This is a post by our guest blogger, Silkreeling who is also a keen player of Chen Style Taijiquan.

Hai Nan IslandTaiji at Hainan

Introduction

The morning park scene here consists of Taiji players, joggers, badminton players, qigong enthusiast, dancing fans and general health maintainers. This reminds me of the bustle of Singapore’s morning rush hour, yet it is pleasantly unfamiliar. It was the last day of my 7-day trip, and as I was determined to have one last highlight, I decided to check out the Taiji scene on the island. I was up by half past 6 and head towards Haikou’s Haimen park. Many people have told me this before when they have visited China, but it is nothing like being there in person to soak up the atmosphere created by the sheer number of uniformed Taiji players.

The Players
The vast majority of those in uniforms were following their instructors in the nationally standardised Taiji and weapon sets. It took me a while to locate a spot for my own practice, as I navigated past at least 10 groups of uniformed players already deep in their practice. As I was ending my set, I noticed another chap also finishing up his Chen form. I was impressed by his form and later by his understanding of Taiji. I thought he must be learning with a good teacher for a number of years and as we started to talk, I found out more about Taiji on Hainan Island.

He said there aren’t many people practicing the traditional aspects of Taiji in Haikou as far as he knows. There is a Wu Tunan Wu style practice group somewhere in the park; and he himself is no longer learning from a teacher. “Other than practicing the forms daily, my only other source of guidance comes from watching DVDs and reflecting on the Taiji classics”, thus painting the picture that high level teachers are almost non-existent in this island 22 times the size of Singapore.

Taiji at Hainan

We found out about each other and later exchanged contact details. Wen Zhe Fu is a 27 year-old recent graduate from the Broadcasting University, and he has been practicing Chen Village Taiji for the last 4 years. He showed me round the park indicating where I could locate which practice group (including one doing the Chen 81 form) as we headed to the direction of his friend who was about to get to work. “I want to focus on Taiji training for a further period before properly looking for a job”, Wen said, indicating his priority. And pointing out one of the main reasons for his deep interest, he said “It didn’t make sense to me initially, but after a while when the form mellows, the practice just gets more and more comfortable”. He and his friend left shortly for me to explore the park on my own after trading much ‘thank you’ on the views we had swapped.

 Back for more?
This two-hour ad-hoc encounter is really just scratching the surface of the Hainan Taiji scene but given this glimpse, would I be back for more? But one thing is almost for certain, there will be a lot going for the Taiji scene here as long as the province continues to host world class events like the World Taiji and Health conference. A cursory glance at the internet also indicates that exponents are traveling both ways to and fro this sunny tropical island for healthy Taiji exchange.

Pondering this chanced meeting while on my way back to the hotel, I bought some coconut-rice cakes from a roadside stall for breakfast. My in-laws who were traveling with me would like them as they tasted better than those from the shops in Singapore’s Hainan 2nd Street. Just then, my phone rang with a reminder that our breakfast appointment was half an hour away.

That day, as the Tiger-Airways aircraft touched down in Singapore, a thought crossed my mind to forward Wen this link http://www.masterfu.net. Maybe with some income, he can seek further guidance with this master in Guangxi, which is not far from Haikou. With their respective potentials, I would be keen to hear of Wen’s progress as much as the development surrounding the Hainan Taiji Scene.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan