UNESCO honors unique martial art
Print Edition
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization has inscribed China鈥檚 Taijiquan on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Taijiquan, a traditional martial art, was born in the mid-17th century in a small village, Chenjiagou, in Central China鈥檚 Henan province, before it spread to more than 150 countries and regions, attracting more than 100 million practitioners.
It took almost 200 years for Taijiquan, from being created in a little village, to spread to Beijing and the rest of the country.
Chen Bu, the first generation of the Chen family in Chenjiagou, moved from Shaanxi province to this village on the northern bank of the Yellow River during the Ming Dynasty Hongwu years (1368-1398), where he taught martial arts to villagers to protect the village.
About 300 years later, Chen Wangting, the ninth generation of the Chen family in Chenjiagou, created a new kind of martial arts named Taijiquan, which was a style that seemed slow, but featured a lot of power.
Following tradition, Taijiquan was only taught to men in the Chen family until Yang Luchan, 10, came from Hebei province to Chenjiagou to learn it secretly in 1809.
鈥淢aster Chen Changxing discovered but didn鈥檛 drive him away as he thought this young man was both talented and upright,鈥 said Yan Shuangjun, a researcher of Taijiquan.
Yang returned to his hometown of Hebei Province鈥檚 Handan City to teach Taijiquan about 30 years later and then moved to Beijing to teach it to rich and royal relatives鈥 families.
鈥淣o one was able to beat Yang in Beijing, which made him very famous there, so more and more people followed Yang to learn Taijiquan,鈥 Yan said. 鈥淭hen these followers called Yang鈥檚 martial arts Yang Taijiquan.鈥
Taijiquan has now been developed and adapted to many different styles named after a master鈥檚 family name, such as Wu Taijiquan, Sun Taijiquan, and so on.
Chenjiagou became a shrine for all Taijiquan lovers, attracting people from all over the world to make a kind of pilgrimage there.
French doctor Matthieu Tachon fell in love with Taijiquan after his first visit to Chenjiagou to see a master鈥檚 show in 2005 with his Chinese girlfriend, who was born in Henan鈥檚 capital Zhengzhou. He returned the following year to spend two months learning the craft.
Between 2006 and 2010, Tachon made an effort to take at least one or two months each year out of his busy schedule to practice Taijiquan in Chenjiagou. By 2010, he opened up his own Taijiquan academy and invited masters to co-teach the students in France.
鈥淭his academy now consists of 30 regular students. I teach them twice a week, and other times of the week they practice on their own,鈥 Tachon said.
Tachon is one of the millions of foreigners who love Taijiquan, which has spread to many countries and regions since the adoption of reform and opening-up policy in China in late 1970s.
Residents of Chenjiagou have been working to promote Taijiquan internationally since the 1980s.
Chen Zhenglei, 71, Taijiquan master from Chenjiagou, went to Japan to teach Taijiquan in 1983, and he has visited more than 60 countries and regions and opened more than 100 teaching centers all over the world.
鈥淲hile we teach Taijiquan around the world, many students not only fall in love with Taijiquan, but they also come to like Chinese calligraphy and philosophy,鈥 Chen Zhenglei said.
鈥淚f you want to practice Taijiquan well, you must learn Chinese culture,鈥 Tachon agrees with Chen Zhenglei, and he has read 鈥淭he book of Tao and Teh鈥 written by Laozi, a philosopher from the Spring and Autumn Period (770-221 BC).
鈥淭he best protection is to teach more people to practice it,鈥 Yan said.
Chenjiagou now has dozens of Taijiquan schools and more than 800 current masters, drawing learners from all over the world.
Henan鈥檚 Jiaozuo city, where Chenjiagou is located, has held 10 international Taijiquan tournaments since 1992, attracting tens of thousands of players.
Since 2014, the World Taijiquan Championships have been held every two years by the International Wushu Federation.
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