Nitizens Unite

One of my China students sent me an interesting reflection of a recent nitizen  experience.  It fascinated me so I got his permission to share it with you....

You may have heard of the very large scale 'march' of netizens from Di Ba ('the baidu post-board of "the Emperor"') to Facebook against independentists in Taiwan on 20 January. Sociologically this is a very interesting patriotic movement of netizens, full of sentiments of revel.

Baidu is our internet giant, one similar to google on many aspects. But personally I find their service lags far behind google. 'The post-board of "the Emperor"' is virtually Li-Yi Ba ('the post-board of Li Yi'). Li used to be the forward of our national soccer team, who once said that his style of dribbling was like the French soccer player Thierry Henri 'the Emperor' (the nickname we Chinese soccer fans gave him). Since everyone knows Chinese soccer players kick awkwardly, fans ridiculed Li as 'the Emperor' for his 'complacency' as it was perceived by many. Thus Li-Yi Ba got its nickname 'Di Ba', the post-board of 'the Emperor'. Di Ba became a place for young male netizens from grass-root classes roughly a decade ago and has retained its status ever since. It is an emblem of anti-culture, of young 'losers' striving for better future, rebellious, cynical but not totally without optimism. 

As for 'the march of Di Ba', it is totally a spontaneous campaign launched by the post-1990 generation, also participated by post-2000’s and probably some very late post-1980’s. 

I am 100% sure that it is totally spontaneous; BBC's statement that it was organized by our state was nonsense - reasons sketched below.

They scaled our GFW and protested on the Facebook pages of Taiwan independentists. The major targets are their newly elected president, who is an independentist, and several pro-independence media. The number of these netizens mounted to more than 20 million, a number that rivals the total population of Taiwan.

The campaign was very well organised indeed. The leaders divided their followers into several groups, with very clear arrangement of specific objects: some were assigned to collect the evidence of the words and deeds of independentists; some collect interesting stickers of cuisines and sights of interest in China (and mark them with 'made in China'), of pro-union or anti-independent slogans; some act as 'pioneering troops', and some specially charged of apologizing if any of their fellows spoke rude, offensive words. The organisers of this campaign warned that everyone should keep calm once get offensive reaction, and none should speak rude words; if any was found doing so, others should instantly apologize on behalf of the whole movement.

They then flooded those independentists with their stickers and slogans.

The campaign turned out to be really well-disciplined if measured by the standard of online movement, though minor chaos did occur. It reminds me of the grain riots in early modern England - spontaneous but very well disciplined, too.

The campaign took place on 7 p.m., 20 Jan. The next day it had an amusing turn - organizers set up a forum on FB for single boys and girls from both sides of the strait to match together. Some Taiwan youth who are friendly to mainland did appear and talk a bit with these young patriots from the other side. They posted photos to see if they could find boyfriends or girlfriends. Of course this is more of a revel rather than serious matching.

As far as I know, with my personal contacts, most in Taiwan were, and are untouched, a few, though really few, seem friendly and willing to promote mutual understanding, more provoked, disaffected, and angry; some deliberately led campaigners to the FB pages of their pro-union politicians and said they were pro-independent, to see them flooded by stickers posted by misled Di Ba members.

Some western news reporters, like BBC, said that the campaign was organized by our authority, which is totally untrue. They certainly lack sufficient knowledge of popular culture of the post-1990 generation and the netizen-authority relation here to interpret this campaign as a sociological phenomenon. Our moralistic state will never do this - big government officials are quite culturally conservative, full of affectation with their manners. They will not do such things heavily tainted by the spirit of revel. What's more, Only we rebellious kids will take such a drastic turn from flooding stickers and slogans to matching single boys and girls!! 

Indeed the reaction from our authority seems very ambivalent. 

On 20 Jan the campaign was on live on several video websites, yet they were blocked by our authority. Major official presses keep quiet. Only the WeChat site of the foreign branch of People's Daily posted 2 fresh comments, one very positive and the other, a day later, more sobering. The reasons of this ambivalence seem very complex, but one of them should be sure - this unleash of patriotic sentiment directly acted against the GFW - it was indeed scaled super easily by young netizens. This is a loud slash on the face of our authority concerning their cyber regulation. They are certainly happy to find that the youth are very patriotic concerning TW issue, but the campaign also shows the formidability of popular online campaign, something those conservative, arrogant mandarins certainly dislike and fear.

