China 2019 - Day 17.5, Saturday, 3rd AugustThere is sometimes a little bit of confusion as to what the difference between tai chi, tai chi chuan, taiji, and taijiquan is. They are all the Romanisation of the Hanzi script - just a different standard. The Wade-Giles system was developed in the mid 19th century by … Continue reading Day 17.5 – A Quick Mandarin Lesson
Tag: China
China 2019 - Day 17, Saturday, 3rd August 2019My day off this week began early with a 3 hour bike ride north along the Yulong river. I don't think I will ever tire of the majestic scenes of mountains, river, and rice fields. It's simply stunning. Although, you may be tiring of my photos by … Continue reading Day 17 – Making Mistakes
China 2019 - Day 16, Friday, 2nd August As I have mentioned in previous blogs, pushing hands has been a very big feature of the training here. All the way from very gentle movements to feel your opponent's energy and momentum, to tai chi wrestling where you are trying to push or pull your opponent … Continue reading Day 16 – Who are you competing against?
China 2019 - Thursday, 1st August Today has been a good solid day of training in classes and then a couple of hours push hands with Master Ping this evening. I have also had the chance to do a lot of training on my own, which is really important for progress. Over the hours, weeks, … Continue reading Day 15 – Rewards of Solitude
China 2019 - Day 14, Wednesday, 31st July As Yin transformed to Yang this morning, I was witness to a stunning sunrise over Guanxi, from the top of Xianggong Mountain (Husband Mountain!). Myself, three others from the tai chi school, and a throng of Chinese tourists with cameras bigger than my car and more complex … Continue reading Day 14 – A New Day…Every Day
China 2019 - Day 13, Tuesday, 30th July Great training, hot weather, and awesome food were in abundance as usual - but today's first for me was a new treatment that I had not had before, Gua Sha. It is basically scraping the skin with a heated cup, or other implement. It draws out toxins, … Continue reading Day 13 – Solid Foundations
China 2019 - Day 12, Monday, 29th July Back into the weekday routine and it seems to go something like this: wake up, revise Mandarin, training, lunch, Mandarin lesson, have a coffee, training, dinner, bike ride (taking photos), training, writing/reading, sleep... If there's a Groundhog Day scenario that I could quite happily go along with, … Continue reading Day 12 – Martial Discipline
China 2019 - Day 11, Sunday 28th July So today is Sunday and keeping in with Western traditions I decided to dedicate my day to rest and deep contemplation. Yeah, right. Today was dedicated to effortlessly defeating my enemies and slicing them up with a big sword. Or something like that... I sleep so badly … Continue reading Day 11 – Infinite Journey
China 2019 - Day 10, Saturday, 27th July Saturday today and I decided to head out and explore Yangshuo and the surrounding area on foot. A 40 minute walk and I was in the centre of Yangshuo from Jima Village. I am half way through reading Alain De Botton's book about travel. It's a very … Continue reading Day 10 – Reality of Travel