Going global

Tai chi went global as early as in the 1920-30s when Chinese went abroad and settled down. But it was not until late 1950s that tai chi was introduced to Europe and North America.

Besides endeavors by Chinese tai chi masters such as Dong Yingjie, Choy Hok Peng and Cheng Man-Ching, Norwegian psychiatrist Gerda Geddes and American dancer and choreographer Sophia Delza, both of whom learned tai chi in the 1940s in Shanghai and Hong Kong, played a key role in lifting tai chi to the status of a main-stream health-enhancing, healing and meditative sport worldwide.

Now tai chi has become a global sport. One can find innumerable websites and resources on tai chi – course books and DVDs, medical evidences for and personal testimonials of its benefits for body and mind, basics about tai chi philosophy, discussions and analyses of tai chi techniques, information about offline tai chi classes, and online tai chi performance and tutorial videos.