Although I frequently see people practicing Tai Chi in parks, I found it surprisingly hard to find a class. My first evening class through the performing arts school was cancelled due to lack of interest. So I was very happy when my physio-therapist at the Adventist hospital suggested the Li Fai center. I would never have found it by myself since its all all chinese as you can see from the website.
Li Fai was a member of the Hong Kong Wushu Team in the 90′s and also performed in movies (e.g. 'Iron Monkey').
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| Li Fai as the 'Eagle-claw Lady' in 'Iron Monkey' |
She subsequently opened up a wushu school which offers tai chi, 'kung-fu' and other martial arts like swords. It seems pretty serious, but the staff, teachers and students are very friendly.
I also like to think of it as the 'Li Bai' center. This is not as odd as it sounds since Li Bai was an expert swordsman and used sword imagery in his poems. Apparently he said "when I was fifteen, I was fond of sword play, and with that art I challenged quite a few great men." (Which also reminds me of Miamoto Musashi, the great Japanese swordsman and namesake of Baba's cat, who was also famous for painting and sculpture). And I wonder whether its a coincidence that the great swordsman played by Chow Yun-Fat in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is called Master Li Mu Bai...
But I digress. I joined the Saturday morning introductory tai chi class. It a 'moveable feast', held at different locations and times each week, sometimes at the school's center in Java Rd, North Point and sometimes in municipal gyms. It has a great atmosphere with many older people and women and lots of laughing. Instruction is entirely in chinese and I am the only gwaileo. But I seem to be doing OK by watching carefully, and receiving occasional kind explanations from english-speaking students.
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| Kung Fu Dim Sim on Java Rd, near the Li Fai Center |
