Under the foot of Taihang mountain and at the crossing of the Yellow River and Luoshui River lies a village called Chenjiagou, the birthplace of Taichi, also known as Shadow Boxing. A National Intangible Cultural Heritage, Taichi enjoys a solid fan base with more than 300 million practitioners around the world. Saji is one of them. He's so fascinated with the art that every year he travels a long distance from Isreal to Chenjiagou to study the Chen-style of Taichi. Take a look!

Sagi Kashti is an IT engineer from Isreal. At 13 he started to learn Taichi and other Chinese Kongfu and the more he learned the more he was attracted to Chinese culture. Watching a film about Taichi 7 years ago cemented his determination to come to Chenjiagou for a further study of Chen-Style Taichi.

With only some 3,000 villagers, Chenjiagou boasts of 4 Taichi schools, more than 30 family-owned Taichi gyms and over 300 Taichi teachers. Fans and practitioners from across the world are lured to the village to polish every gesture and motion.

Chen-style Taichi was designed by Chen Wang Ting during early Qing Dynasty in Chenjiagou village. Based on ancestral boxing theory, combining with Chinese medical energy channel knowledge, breathing technique, Yin and Yang philosophy, the Chen-Style Taichi is both rigid and flexible, fast and slow and in line with human physiology.

Chen-Style Taichi has been hereditary in generations and later evolves into different schools of Taichi, such as the Yang, Wu and Sun styles.

The boxing principles of Chen Style Taichi are spiral, flexibility, blend of firmness and softness, transforming according to the objective conditions, forming Qi through thought. It is admirable to its art of attack, fitness and artistic quality.

Everytime when he stayed in Chenjiagou, Sagi could make a few friends who, like him, came across oceans. Guilaume Large is one of them. The French young man has been practicing Taichi for 15 years. He opened a Taichi gym back in his hometown, Bordeaux and has coached more than 150 students. Every year he would bring some of them to Chenjiagou to polish their movements.

GUILAUME LARGE CHEN-STYLE TAICHI STUDENT "I like Chinese martial arts. My Kongfu teacher in France also practises Taichi. So I also started learning Taichi. It makes me feel balanced, calm and comfortable."

Taichi has reached to more than 150 countries and region with up to 300 million practitioners around the globe. Chenjiagou has opened or sponsored over 3000 Taichi gyms worldwide, spreading a healthy, natural and harmonious mental and life style. SW, CGTN.