For 15 years, a tai-chi master in his seventies has been teaching for free

Every day except the first day of the lunar New Year, from 6 am to 10 am, 74-year-old Zhang Pangen goes to Zizhuyuan Park to do exercise and teach tai-chi. Hot summers, cold winters, wind, or rain cannot confine Zhang to his home.

Before exchanging a few words, Zhang cannot help but demonstrate his skills by lifting his leg over his head. 15 years ago, Zhang began practicing martial arts and teaching other people in Zizhuyuan Park. He is the founder of Tai-chi Dabei Training Center at the park.

Zhang is healthy looking and still has rosy cheeks despite his age. One of his apprentices, Wang Shouheng, is also an old man. He told reporters, “Mr Zhang treats everybody well and is also good at martial arts.”

Zhang is considered one of the “Healthy Elders in Beijing.” Zhang said that he has learned martial arts from 18 different masters and has integrated all the strong points they taught him into his own skills. There are 3 characteristics that define Zhang’s teaching: he teaches for free; he’ll teach any style of kung fu he is good at, including boxing as well as martial arts using a sword, a spear, and a stick among others; and practicing every day except the first day of the lunar New Year, as mentioned above.

On August 18, a middle-aged man wanted to apprentice himself to Zhang Pangen, in an attempt to improve his tai-chi skills. After the man demonstrated several movements, Zhang Pangen said “you must have practiced kuai boxing in the past. Otherwise, you cannot be so energetic and agile. However, there is a difference between tai-chi boxing and kuai boxing. That is to say, tai-chi focuses on softness, stability, slowness and balance. You will have to forget kuai boxing and grasp the basics of tai-chi if you really want to learn it well. “

“Standing straight and practicing deep abdominal breathing” is a formula developed by Zhang Pangen. Zhang has also created a formula relating to tai-chin boxing, practicing principles and footwork, and has made copies of the formula and provided them to other fitness lovers free of charge.

“Making your body healthy and making more friends” is always on Zhang’s lips. Zhang is willing to coach anyone who loves martial arts free of charge. Zhang said “they just want to exercise and make themselves stronger and this is a good thing.”

So far, Zhang has taught more than 500 people and some of his students have come from South Korea, Switzerland and Germany.

Translated by LOTO