The Nine Fests
【Tai Ji Boxing】
As a national intangible cultural heritage, Tai Ji boxing is a gentle, slow and graceful exercise that embodies hardness in softness. Developed from the theory of yin and yang and the five elements in the Book of Changes, the theory of channels and collaterals in traditional Chinese medicine, and ancient breathing exercises, Tai Ji boxing helps build both the body and the mind.
【Wudang Kung Fu】
Wudang Kung Fu has a long history. Zhang Sanfeng, a Taoist priest at the turn of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties (around 1368) has been reputed as the founder of Wudang Kung Fu for his superb mastery of it. Wudang Kung Fu was inscribed on China’s national intangible cultural heritage list on May 20, 2006, making it one of the first cultural items to be included in the list.
【Plum Blossom Piles】
Plum blossom piles are used in plum boxing, a kind of Chinese kung fu. The piles are often put into patterns resembling the Big Dipper, three stars, an array of stars, handle of the Big Dipper or the eight trigrams. There are five postures of plum boxing and boxers may go from one to another freely without having to follow any fixed routine.
Plum boxers traditionally use fixed piles. What makes the performance in this show unique is that the piles are on top of performers’ head and can be moved at will, so that the pattern of the pile formation can be changed constantly. It requires great skill for the performer on top of the moving piles to play plum boxing.
【Energy Ball】
This is a crystal ball that the performer makes roll, spin, and drift on his body. The performance is so smooth and natural that the ball seems to be part of the performer himself.
【Moqiu (Balance Bar)】
This feat is based on a traditional folk sport long practiced by some ethnic groups in the southwest of China— balance bar. The balance bar can make pan movements horizontally and swinging-like movements vertically. It abides by the same motion principle of balance as in Tai Ji. In 1991, the National Traditional Games of Ethnic Minorities of China included this sport as a performance.
【Face Changing】
Face changing is a unique Chinese folk art. Performers wear masks portraying well- known characters from the opera and change from one face to another almost instantaneously. Among the 300 plus opera genres in China, quite a few give face changing performances, with different mask types and varying techniques.
【Jujitsu】
Jujitsu is a longtime wonder of art in Chinese national heritage. It formed during the Chunqiu and Warring States period (770 BC-221 BC), reached its maturity during the Sui Dynasty (581-618), and became an entertainment of the royal court of the Tang Dynasty (618-907). It prospered once with other show forms during the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD). Like the Chinese theatrical art, Jujitsu has a variety of schools and kinds and a deep heritage of national culture.
【Universe Ring】
The Tai Ji Universe Ring is a steel ring about two meters in diameter. The performer, propping himself by the ring with limbs, places himself in the middle of it and does quick spinning stunts.
【Leather Thong】
The name came from the props which were made of leather from cows. It is a unique Chinese acrobatic performance evolved from folk sports, a perfect combination of acrobatics and dancing.
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