Why should you learn tai chi?

Chow believes that tai chi is suitable for people of all ages, especially the middle-aged and retirees. “Those who work in the office, they’re always sitting and lack exercise, which can badly impact your immune system,” he says. “Doing tai chi is good for blood circulation, and can help reduce stress and anxiety.”

Meanwhile, those who have retired “need a safe exercise for long term health benefits, to keep their bones and muscles working, and which can even make them stronger.”

For Chow, there’s been a variety of reasons why his students decided to learn tai chi from him, with the top priority being health. Many of his students had been recommended by their doctors to practice tai chi for long-term improvements to health, including some concerned about high blood pressure, diabetes, and shoulder or leg pain.

While some are eager to learn a type of kung fu for self-defence or combat, others choose to learn tai chi as a way to acquaint themselves with Chinese culture. “Many of my students are from other countries. I teach them in English but sometimes I tell them the Cantonese pronunciation and the meaning behind it. It makes them feel more at home in Hong Kong.”

An example Chow shares is a movement called “cloud hands”, in which the up-and-down movements of both hands are strung together to confuse the enemy.

Contrary to most people’s impression of tai chi as a gentle flowing series of movements, tai chi was used primarily as a martial art in the past. The style Chow inherited and now teaches is the Chen style, the oldest and most original form of tai chi, created about 600 years ago in Henan.

“It was used for self-defence,” Chow explains, pointing to a rack of weapons also used in the art by the wall of his classroom, containing a guan dao, other Chinese polearms and a few swords. “Then about a hundred years ago, people realised that tai chi has great benefits both mentally and physically. The image of tai chi started to change.”

But practicing tai chi for Chow remains closely connected to its history. “When you are practicing the form and the internal training method by yourself, you feel connected with the ancient world that no longer exists in the modern city.”