A group of US middle school students have practised "pushing
hands," a non-competitive exercise of taijiquan between two people,
with local students in Foshan, a city in South China's Guangdong
Province.
US-based Washington Culture Exchange (WCE) and the Guangdong
International Sports Exchange Center jointly organized the event
yesterday, which brought 60 middle school students and parents from
the US to Foshan to study the martial art.
The US group met with 70 students from the No 2 Middle School of
Foshan all well-practised in "pushing hands" at Ancient Nanfeng
Kiln, one of the city's well-known tourist attractions.
The local students taught their US guests tuishou, or "pushing
hands," and played as their opponents.
"Pushing hands," a part of taijiquan, or shadow boxing, is also
known as "adhering hands" or "whirling hands."
The attacker must push over the defender in 20 seconds, but
cannot move their feet or touch any part of the defender except for
their arms and trunks.
"It is a rhythmical, non-competitive exercise between two
people," said Gan Jiakang, the deputy president of Foshan Martial
Arts Association.
"It's a brand-new thing to me, totally different from the kung
fu that I imagined before," said 15-year-old Matt Lytle from
Seattle.
"Playing 'pushing hands' makes me know martial art is an
exercise that needs the player to listen to the partner's body
movement, learn his or her expression in eyes and internal
feelings. Moreover, martial art needs the player to keep balanced,
and it's helpful to improve one's health," said Jim Murphy, the
director of the WCE. "But martial art meant combat and war to me
before."
Murphy said he will continue playing "pushing hands" with his
wife when he gets back to the US, and he hopes to visit Foshan
again in the future to learn more martial arts.
More than 1,000 students at the No 2 Middle School of Foshan are
learning the art of "pushing hands."
(China Daily April 5, 2006)
