Morning exercise of ‘softness, tenderness’
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EACH morning in Fangta Park, as dawn breaks, tai chi master Tao Baogen, 62, leads a group of people from kindergarten kids to gray-haired seniors in exercise sessions.
“Slow down and feel the chi (energy) run through your body,” Tao tells participants. “Anyone who happens to stop by is welcome to join us.”
Tao is a sixth-generation practitioner of the Yang School of tai chi. He has been conducting free sessions for Songjiang locals in the park for about six years. So far, more than 100 participants have attended.
Tao’s encountered tai chi four decades ago, when he was sent to the countryside in the northern tip of Heilongjiang Province as an “intellectual youth” to help the nation’s peasant farmers.
He learned not only how to farm but also how to do tai chi from those living near the Russian border.
“The farmers practiced martial arts, boxing and wrestling in the slack season when winter limited farm work,” Tao recalled. “As a young, energetic man, I was totally engrossed.”
In 1979, he returned to his hometown in Songjiang and worked in a glove factory. There, he joined a Yang School tai chi class offered to employees.
“I preferred the more aggressive sport of wrestling at that time,” he said. “But after practicing tai chi for about one month, I felt my body and soul lighter and clearer.”
Since then, he has taken tai chi seriously. He vowed to learn from tai chi masters across China.
As a form of Chinese martial arts, tai chi is practiced for both defensive training and health benefits. It involves five elements — tao lu (solo hand and weapons routines), nei gong and qi gong (breathing, movement and awareness exercises and meditation), tui shou (pushing hands) and san shou (self-defense techniques).
Some tai chi forms are best known for their relatively slow movements.
Today, tai chi has worldwide appeal. Most of its modern styles can trace their development to at least one of the five traditional schools: Chen, Yang, Wu (Hao), Wu and Sun.
Among them, the Chen and Yang schools are the most popular, yet both are quite different. Chen tai chi is forceful, while Yang involves slower, steadier movements.
“Yang tai chi features softness and tenderness with inner strength,” Tao said. “It doesn’t have moves such as bounce or spring, with the sudden force usually seen in Chen. Due to its gentleness, Yang tai chi is appropriate for both children and adults to practice.”
The Yang School of tai chi was founded by Yang Luchan in Hebei Province about 170 years ago. Yang first taught princes in the royal court how to box, and then went on to teach martial arts in Hebei Province and the city of Tianjin when the Qing court began to languish.
In order to learn the most authentic form of the Yang School, Tao visited its birthplace in Yongfeng County in Hebei, where he became an apprentice of Han Xingmin, a fifth generation practitioner and also China’s first-level referee of martial arts.
Old traditions were scrupulously followed in the training school. Following a centuries-old rule, once a master agreed to apprentice a young man, they became like father and son.
However, becoming a master’s student was no easy feat.
“My master observed me for several months to see if I had the talent and required qualities, such as perseverance and honesty,” Tao said. “Then, one day he told me I passed all the tests.”
After a kowtowing ceremony to the master and an incense-burning ritual to ancestral statues, young Tao became an official student of Han’s.
The road ahead was painstaking. Every day, Tao practiced more than eight hours. Without a day off, he learned to master the basic eight tai chi moves, 85 tai chi boxing styles, 13 tai chi knife movements and 54 sword styles.
He spent a year of study before returning to Shanghai. To keep in practice, he did tai chi in Fangta Park near his home every morning. At first, he practiced alone, but he soon attracted others who were out for morning exercise. Many of them were doing tai chi in the wrong way, so he volunteered to teach them the proper movements.
His group of followers eventually grew. Some practitioners even drove to Songjiang every morning from downtown areas just to be able to learn from such a master.
“Take it slowly and softly. Don’t be stiff,” Tao tells his morning group. “When doing Yang tai chi, do it at a steady pace.”
He is patient with older participants who sometimes have difficulties remembering the various movements.
“One student took three years to learn a complete set of tao lu,” he said. “But that’s okay. We’re not in any rush.”
Students come and students go. Tao said he is happy to see increasing numbers of young people interested in tai chi.
“Thirty-something guys have started learning from me,” he said. “They have good physiques and quick memories. I’m also planning to take on my own ‘apprentices’ so that I can pass on this ancient art to new generations.”
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