[Photo by Cui Meng/China Daily]

The family's martial art style was developed by his ancestor Chen Wangting in Henan province's Chenjiagou village. Nearly everyone can do tai chi in the settlement, where Chen was born in 1945.

His father required him to study the martial art from age 7. Chen would try to nap after school, but his father would make him get up to do tai chi.

Chen became enamored with tai chi after watching his father defeat a much stronger challenger.

He studied under his uncle Chen Zhaokui at age 10 after his father passed away.

He has remained committed, even in the hardest times.

"People had nothing to eat during the early 1960s," he recalls.

"We devoured tree bark and grassroots. But I kept practicing tai chi."

Chen faced a choice in the 1970s - make money at a stable job or struggle with an uncertain future while performing tai chi.

Many people then had spent years mastering the martial art but never found fame or fortune. Some even fell ill because they pushed themselves too hard.

"I told myself to not worry about the results," Chen recalls.

He made a rule that, no matter what happened, he'd do his routine at least 20 times a day.

Chen practiced so intensively that his toes swelled. But he kept doing his routines while trying to keep his toes off the ground.

He took a day job as a wholesaler and often had to spend days on trains. If this prevented him from doing his 20 routines, he would compensate for them the following day, he explains.