrecognisable from my last visit.
We went through a huge archway and parked outside the Taijiquan Temple which evidently had been built recently. It cost us 6 US$ each to get in - a fortune in a place where the average monthly income is less than 80 US$. Chen Zhenglei was filming inside with some acolytes and he was gracious enough to say hello to Ron and mention his next UK visit.
The artwork inside (mainly of various Chen clan dignitaries) was painted in the naïve style of the would-be artist portrayed by the late Tony Hancock in his film, "The Rebel" and the gents was certainly less gruesome than many. Of the shining new marble stele memorials in honour of the Chen clan some had been donated by the other Tai Chi families.
Entrance to Local Park, Zhengzhou
The Soviet style training hall of old had been replaced by a brand new Tai Chi School complex for full time students of Chen style and some lads from Manchester were there to train. We next went to Chen De-xu’s villa where Yang Luchan had lived and learned, though it had become somewhat shabby and was no longer a focal point. The old gravestones had also gone and there being no reason to stay we were gone too.
We returned to Zhengzhou and a meeting with some of the leading local Tai Chi instructors to whom Faye introduced us. One of them asked me about our programme and I told her we were going to the Shaolin Temple. "All fake, isn’t it?" she laughed.
Madam Li, the main spokesperson, said she was happy to encourage an exchange whereby we could send a person/ persons for training and they would consider coming to the British Open Tai Chi Championships. She made it clear that there was no point in Chairman Gary trying to discuss Tai Chi and the Olympics as this was a matter for British IWUF delegates. We exchanged gifts. They got whisky and we got weird porcelain artwork; I made it clear to editor Ron that I wouldn’t swap my grinning horse for his baffled cow. Shortly after this Faye introduced us to her father, Li Deyin one of the top internal arts teachers in China, especially famous for the 42 step form and his Sun style Tai Chi. He was also most welcoming.
Shaolin Boys
Thence to the Shaolin Temple for a gala night; it took a couple of hours by bus to get to the modern Exhibition Centre near the Temple and to take our cushioned seats on the bleachers. Everything went dark then the spotlights and drums came on to show men dressed as monks on the artificial rocks. Some made martial movements, some appeared to be in meditational trances from which no awakening came throughout the show; the giggling dancing-girls came later.
From a technical point of view the choreography and mise-en-scene were splendid, but as we left I wondered what the shade of Bodhidharma made of it all as he sat in meditation in that cave, his image imprinted on the wall.
The next day brought a daylight return bus ride to Shaolin via the municipality of Deng Feng with demonstrations at all the Wushu schools that lined the route. Our winsome guide much to the irritation of Editor Ron kept up a loud running commentary in perfect Putonghua all the way.
Yang Lu Chuan receiving the secrets of tai chi from Chen Changxing
We were proudly told that there were 83 Wushu schools in the vicinity of Deng Feng and the Temple with a total student enrolment of more than 50,000 full-time students, both male and female. We parked and started our walk through the grounds to the Temple itself; I guess it was a few kilometres.
We went through the Shaolin shopping mall passing more than one Shaolin Bar & Grill. There had been riots here in 2001 when the new abbot, Shi Yong-xin, declared the whole area round the Temple traditionally belonged to Shaolin so they were taking it back. With the help of the cops and the soldiers, they bulldozed homes and businesses which families had occupied for generations. Villagers told me that there was no compensation, all they could do was attack the bastard monks with rocks and stones till they were beaten back. I don’t know the truth.
On our way we saw callow male and female monks doing forms, training iron palm, fighting with various weapons or hand to hand, or jumping around on tree trunks embedded in patterns on the ground; others (fewer) were doing calligraphy, playing chess or appeared to be praying or meditating. Rows of shaven headed little boys, maybe 8 years old, stood for more than an hour under the hot sun tapping tiny wooden meditation bells with tiny mallets. Lisa said she saw one crying.
Some of the many murals of Chen Village museum
Finally we got to the Temple complex itself. When I first visited in 1984, there had been no monks around and the Temple had been in ruins though the frescoes were still of interest. In 2001 it was full of stalls selling weapons and videos; now there were fewer stalls; they don’t need them with the shopping mall.
The lovely frescoes were still there slowly rotting away and outside the Temple the old cemetery forest of stone stele was imposing as ever.
Some of the many murals of Chen Village museum
The competition started the same day and for several days; it was a curious affair. There were two venues, one for the top Chinese competitors and the other at a beautiful exhibition centre for foreign friends and other Chinese. More than 2000 competitors were taking part and the level was mixed. Where there was a large entry, competitors were divided into smaller groups. The first couple in each group got gold the next 2 or 3 silver and the rest, so long as they didn’t fall down got bronze. Guess that’s what they call win - win. Chairman Gary, Dr. Luce and Lisa all performed meritoriously and all received medals, though it looked for a while like Faye couldn’t get a spear for Gary.
Faye arranged a couple of other meetings for us, one with the secretary of the organizing committee, who again expressed interest in a UK visit for competition.
Yang Lu Chang’s Tai Chi Learning Place
On another note, there has been a lot of difficulty in the Taijiquan and Qigong Federation for Europe especially between yours truly and our French colleagues. They also attended the event so I made a point in the best British tradition of shaking the hand of their leader, Anya Meot. She said, "So it’s the last time?" I told her as we continued to shake of our wonderful British documentary, "Banzai!" and the function of Mr. Shake-hands-man.
Editor Ron, Dr. Luce and I left early while Chairman Gary and the rest of the crew went to Beijing. Faye did a great job and I hope she can continue to help the TCUGB forge ties with China in the coming years in her new role as Chinese liaison officer. Any Tai Chi Chuan practitioner thinking of a trip to China for the first time could not find a better guide.
Front Cover, Tai Chi Chuan & Internal Arts, Winter 2006/7
Article published in Tai Chi Chuan & Internal Arts, Winter 2006/7, photographies took by Ronnie Robinson