Wushu, key element of Chinese culture, has achieved worldly reputation. In the duratio of the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games, Zhang Fang, a teacher from our Physical Educatio School as well as a renowned former Taiji athlete, tutored Jacques Rogge, Honorary President of the International Olympic Committee, and she was highly commended by Rogge and the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) for her consummate skills in Taiji.
Zhang Fang used to be a key player of the national Wushu team and won gold medal in the 6th Asian Wushu Championship and National Wushu Championship. She was acclaimed as “the Taiji Fairy” for her standardized movement and elegant motion. Uopn retirement from athletic career, she finished the graduate program and became a teacher of Guangzhou University.
This June, Zhang Fang was interviewed over telephone and finally awarded the position by the Wushu Center of National Sports Administration Bureau. Bearing the health condition and prior Taji knowledge of Rogge in mind, Miss Zhang adopted aflexible instrutcion methond, and successfully made Rogge acquire the Yang-style Taiji within five sessions. Wang Xiaolin, a special representative of IWUF, spoke highly of Zhang Fang,“She is one of the best female athletes of Taiji in China with her particular style and talents.”
Deeply impressed by Taiji, Rogge decided to follow Zhang Fang’s way of learning in the long run. Currently, run by IWUF, a whole set of Taiji practice video, starred by Zhang Fang for Quan, is in production and will be presented to Rogge for his future study. This cultural communicative interaction between President Rogge and Zhang Fang justified the international significance of Chinese Wushu. This event would exert a positive inflence to the inclusion of Wushu as an Olympic event.
This article is Adapted from the report The Taiji Fairy Zhang Fang: I tutor in Taiji the IOC President, Page A8, 24th Aug, 2014, Guangzhou Daily.
English editor: Peng Nianfan
Chinese