In mainland, many common netizens observing this campaign exalted; a few idealists, mostly some liberal intellectuals, either old or young, despise it as harmful populism; many keep quiet, but I guess they are generally happy to see this.

As one with pro-peaceful union sentiment, I at first thought it populist, but with more information my view became more balanced. Given the discipline of the campaign one cannot say it was populist though no doubt an unleash of patriotic sentiment, less one could say these netizens were internet mob. But I do doubt its efficacy given the reaction from TWese. Unionism has been waning in the past decade on that island due to bad policies of the ruling KMT: the economic fruits of mainland-TW communication didn't go to the hands of grass roots but capitalists; KMT (the ruling party of the Republican China, 1912-1949 and one of the major parties in contemporary TW) was crippled by in-party factions and serious symptom of corruption; the self-conception of new generations there was not 'Chinese' but 'TWese' and they were really blinded by some their official education and their own stereotypes on the reality of mainland (e.g. a despotic place) - a short deviation - liberty blind them while GFW stimulate some of us mainlanders to get rid of brainwashing as much as one can. A sober observer has to realize this and admit it. It's just that our authority denies it in their discourse - I don't know if they recognize the reality - hope yes. Given this, 'the march of Di Ba', from my point of view, won't do much good to bridge the ideological gap. However, the very very strong taint of popular revel certainly tempers the political sense of the whole campaign. It is sociologically interesting, somehow like the popular revel on certain politically important dates in early modern England (like the Guy Fox Day), or the pope-burning possessions in Restoration London.

Posting Paralysis

So...I found a wonderful posting of photos to which I added pithy dialogue...saved said post...hit the Publish button.... and .... POOF! It vanished into BlogSpot Hades. It was a devastating lost to deal with. Needless to say, I've been a bit anxious about hitting blog buttons ever since.

Professor Kuzmich and I are presently in Australia. Melbourne at the moment. Last week we were with friends in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney. We are preparing four presentations at two education conferences...the first in Adelaide next week and the second in Coomera near Brisbane. What, you may rightly ask, has this to do with ChinaTalk? After Adelaide we will take the 48-hour train to Perth and then our journey will take us back to China for a visit to our old teaching grounds in Jinan, China where we will see Lily and George and Sophia and Kyle and Professor Kim, among others and speak at a gathering of one of the Toastmasters International clubs of which Lily is a member. Then we'll take a break in Fiji before heading back to Australia for the second conference.

They who keep thinking keep growing.

Journey to the West: a synopsis

There are a few things I wish I had known to know before I went to China so I could mingle with a better understanding of what makes China tick. One such thing would have been to read the foundational Chinese classic Journey To The West. It functions much like Greek mythology in the West.  So I was grateful when Victory, one of my sophomore written English class students, gave a presentation on this epic collection of classic Chinese folktales. His excessively long sentences which are typical among student writing since the Chinese language lacks the sentence structure common in English writing. I enjoyed hearing something I needed to know. These stories are depicted in Chinese movies and TV shows. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmKrgPr7PA8 Should you have the opportunity to mingle in China,  this "Cliff Notes" version of Journey To The West may serve you well. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Journey_to_the_West

     The novel JOURNEY TO THE WEST comprises 100 chapters. These can be divided into four very unequal parts. The first, which includes chapters 1-7 is really a self-contained introduction to the main story. it deals entirely with the earlier exploits of Sun WuKong, a money born form a stone nourished by the Five Elements, who learns the art of the Tao, 72 polymorphic transformation, combat, and secrets of immortality; and through guile and force makes a name for himself as the Qitian Dasheng or "Great Sage Equal to Heaven." His powers grow to match the forces of all of the Eastern (Taoist) deities, and the prologue culminates in Sun's rebellion against Heaven during a time when he garnered a post in the celestial bureaucracy. Hubris proves his downfall when the Buddha manages to trap him under a mount and sealing the mountain with a talisman for five hundred years.

     Only following this introductory story is the nominal main character, Xuanzang, introduced. Chapters 8-12 provide his early biography and the background to his great journey. Dismayed that "the land of the South knows only greed, hedonism, promiscuity and sins" the Buddha instructs the bodhisattva Guanyin to search Tang China for someone to take the Buddhist sutras of "transcendence and persuasion for good will" back to the East. Part of the story here also relates to how Xuanzang become a monk (as well as revealing his past life as a disciple of the Buddha named "Golden Cicada" and comes about being sent on this pilgrimage by the Emperor Tang Taisong, who previously escaped death with the help of an underworld official.

