Poetry In Motion

Taijiquan, an ancient, elegant Chinese martial art recently listed as a world intangible cultural heritage, is increasingly popular at home and abroad

- Xia Yuanyuan

Dressed in a white silk Taijiquan uniform, 23-year-old Halvin Pierre Junior Bessayi goes through the flowing sequences of the ancient martial art seemingly in a moving meditation.

“It makes me feel harmony with nature and people,” he told ChinAfrica.

As a student from Gabon who is studying for his master’s degree in diplomacy at China Foreign Affairs University, Bessayi has encountered various aspects of Chinese culture during his time in the country, one of which is Taijiquan.

“Since childhood, I have seen amazing action movies starring Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan and Jet Li, and I was always curious to learn Chinese martial arts,” he said. Once he arrived in China in 2017, he chose Taijiquan as an additional course to realize his dream of mastering the techniques of Chinese martial arts.

In recent years, Taijiquan, also known as Tai Chi or Chinese boxing, a traditional Chinese martial art, has become a well-known physical exercise worldwide. On December 17, 2020, it was added to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

“I felt proud when I heard the news. Its inclusion [in the UNESCO list] is of great significance to the promotion of wushu (martial arts), and especially Taijiquan, globally,” said Bessayi.

Origin of Taijiquan

Taijiquan is a major division of Chinese martial arts. Literally, it means Tai – supreme, ji – ultimate and quan – fist.

There have been different stories about the origin of the martial art. A traditional legend goes that a wise man, Zhang Sanfeng, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) developed Taijiquan after he had witnessed a fight between a sparrow and a snake.