What are T ai Chi and Taijiquan?
T ai Chi has come to mean a series of slow, graceful movements originating in China, and practised primarily for health reasons; it is one of the soft martial arts. The words T ai Chi are often translated as Supreme Ultimate , or something beyond description. When applied to martial art, T ai Chi is more properly called T ai Chi Ch uan , Ch uan meaning literally fist , or fighting art. Taijiquan means exactly the same, in a different spelling system. Although not strictly correct (and mixing up two spelling systems!), I use the terms T ai Chi and Qigong, now widely recognised in the West. T ai Chi is represented by the Yin-Yang symbol (above), which illustrates the complementary forces at work in the natural world. Each contains the germ of its opposite and transforms into the other in a continual cycle, just as night becomes day, winter changes into summer, and back again. Similarly, in the movements of T ai Chi there is balance and flow; strength comes from yielding, and giving out e