     The third and longest section of the work is chapter 13-99, an episodic adventure story which combines elements of the quest as well as the picaresque. The skeleton of the story is Xuanzang's quest to bring back Buddhist scriptures from Vulture Peak in India, but the flesh is provided by the conflict between Xuanzang's disciples and the various evils that beset him on the way.

     The scenery of this section is, nominally, the sparsely populated lands along the Silk Road between China and India, including Xinjiang, Turkestan and Afghanistan. The geography described in the book is, however, almost entirely fantastic; once Xuanzang departs Changan, the Tang capital, and crosses the frontier (somewhere in Gansu province), he finds himself in a wilderness of deep gorges and tall mountains, all inhabited by flesh-eating demons who regard him as a potential meal (since his flesh was believed to give immortality to whoever ate it), with here and there a hidden monastery or royal city-state amend the wilds.

     The episodic structure of this section is to some extent formulaic. Episodes consist of 1-4 chapters and usually involve Xuanzang being captured and having his life threatened while his disciples try to find an ingenious (and often violent) way of liberating him. Although some of Xuanzang's predicaments are political and involve ordinary human beings, they more frequently consist of run-ins with various goblins and ogres, many of whom turn out to be the earthly manifestations of heaven beings (who sins will be negated by eating the flesh of Xuanzang) or animal -spirits with enough Taoist spiritual merit to assume semi-human forms.

     Chapter 13-22 do not follow this structure precisely, as they introduce Xuanzang's disciple, who inspired or goaded by Guanyin, meet and agree to serve him along the way in order to atone for their sins in their past lives.

     The first is Sun Wukong or Monkey, previously "Great Sage Equal to Heaven" trapped by Buddha for rebelling against Heaven. He appears right away in Chapter 13. The
most intelligent and violent of the disciples, he is constantly reproved for his violence by Xuanzang. Ultimately, he can only be controlled by a magic gold band that the Bodhisattva has placed around his head, which causes him bad headaches when Xuanzang chants certain magic words.

     The second, appearing in chapter 19, is Zhu Bajie, literally Eight-precepts Pig, sometimes translated a Pigsy or just Pig. He was previously Marshal Tian Peng, commander of the Heavenly Naval forces, banished to the mortal realm for flirting with the Princess of the Moon Chang'e. He is characterized by his insatiable appetites for food and sex, and is constantly looking for a way out of his duties, which causes significant conflict with Sun Wukong. Nevertheless he is a reliable fighter. 

     The third, appearing in chapter 22, is the river-ogre Sha Wuing, also translated as Friar Sand or Sandy. He was previously Great General who Fold the Curtain, banished to the mortal realm for dropping (and shattering) a crystal goblet of the Heaven Queen Mother. He is a quiet but generally dependable character, who serves as the straight foil to the comic relief of Sun and Zhu.

     The fourth discipline is the third prince of the Dragon -King, Yulong Santaizi, who was sentenced to death for setting fire to his father's great pearl. He was saved by Guanyin from execution to stay and wait for his call of duty. He appears first in chapter 15, but has almost no speaking role, as throughout most of the story he appears in the transformed shape of a  horse that Xuanzang rides on.

     Chapter 22, where Sha is introduced, also provides a geographical boundary, as the river that the travelers cross brings them into a new "continent." Chapters 23-86 take place in the wilderness, and consist of 24 episodes of varying length, each characterized by a different magical monster or evil magician. There are impassably wide rivers, flaming mountains, a kingdom ruled by women, a lair of seductive spider-spirits, and many other fantastic scenarios. Throughout the journey, the four brave disciples have to fend off attacks on their master and teacher Xuanzang from various monsters and calamities.

     It is strongly suggested that most of these calamities are engineered by fate and/or the Buddha, as, while the monsters who attack are vast in power and many in number, no real harm ever comes to the four travelers. Some of the monsters turn out to be escaped heavenly animals belonging to bodisattvas or Taoist sages and spirits. Towards the end of the book there is a scene where the Buddha literally commands the fulfillment of the last disaster, because Xuanzang is one short of the 81 disasters he needs to attain Buddhahood. 

