At 7:00 a.m., a tall French girl with golden eyes said hello to her boxing friends in her poor Chinese and joined in Taichi morning exercises in Lao Can Chang, in the south of Huanshan Road, Yantai, Shandong Province. Leg presses, walking in Taichi steps, practicing exercises and standing in a Taichi stance. When she was performing the set pattern, every gesture and motion is charming with her fluent actions.

She is the 27-year-old Ma Lin from Bordeaux, France. She was a medical secretary in a private clinic. As she has a deep affection with Taichi, she resolutely quit her job and came to Yantai to study it. Zhang Hongmei, her master, is ranked 6th dan in the national martial art, member of the Chinese Martial Arts Association, deputy secretary general of Yantai Taichi Research Community and founder of Hongmei Taichi Nourishing of Life Square. In the eyes of her boxing friends, Ma Lin is smart, forthright, sincere, cute, quick on the trigger, sensible and easy-going. “The set pattern of Taichi is nice. It can make me feel calm, my body comfortable and spirit full of energy. My thought tends to be concentrated.” Ma Lin said that before she studied Taichi she was a birdbrain with an anxious temper, quick actions and made rash decisions in haste. Learning Taichi has changed her a lot.