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Zhu Xiu Cheng has taught taiji for the past two decades. The 54 year old Chinese man currently lives in Beijing and is also a fine calligrapher.

"Button up around your neck. Remember your coat or you'll catch a cold." Zhu Xiu Cheng softly sermons his disciple before going outside to train. This 54 year old taiji and martial arts (wushu) master does not take health lightly. Nor appearance. Impeccably fitted in a suit of black satin held together by embroidered buttons, this Hubei native has taught taiji for more than two decades.

Previously a salesman in a bookstore, Zhu Xiu Cheng left his home province of central Eastern China and moved to Beijing, where he has lived for two years. For this tall man with a slender face full of wisdom, taiji is first and foremost a family tradition. His grandfather was already an avid amateur. Also, every night after school, Zhu Xiu Cheng, then aged 8 or 9, practiced with his father for three hours.

Zhu Xiu Cheng later became a disciple of the great masters from the prestigious Wudang School in Hong Kong, reputed to teach a form of taiji combining both therapeutic virtues and self-defense. He subsequently won several martial arts awards at national and regional levels. In 2004, he was invited as a representative of Wudang style in Hong Kong to give spear and sword demonstrations, he dreamt of going to Europe. But that never happened. Failing that, he chose the Chinese capital. "Beijing is a kind of window onto the world," he says.

Zhu Xiu Cheng has reasons to believe so, of his thirty followers today, he managed to interest a Frenchman who he proudly shows off the picture in his apartment, decorated as simply as possible. The youngest of his disciples is only 9 years old. The oldest is about 70. But whatever their age, all refuse to be vulgarly called "students". As Hu Zhihua, a freelance writer for 28 years, who has been learning taiji from Zhu Xiu Cheng for the past five months. "The relationship between a teacher and his disciple is much tighter. When a teacher becomes too old to teach, his disciple takes care of him as a father," she insists.

A sense of beauty

When she has the time, the young woman goes in the early morning to Tiantan Park, the Temple of Heaven, for the daily meeting with Zhu Xiu Cheng and his disciples. "At first, a doctor advised me to do sports, either yoga or taiji," she recalls. "I chose taiji because there are exercises in self-defense," she continues. "The most difficult thing is to fully commit and practice every day. You should also eat a lot of beef to strengthen your muscles," she adds.

Once a disciple begins taiji, Zhu Xiu Cheng teaches him in three stages: gestures, foot and pelvis posture and harmony between the interior and exterior. Two to three years are necessary to master the first stage, and, more than 50 years for the last phase. "Every gesture has a special significance that gives it a sense of beauty," he says. Driven by the quest for beauty, Zhu Xiu Cheng is also a fine calligrapher. His office is littered with old newspapers blackened with ink. The brushes of various sizes sit in stone inkwells. And the walls display some of his work of "mild and tender temperament because of taiji," as he likes to describe it.

Zhu Xiu Cheng began calligraphy when he was 17. He learned the lines, the origin of words, and the different styles of Chinese characters (lishu). He has even taught the children of his friends for five years in his home province. "Taiji and calligraphy are both good for mind and health. Most calligraphers are also taiji practitioners and vice versa," he says.

From a quick gesture, Zhu Xiu Cheng draws a row of Chinese characters. "At first, my hand kept shaking. It took me at least six months to learn how to hold a brush," he smiles. A bygone era for this warmed-smile scholar who hopes to attract enough students to open in Beijing by a calligraphy school.

Practical Information :
Zhu Xiu Cheng gives taiji classes every morning from 7:30 to 11:30 (except Tuesday) in the Parc of the Prayer Room of the Temple of Heaven (Tiantan天坛公园Gongyuan). He also gives morning classes in his residence's courtyard: 6 Xueyuan Lu, Furun Jiayuan, Bldg 5, Apt 1002, Haidian district.海淀区副润家园5号楼1002. Tel: 132.41.84.32.06 or 158.01.11.47.35. Mr. Zhu does not speak English, so ask a Chinese friend to help you translate.
The price is RMB 500 for 3 months.

Text: Aurélie Palancher
Photos: Wang Zhuo
March 2008