Regardless of the weather and the temperature, if you happened to make an early morning visit to any of the parks in China, you would see a large number of people on their way to work stop off at the park to practice t’ai chi ch’uan together. You would see a large number of people who practice t’ai chi ch’uan early in the morning and again later in the afternoon – as regularly and as often as you would brush your teeth or have a bath or shower. Young and old alike gather together to perform their daily internal cleansing routine – t’ai chi ch’uan. For them it is a way of life.

Literally translated, t’ai chi ch’uan means “supreme ultimate fist”. It originated in China some 5 000 years ago as a martial art. The most popular story about the creation of t’ai chi is that its (possibly mythical) founder Chang San Feng, a Taoist monk, devised the moves of t’ai chi after watching a fight between a crane and a snake. It has been developed as an advanced means of combat and self-defence and a number of ‘styles’ have emerged - each named after the families that developed them. The most popular style, worldwide, is the Yang style.