     In chapter 87, Xuanzang finally reaches the borderlands of India, and chapters 87-99 present magical adventures in a somewhat more mundane (though still exotic) setting. At length, after a pilgrimage said to have taken 14 years, (the text actually only provides evidence for 9 of those years, but presumably there was room to add additional episodes) they arrive at the half-real, half-legendary destination of Vulture Peak, where, in a scene simultaneously mystical and comic, Xuanzang receives the scriptures from the living Buddha.

     Chapter 100, the last of all, quickly describes the return journey to the Tang Empire, and the aftermath in which each traveler receives a reward in the form of post in the bureaucracy of the heaven. Sun Wukong and Xuanzang achieve Buddhahood, Wujing becomes an arhat, Santaizi the dragon prince horse is made a naga, and Bajie, whose good deeds have always been tempered by his greed, is promoted to an altar cleanser (i.e. eater of excess offerings at altars).

     

     

Chinese Creation Myth - the Pangu Epoch

Spongebob was a delightful student. My eyes widened when I first heard the English name she had chosen for herself. Her presentation about an ancient Chinese creation myth got me thinking about
my own culture's stories, historical, religious, et el. China is a very old culture and it's interesting how the stories thrived with embellishments and survived the struggle of time; still known and told today.

          Pangu is a myth in the epoch-making style. Pangu culture is a bright pearl of Chinese culture. In ancient China, people believed that it was Pangu who created the world.

      In very ancient times when the heaven and the earth were not separated, the universe looked like a big egg kind of chaotic lump. And in the egg lived a giant who was called Pan Gu having always been asleep in this big egg for about 18,000 years. When he waked up, he could see nothing but a turbid world. Pan Gu was not satisfied with this, so he used his huge hands to chop in the dark and the "big egg" broke up immediately. Then, among them both light and clear things rose slowly and dispersed gradually; sky becoming blue. Those stately turbid things had come down but slowly, and became underfooting land.

      Pan Gu was afraid that the sky and the land would close again, so he stood between them day and night. Also, his body grew longer and longer with the increasing distance between the sky and the earth. Another 18,000 years passed away and the sky had been higher and higher; the field had been thicker and thicker. The distance between sky and land was so far that no one could link them together. Pangu, relying on self extraordinary power finally opened up the scope of operation out; but he had been tired to death. Before death, the gas that he called out of his mouth became spring breeze and the sky: cloud and mist. The sound that he made became the thunderbolt. His left eye had become the sun, the right eye had become the moon. Hair and a beard had become the night sky star. His body had become roads and mountains. Blood had become river. Muscle had become farmlands. The teeth, skeleton and bone marrow had become underground mineral resources. The skin had become the grass and trees on the earth. Sweat had become rain and dew.

      In a word, Pangu created everything in the world using his body and then the beautiful world came into existence. His soul became human beings after his death, which is the reason why we call humans the wisest creatures.

      Excepting Pangu Epoch, there are pretty ancient fairy tiales, such as Nuwa Mending the Heaven, Kuafu Chasing the Sun, Jingwi Filling the Sea and so on. While those tales may not be scientific, they are beautiful and attractive. Welcome to CHina, an ancient country with profound history and splendid culture to help you feel the charm of myth.

The Culture of Chinese Doorsill

       Coming from a handicap/disability sensitive country, I was shocked at the general lack of public accessibility in China. I already posted photos of the pyramid stairways leading to many businesses in Jinan in an early China Talk blog entry. My visit to the Forbidden City in Beijing came soon after an Oral English class on American Halloween vs Chinese ghost traditions, so I was more aware of such things while touring the palace complex. Every single main entrance doorway had an obstacle. You must step over a large, 6-12" high doorsill. In all my travels I don't recall ever seeing a such a significant obstacle at the entrance-way to a home or castle. Naturally, I asked about this feature and was told that it kept spirits out because they couldn't negotiate over the high doorsill with their old, creaky knees. HUH?!   My students were bemused by my questions, observations and humor concerning spirits and doorsills when I returned from Beijing. Spirits have bum knees? Can't spirits just float through the door? I settled down by the time Jane gave her presentation and was impressed with her wisdom as she reflected on this tradition.

