Benin celebrates its first World Tai Chi Day

A child performs during a demonstration at the Friendship Stadium's square in Cotonou on World Tai Chi Day in Benin, April 28, 2018. [Photo/official WeChat Account of the China Culture Center in Benin]

Organized by the China Culture Center in Benin, the 2018 World Tai Chi Day was held at the Friendship Stadium's square in Cotonou on April 28.

The event attracted nearly 200 martial arts enthusiasts from across the country, ranging in age from 4 to 70. It was organized as a bid to popularize the tai chi fitness concept and further advance China-Benin friendly ties.

Alejandro Ortega, Venezuelan ambassador to Benin; Wei Jun, cultural counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Benin and director of the China Culture Center in Benin, and other Beninese and Chinese officials attended the event, along with over 800 local visitors.

Led by Fang Yifa, the martial arts coach at the China Culture Center in Benin, performers clad in red, white and yellow costumes mounted the platform, decorated with elements resembling in and yang forces of tai chi. Thanks to a month-long training at the cultural center, their demonstration of tai chi's 24 postures, featuring perfect smoothness and the balance of yin and yang, amazed the local spectators.

Children perform during a demonstration at the Friendship Stadium's square in Cotonou on World Tai Chi Day in Benin, April 28, 2018. [Photo/official WeChat Account of the China Culture Center in Benin]

During the demonstration, the host briefly introduced the benefits of practicing tai chi to the audience. tai chi, a kind of martial art with self-defense and fitness elements, embodies the harmony between men, between man and nature, and between man and society.

The whole stadium was enveloped in an intense Chinese kung fu atmosphere. Apart from performing routines with the tai chi sword, tai chi saber, tai chi stick and tai chi gun, these martial arts aficionados took advantage of the occasion to flaunt their various mind-blowing stunts by performing nunchakus, ground boxing and southern boxing, which took the audience's breath away.

The event culminated with a demonstration of Jinzhou plum and mantis boxing, an intangible cultural heritage of Dalian city, Northwest China's Liaoning province.

"World Tai Chi Day has become an important window for martial arts exchanges between China and the rest of the world. As Chinese kung fu is a cultural tie that links China and the world, I would like to send my kids to the China Culture Center in Benin, where they can know more about Chinese culture by learning Chinese language and martial arts," Ortega said during an interview after the event.

"Martial arts are popular in Benin and the China Culture Center in Benin has been committed to popularizing tai chi here since its founding in 1988. The 2018 World Tai Chi Day in Benin is the first and the largest of its kind in the country to promote the exchanges of martial arts. By doing so, we want to help the Beninese better know about Chinese kung fu and deepen the friendship between the people of the two countries," Wei said during the interview.

World Tai Chi Day, which falls on the last Saturday of April every year, is an event celebrated by tai chi buffs in hundreds of cities around the world.