Wudang Shan

After a three hour train ride through the mountains we came to Wudang, the legendary birthplace of Tai Chi and holdout of Taoist thought in China.

Master Xu Gu 虚谷, met us at the station in a beat-up old van.  At 22 years old, he is one of the youngest masters in Wudang.  Trying to fit 10 of us plus luggage into a seven-passenger van, he remained calm and relaxed. He had no interest in impressing or complementing us - a welcome departure from daily life in Xiang Fan.  He also did not honk his horn or try to pass anyone the entire trip... very un-Chinese. 

We spent our first two days re-learning how to stand, walk, and breathe. We would stand for 15 minutes at a time with our arms out in front of us, span a distance of 10 yards in as many minutes, and then stand some more. The Chinese call this Nei Gong 内功 and practice it to develop internal energy by improving concentration, circulation, and proprioception. The third day we hiked to the top of Wudang Shan on sore legs*. The fourth and fifth days we were finally deemed ready to begin work on the first form of Wu-style Tai Ji Quan太极拳. 

As sore as we were, our training program was easy in comparison to how the students train**. They begin at age four and train for eight hours a day, six days a week. Morning conditioning begins at 5:30am and involves running through the mountains for two hours. After conditioning there is time for breakfast followed by a three hour morning training session. Next is lunch is followed by a two hour siesta***. The afternoon training session is another three hours followed by dinner.

Evenings we enjoyed spending our time with the kids playing games or making origami. Our first night the kids put on a world class demonstration of their training complete with flips, traditional tai ji forms, and one of the older students jumping over us standing up. 

*It took us just over 3 hours to get to the top moving at a decent pace. Xu Gu and Qing Feng Zi, the head master, are capable of reaching the top in just forty minutes.  Intense!

*Most of the students at this humble academy will go on to become body guards for the most high-profile people in Chinese society.  The head master was at one time the main body guard for Hu Jintao. 

***The two hour siesta is somewhat ubiquitous in Hubei. On campus there are no classes from noon to two and all of the offices close down. Most businesses and banks follow a similar schedule.