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Bright and early on Saturday morning, 17th September, DDA in cooperation with SEA, held their Taiji tour of Fu Xing Park.
A group of early-bird SEA members followed DDA’s Rose Oliver, Master Wang Ming Bo and Professor Luo Ji Feng on a tour of the park, especially to introduce China’s early morning exercise culture to the group of expats.
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Starting at 7pm, we enjoyed a slow meander around the gardens, watching some of the early risers performing their morning exercise rituals, like Taiji groups diligently going through their paces, the “professional” ballroom dancers perfecting their steps and running through their routines, the many badminton enthusiasts athletically striking and leaping, the choral groups and orchestra practicing their arias, vying for “ear-space” among the many other sounds and music playing, plus the “amateur” dancers, strutting their stuff at the back of the park.
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Master Wang Ming Bo, a veteran DDA Taiji teacher, introduced the party of expats to some of the background of the various groups in the park, how they are founded, or attract students, keep their patch of territory in the park and the unwritten shift system that exists, allowing everybody the chance to enjoy their practice, without conflicting with other groups’ exercise times or spaces.
After the tour, we commandeered our own little portion of the park for our early morning exercises, including some gentle warm-ups for promoting good health and well being, plus some of the beginning movements of the Yang Style Taiji form.
The group, who hailed from a variety of countries, including Russia, Germany, Switzerland and the UK, soon attracted a small crowd of Chinese locals and other foreign visitors to the park, quickly joining us in running through our exercises.
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Finishing with a short demonstration of Yang Style Taiji by Master Wang, the party, led by SEA Activities Organizer, Ms. Marina Whelan, departed for breakfast at the local Costa Coffee Café, invigorated for the day ahead by the energy of Fu Xing Park and China’s traditional Taiji exercise regime.
Thanks to Marina for coordinating everything and we hope to have the pleasure of sharing more traditional Chinese culture with other members of Shanghai’s expat community in the future.
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