Chris Zimmerman from the US said he fell in love with Chinese kungfu because it looks "so graceful and beautiful".

One training center in Shanghai -- Jing Wu Hui -- now has some 10 expatriates from Russia, Belgium and the US learning Chinese kungfu.

Zhou Minde, 60, an expert in the different types of Chinese kungfu said: "For example, Taiji (shadow boxing) is not only a health-care sport but also an elegant art form which demands harmonious coordination of the body."

Zhou is the general coach of the Shanghai Jingwu Sports Association Training Center in Lane 125, Dongbao Xinglu. "To me, Chinese kungfu is a three-dimensional art," he said.

Zhou is a fifth generation student of Yang-style Taiji teaching. He said he had practiced Chinese kungfu since he was a teenager. Now, aged 60, he is still able to compete with his students in their 20s every day.

"Now almost all the gyms and clubs set karate and judo classes which are favored by young people," Zhou said. "But there is no Chinese kungfu. It's as if it only exists in Jin Yong's fiction or Bruce Lee's movies, whereas Chinese kungfu is really a complicated system."

Although Taiji looks gentle, it can also be a fighting skill and Zhou said he was willing to spend the rest of life popularizing Chinese kongfu. 

(Shanghai Star January 9, 2004)