            Do your remember last semester professor Kuzmich asked us why our old Chinese architecture had such a high doorsill? Today, I want to provide a more specific answer.

        When China was not unified, Chinese people already had common view on building doorsills. Even the doorsill built day was chosen in advance, and its color must suited the gate well. Se we can see the importance of the doorsill for ancient Chinese.

        Why the doorsill was treated so seriously? There are reason in two aspects.
        First of all, in the practical aspects. The doorsill worked in keeping off the rainwater, strong winds, small animals, such as mice. Also it helped to shut the door tightly. What's more, the ancient people were mostly in loose clothes. So when they strides the doorsill, they had to hold their legs high, and the hidden weapon (if there was one) would be seen.

        However, the cultural meanings of doorsill also plays an important part. Firstly, it's a symbol of boundary, making a distinction between your own home and the outside world. Secondly, it represented the owner's class and status; the higher status you were in, the higher doorsill it was. Thirdly, the doorsill symbolized a wall, maybe it's a bit difficult for professor Kuzmich to understand, while, you can comprehend it as western "magic," though, I prefer to regard it as a wish or will. Whatever, at the time, it really meant keeping off the dirt and ghost, hoping to keep the whole family safe and healthy. Fourthly, it's said that when people died, his soul might jump out of his house to be a ghost. In case of that, people built the high doorsill, to keep the soul in, for the soul couldn't jump so high.

        There are also some interesting things about the doorsill. For instance, we can't step on it, for in human's life, it symbolized the master's back or neck; in another word, it is 'dignity.' And in Buddhism, stepping the doorsill meant you might wander on the bound of Yin and Yang when you died. Also, men should step his left foot first; women was opposite.

        We can see something about Chinese him conception from the culture of doorsill which includes privacy space, sense of safe, and best wishes to family members. Chinese architecture is not like western ones, which is open to the outsiders. While, in modes society, we hardly have doorsills any more, maybe which can be regarded as a positive attitude to open and absorb.

        In our modern life, we prefer to regard the doorsill as an obstacle. There are "doorsills" in education, political reform, social conscience, and so forth. We are overcoming them actively. It is the same with our tradition, just like the saying goes: discard the dross and take the essence.  Only in this way can our Chinese culture get more and more prosperous.

        

        

Cultural differences between North and South area in China

           Most Chinese folks I met considered six-million-strong Jinan in northern China a back-water, blue-collar city, but I am grateful that we were not assigned to teach at a university in southern China. Why? The food in south of China is routinely spicy hot. I would have died of starvation. Jinan is famous for it garlic and fish; and students often complained that the food was salty. Salty is world's better than spicy to my palette; but I think my students overstated the saltiness. Jinan food was divinely suited to my taste.
         I liked Joey's sometimes rambling presentation, for her natural attempt to express her opinions rather than just copy 'n past something from the Internet, and her interesting views on the percieved differences between north and south citizens of China.

We all know that north area is different from south area mostly as a result of the weather no matter what country it is. Northern people are more straight-forward while southern people are very reserved.  Culture differences in China can be divided into 5 aspects, which are Characters, Foods, Art, Builds, and New Findings of Life.

1.  Character. In northern area, people struggled with the nature for living, which formed the characters of being straight-forward and out-going. They are tall and strong, especially the males. 

While the souther people live in a better environment than northern people, they pay more attention to the art, as a result that they are mild and soft.

2.  Foods.  Northeastern area in China is very famous for its rice. Besides, northern people are more accustomed to food made from wheat, especially for staple. Southern people like to eat rice.  

People in northern area like to eat and drink in big mouthfuls, coz they care less about this kind of things. Southern people tend to enjoy the food very slowly to feel the test, for example, drinking tea.  
Northern people eat peppers to be warm and try to keep away from the cold feelings inside. However, southern people eat peppers to avoid the wet air outside and inside.

3.  Art.  Just as Beijing Opera in Beijing,there are many kins of opera in China varying from North to South. In north area, take Shanxi Opera for example, it is famous for roaring the dialogues which are always very tragic and heroic reflecting the history of ancient Emperors and heroes.   

While southern people have Huangmeixi Opera, which is very mild and talks about the love story between a wit and a beauty.

4.  Buildings.  In south area, the houses and the roads are often very tortuous for the winds being able to flow into. While it's commonplace in north area that the design of buildings are more plain and regular. They are often located in North and face to South. And in northeastern area, the direction isn't always that clear.

