White Crane Academy students have the unique opportunity to travel with Mark to southern China, train with his teacher Master Ping Wu, and experience Chinese culture away from the usual tourist routes.
Mark has been a student of Master Ping, learning Chen style Tai Chi with him since 2019, visiting China twice per year to deepen his knowledge of Chinese culture, language, and continue improving as a martial artist.
Visiting China with Mark
Mark organises regular trips to China for WCA students to join. The next will be in 2027, when there will be two trips: one in April and another in November.
The details are yet to be confirmed but you can see an outline of what each trip will offer here:
April 2027 – China Cultural Trip
This will be an approximately 10-day trip where the focus is equally on Chinese and local Chaoshan culture, as well as training.
The group will be staying at FangYuan Tai Chi School from Sunday 4th – Sunday 11th April.
There will be an early morning, pre-breakfast 30 minute guided class, led by Master Ping’s assistant instructor, Kai-Lee.
After breakfast, you will learn a traditional Qigong form, training for 2-2.5 hours Monday – Friday.
Afternoons and evenings will be spent enjoying the environment and surrounding area of the school. Relaxing and enjoying some downtime. As well as some of the following cultural activities:
- Chinese calligraphy
- Chinese paper cutting
- Chinese language
- Trip to Jieyang Ancient Town
- Trip to Chaozhou city
- Learning Tapping Qigong
- Opportunities for Chinese massage, and acupuncture
- Guzheng musical performance – and the opportunity to try it for yourself!
- Learning about the Chaoshan tea ceremony
- Opportunities to drink and enjoy lots of high grade local green and oolong teas
- Enjoying home cooked local food from the school’s fantastic cook
- Local walks – the school is located in a village surrounded by banana and bamboo trees
The Canton Tower has a slender, twisting shape inspired by a graceful female form, which earned it the local nickname “Xiao Man Yao” or “Slim Waist”
After our stay at the school, the plan is to visit Guangzhou (by train) for 2 days before flying home.
Guangzhou is one of China’s major cities but an easy one to travel around, with year-round good weather. We will be staying in an area with great shopping, local temples, artisanal shops, modern malls, great street food and local eateries.
It has a very interesting colonial history – not one us British should be particularly proud of but it does make for some interesting architecture, and one very pleasant area to visit which was previously where all of the ‘foreign devils’ were forced to live and stay.
In Guangzhou we will also visit famous landmarks including the Canton Tower (going to the top is optional, there are nice cafes at the bottom for those who prefer to keep their feet on the ground!), an evening Pearl River cruise, and more tbc.
This trip is suitable for all WCA Tai Chi and Qigong students training on average once per week, and ideally attending the monthly Progress Workshop. It is expected that students coming on the trip know and remember Eight Pieces of Brocades Qigong before departing for China.
More exact details on the trip will be provided soon but register your interest with Mark if you’d like to join the group.
November 2027 – China Training Trip
November’s trip will focus more on training, with a minimum of 4.5 hours of Tai Chi training per day. Likely you will be putting in some extra time to remember and revise what you have been learning.
It is yet to be confirmed what will be learnt on the trip but for those who remember the fan from the 2025 trip will move on to learn a new Chen Tai Chi form. There will also be opportunities to refine Chen 18 and Chen Fan.
Evenings will offer the chance for rest and relaxation, Chinese massage, learning Chinese calligraphy… and more tbc.
We will include a trip to Shantou.
After leaving the school, two days in Hong Kong are planned.
The group is almost full but if you would like to be considered, please let Mark know.
Because this trip is very training focused, it is expected that students attending prepare both their Tai Chi skills as well as their fitness levels well in advance of the trip.
For this reason, anyone wanting to join will need to be regularly training with Mark at least twice per week generally, and then in the 6 months leading up to the trip, three classes per week.
*Both trips need a minimum of 8 people for them to go ahead.
About Master Ping
Wu Yu Ping (Master Ping) is from Jieyang City in Guangdong province, China.
He is a level 6 Master with over 24 years of experience in both Tai Chi and Qigong. Master Ping is the headmaster and founder of Fang Yuan Tai Chi Centre.
“When I was young I fell in love with martial arts. I started when I was only 9 years old and have been practicing primarily Tai Chi for over 20 years. I learned all the Chen style forms, push hands, weapons and theory from Master Lin JianXing. Later I learned from Masters Wang FuJing, Wang LaiQin, WuMingQiang and Xu Yakui in order to deepen my understanding of Tai Chi.”
In 2016, Master Ping was honored to be a disciple of Master Xu Yakui. It takes a long time to achieve a deep understanding of the essence of Tai Chi and one never stops learning.
Wu Yu Ping often travels to study further and share his skills and experience with different masters and Tai Chi practitioners.
He has entered many competitions and has won 18 gold medals. Master Ping is also proud to have received a certificate of excellence in coaching, from Guangdong sports center. Due to his students’ success in competition, he is often invited to hold Tai Chi and Qi Gong workshops in China and internationally.