Recently, the International College of the UCAS plans to hold a series of activities with the theme of "Exploring Chinese Intangible Cultural Heritage". The first lecture in this series, with "Chinese martial arts" as the main topic, officially kicked off at 9:50 am on October 23, 2024. The lecturer was Peng Wenbo. He is the director of the Martial Arts Department of Shijingshan Martial Arts Association, the inheritor of Yang’s Tai Chi intangible cultural heritage, and also the founder of the Rushi Martial Arts Club. During Mr. Peng’s interesting and informative teaching, students not only learned a lot about the history of Chinese martial arts and traditional Chinese culture, but also fully experienced the charm and wisdom of Chinese culture.
Mr. Peng gave a brief introduction to the two main forms of Chinese Kung Fu: Wing Chun and Tai Chi. Wing Chun is a traditional Chinese martial art and also an active self-defense system. Originating from Fujian, Wu Mei’s Wing Chun has a history of more than 300 years. More than other traditional Chinese martial arts, Wing Chun focuses on subduing the opponent as quickly as possible. Based on the traditional Chinese Confucianism, Taoism philosophy of Tai Chi, Yin and Yang dialectical idea as the core idea, Tai Chi set up a variety of functions such as nourishing the temperament, physical health as one of the traditional Chinese Kung Fu. “Tai Chi is a martial art that both combines hardness and softness,” Mr. Peng said, “It can be practiced slowly or quickly.”
Mr. Peng introduced the concept of “qi”. The “qi” in Tai Chi is the energy and power that sustains life activities, and it has extremely important significance for the existence of life. Mr. Peng pointed out that the power of “qi” cannot be underestimated, and the key to practicing Tai Chi is to relax the muscles of the body and use the internal “qi” to generate power, thereby controlling the body. Under Mr. Peng’s guidance, the students took turns to experience it on stage to further understand the feelings and changes in their bodies when they relaxed their muscles and only used “qi”.
In addition, Peng also drew a picture of Yin and Yang poles on the blackboard to help students better understand Tai Chi. He explained it this way: “Therefore in (the system of) the Yi there is the Grand Terminus, which produced the two elementary Forms. Those two Forms produced four images.” The four images refer to greater yin, greater yang, lesser yin, and lesser yang. “You may feel a little confused when you first encounter these concepts, but you can try to think of it: there are four seasons in a year and four periods in a day,” he said, “and you will have a deeper understanding in your subsequent practice.” After listening, the students nodded and then discussed and communicated with Mr. Peng about what they did not understand.
“Cloud (“云手”，yun shou)” is one of the main moves in Tai Chi. During the practice session, Mr. Peng went around each student in turn to provide detailed guidance and explanation. For the places where students were prone to make mistakes, Mr. Peng also gave reminders to help them adjust their positions for power generation. “The most important thing is to find the right position of your waist and generate power from your waist,” he said. Problems with the waist can possibly not only lead to problems with the legs but also make it easier for fat to accumulate in the abdomen. “Students should also pay attention to relaxing their waist in their daily life to maintain the health and flexibility of their waist,” said Mr. Peng. Students also practiced in groups, cooperating with their peers to help them truly appreciate the powerful energy that emerges from Tai Chi’s principles of relaxation, tranquility, lightness, and softness.
Meanwhile, Mr. Peng pointed out that self-defense is also one of the important functions of Tai Chi. So, he taught the students a tip on how to quickly escape when being grabbed by others. No matter how strong or weak the attacker is, this tip always works. Students followed his movements and first raised their limbs, then rotated the entire hand towards the direction of the thumb... Then, the students took turns to practice with Mr. Peng, using the new self-defense techniques they had learned in practice.
In addition, Mr. Peng also summarized the great benefits of practicing Tai Chi. Firstly, Tai Chi embodies the profound depth and richness of Chinese culture, and its origin and development have also incorporated knowledge from the Yi Jing and traditional Chinese medicine. Practicing Tai Chi also teaches people not to bully the weak with strength or to intimidate the weak with strength. Secondly, practicing Tai Chi helps to improve one’s physical fitness, also known as “yang sheng”. Finally, the performance of Tai Chi is also highly aesthetic and has great value in terms of aesthetics.
At the end of the lecture, Mr. Peng and the students practiced the harmonious hold fist salute together, ending today’s enjoyable and meaningful lecture. Finally, the students said that they would practice Tai Chi more in the future and apply what they learned today to their daily life.
Source: IC-UCAS
Author: LIU Qingchen
Photo: Tahseen Ahmed
Editor: GAO Yuan