5.  Funny things which are newly found of Life. [Well, this is the most interesting part of my speech.] These are things you can never know in America or any other country in the world. If you live your lifelong time in only north or south area, you will not experience these things either.

        Bathing towel…This kind of bather towel is used to clean our body when we are having a bath. It's commonplace to be seen in north China, while southern people have never seen it. Northern people use it first to rub the dirt on our body, and then use bath liquid to make our body smooth and fragrant. However, southern people only use bath liquid. What's more, they have baths nearly every day because of the weather, while we northern people usually have baths every three or four days a week.

        Tofu jelly…This kind of food is often eaten in the morning. It's salty in north wile sweet in fourth. Mostly we can't accept the other taste of it.

        Tomatoes and eggs… It's a kind of famous food in China. Northern people put sugar into it while southern people don't.

        Soybean milk… It's  little confusing that there is hardly regulation of it. In northeastern area and most cities in southern area, people often make soybean milk very sweet. 

On the contrary,as far as I'm concerned, several cities in Shandong Province tend to put salt in it.

Tai Chi

During the last decade of my otherwise clueless life, I became aware of a slow-motion meditation-type, boring-looking exercise routine called Tai Chi. Whilst on walkabouts in China I saw individuals and groups of people engaging in Tai Chi all over the place. But then something happened. I began to observe small Tai Chi groups holding swords while doing their slow-motion routines and the light dawned. This otherwise innocuous, meditative routine is a martial art of warrior thrusts-jabs-n-stabs for  practice for battles, spiritual or worldly. Yikes! Then I saw Tai Chiers using poles and whips. Double Yikes! I'll never observe Tai Chi in the same, limited, western view again. Preparing for war, mentally or physically, is systemic to this art and culture. I paid closer attention to Lucy's presentation.

Tai Ji Quan is a major division of Chinese martial art. Tai Ji Quan means "supreme ultimate fist." Tai means "supreme'… Ji means "ultimate"… Quan mean "fist."

There have been different sayings about the origin of Tai Chi. The traditional legend goes that the wise man, Zhang Sanfeng, of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) created Tai Chi after he had witnessed a fight between a sparrow and a snake; while most people agreed that the modern Tai Chi originated from Chen style Tai Chi, which first appeared during the 19th century in the Daoguang Reign of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Tai Chi has its philosophical roots in Taoism and is considered as an internal martial art, utilizing the internal energy, or Qi, and following the simple principle of "subduing the vigorous by the soft." Taoism is the oldest philosophy of CHina which is represented by the famous symbol of the Yin and Yang which expresses the continuous flow of Qi in a circular motion that generates two opposite forces, plus and minus, which interact and balance with each others to bring existence to the physical and metaphysical world.

The most famous forms of Tai Chi practiced today are the Chen, Yang, We, Woo and Sun styles. All the five styles can be traced back to Chen style Tai Chi. According to historical records, Tai Chi was founded by Chen Wangting (1597-1664), who lived in Chen Village, in today's Henan Province in China. Based on the Chen style and created by Tang Luchan, a Hebei native of the Qing Dynasty, the Yang style is now the most popular style worldwide. The Woo Style is based on the Chen and Yang styles and created by Woo Yuxing. 

The Sun style is derived from Chen and Woo styles and created by Sun Lutang. The Sun style is a combination of the more famous internal Chinese martial art forms of Ba Gua, Xing Yi and Tai Ji. The We style is based on Chen and Yang styles, and it was created by Wu Jianquan.

Nowadays, when most people talk about Tai Chi, they are usually referring to the Yang style, which has already spread throughout the world and is practiced by millions or people.

Tai Chi is not only a martial art, but has also been widely acknowledged as being an effective health exercise. Whether Tai Chi is practiced for health, as athletic sport or martial art it takes time, patience and qualitative practice to develop Tai Chi's internal properties. To achieve a high standard in Tai Chi training is a highly complex process.

In conclusion, no matter you are young or aged, male or female, no matter strong or weak, slim or plump, you can choose Tai Chi as your ideal physical exercise. Just as a Chinese saying goes, "As a man sows, so he shall reap." Once you decide to practice it, Tai Chi - the world of Yin and Yang, the world of the nature and relaxation will become a whole, new life style in the future for you.