Dressage the Tai Chi of Olympic sports

The New Zealand Herald reports that dressage—the "ballet" of horse training featured at the Olympics—is most like t'ai chi ch'uan. It is a sport that involves balance and flexibility, responsiveness and grace.

"For someone brought up on rugby, cricket, basketball, tennis, and boxing this one takes work to grasp its niceties. I didn’t get it, until I realised it is actually Tai Chi with four legs, six if you count the rider....[it] is slow, detailed, and requires utter concentration." (Denis Edwards New Zealand Herald 8/10/08; painting by Xu Beihong).

In a related topic, the Summer 2003 issue of Taijiquan Journal featured three articles about t'ai chi ch'uan and horses:

•"The Taiji Horse Riding Form" by Michael Stenson, a horse trainer
•"The Cauldron and the Horse: Internal Cultivation and Yijing by Zhongxian Wu, qigong master
•"All Stances are Horse Stances: Taijiquan's Equine Ancestry" by Paul Magee, acupuncturist

Limited quantities of back issues of Taijiquan Journal are still available at an Olympic special of $5 each (US orders). Offer good until September 17th, 2008. See our website for further information.

Olympic Pageantry Features 2,008 T'ai Chi Performers 太極拳在中國奧林匹克

The story of the 2008 Beijing Olympics is being told from many viewpoints: the athlete (as one would expect); the political and economical significance of China's rise (certainly not the first time in its long history); and the cultural—witness the opening ceremonies filled with symbolism, history and pride; not to mention the local, everyday scenes. T'ai chi is being featured both in the ceremonies and the neighborhoods as exercise, embodiment of culture, and as martial art.
The China Daily (中國日报) gives a wonderfully detailed description of the whole Opening Ceremony program. Here's the excerpt about the art of t'ai chi:

"Nature: You can interpret this number as a call for biological protection, but that would be reading too much pragmatism into it. It is about man's relations with nature, embodied in the movements of tai chi. It expounds on the philosophies from The Book of Changes, which contains an ancient system of cosmology intrinsic to Chinese cultural beliefs. The cosmology centers on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites.

“The 2,008 performers doing tai chi in a circle that surrounds a rectangle is an epitome of the notion of "heaven is round and earth is square". And the boxing itself perfectly illustrates Lao Tzu's teaching -- 'The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong.'" China Daily

Here are other observations by reporters on the scene:

"Clearly the organizers of the opening ceremonies in Beijing spared no expense in putting this spectacle together. The Tai Chi sequence alone was a marvel of synchronization, athleticism and grace." said the Edmonton Sun.

"Amid forests of sheer fabric on which shifting images of water and light skittered, Tai-chi dancers offered a glimpse of a peculiarly Chinese environmentalism – the unity of mankind and nature." Wall Street Journal

"China hails the Beijing Olympics as the fulfillment of its "100-year dream", a slogan that harks back to a time when China was "the sick man of Asia" and looked to sport to help it return to its former status." Reuters

"You never have to travel a million miles to get cool martial arts in China - kung fu was a major feature, despite China's failure to have it installed as an Olympic sport. The sight of thousands of white-gowned tai-chi experts going through their paces was impressive." Variety

For those inspired by the Beijing Olympics to take up t'ai chi, use the links to the right to find t'ai chi groups near you.

China Steps up to Olympic Plate

"WHEN YOU MENTION the Olympics in Beijing, there is a Chinese proverb you are likely to hear from smiling retirees practising their tai chi early in the morning in the city's lovely parks, or from hungry bureaucrats scoffing noodles in a bustling jiaozi restaurant, or even from the migrant workers from Sichuan and Anhui building the new megalopolis. It is "bai nian bu yu", which is best translated as "We've been waiting 100 years for this". The 2008 Olympic Games are China's big coming-out party and everything is going to work, no matter what." Read the full article at: Irish Times 8/2/08

Taekwondo Champ Tries T'ai Chi

"Taiwan's first gold medallist Chu Mu-yen is confident he will retain his taekwondo title in Beijing while girlfriend Yang Shu-chun is hoping for success in the women's competition.'An athlete has to climb up and seek a breakthrough to win and I think tai chi helps stabilise Chu to bring him to the next level,' [coach] Chang said. Tai chi, which is meant to harmonise body and soul with slow and flexible movements, is popular in Taiwan particularly among elderly people."
Chu is dealing with the Olympic pressures with tai chi and staying with his teammates on a retreat to a Buddhist monastary in southern Taiwan. Read the full article at: The Telegraph 7/31/08

Wheelchair Tai Chi Olympic Hopeful

"More than 1,000 Chinese people in wheelchairs hope to demonstrate a new activity at the summer Olympic or Paralympic Games in Beijing this summer: wheelchair tai chi. Led by University of Tennessee at Chattanooga anthropology professor Zibin Guo, the demonstration is designed to show the world that wheelchair tai chi can boost strength, relaxation, flexibility and confidence for people with physical disabilities."

Free wheelchair tai chi classes as part of a research project will be offered at Siskin Hospital, and co-sponsored by UTC, and will "measure the effects of tai chi on participants’ breathing, heart condition, psychological functioning, and ability to cope."

“People in wheelchairs often feel confined. Tai chi, with its circular movements, creates a sense of infinite space. And the gentle movements improve circulation and mobility,” Dr. Guo said." Read the complete article at the Chattanooga Times Free Press (6/26/08)

Tai Chi Keeps Pace with Olympics

Despite China's woes this year—earthquakes, weather, viruses, protesters—Olympic excitement is building. Yet with all of the attention on Olympic sports and the glamourous features of newly rebuilt Beijing, many news outlets are also reporting on the quieter, normal back-street areas, and on traditional activities such as tai chi. As one reporter writes, Jingshan Park near the Forbidden City "provides excellent views of Beijing and an introduction to China's slower passions — bird rearing, tai chi and long, leisurely strolls."Atlanta Journal Constitution

Tai Chi Caught in Olympic Torch Political Crossfire

A conflict erupted between Tai Chi enthusiasts promoting Olympic good will on the San Francisco leg of the Olympic Torch Relay and pro-Tibetan protesters. For the complete story, see Mercury News.

All the Chi in China

An admirably indepth and lengthy look at the morning taiji scene in Beijing's parks by Stanley Stewart of the Sunday Times in London:

"T’ai chi is illustrative of what is so different about Chinese exercise. There is lots of mental concentration and very little sweat. Exercise is elegant, graceful, almost sedate. Not for the Chinese the muscle-pumping of the gym, the slog of the jogging track. Nobody here is going for the burn. Instead, it is all about balance and concentration and flexibility. In a western fitness programme, t’ai chi would register only as an elaborate warm-up, a series of stretching exercises. In China, it is the main course, because it involves thought as well as movement." (See the full article at Times UK Online edition 3/08/08).