World Tai Chi and Qigong Day (WTCQD), also spelled World T'ai Chi and Ch'i Kung Day, is an annual event held the last Saturday of April each year to promote the related disciplines of

tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

and

Qigong Qigong ()) is a system of coordinated body-posture and movement, breathing, and meditation said to be useful for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training. With roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese medicine, Chin ...

in nearly eighty countries since 1999.

Overview

The annual April event is open to the general public, and begins in the earliest time zones of

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa and known until 1997 as Western Samoa, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania, in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu), two smaller, inhabited ...

at 10 am, and then participants across

Oceania Oceania ( , ) is a region, geographical region including Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Outside of the English-speaking world, Oceania is generally considered a continent, while Mainland Australia is regarded as its co ...

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

take part, with celebrations in eighty nations and several hundred cities, ending with the final events in the last time zones of

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

almost an entire day later. Celebrations include mass tai chi and qigong exhibitions in many cities, and free classes in most participating cities. World Tai Chi and Qigong Day's stated goals are to: # Educate the world about emerging medical research revealing health benefits that tai chi and qigong offer. # Educate about the increasing use of these ancient

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific, with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence ...

modalities in business, healthcare, education, penal and drug rehabilitation. # Provide a global vision of cooperation for health & healing purposes across geopolitical boundaries, and also an appeal to people worldwide to embrace wisdom from all the cultures of the world. # Thank Chinese culture for the gifts of tai chi and qigong to the world.

Organization

The local events are independently organized by local tai chi and qigong schools, groups, and associations. The format of events varies by locality, although most involve free classes and mass exhibitions. International organizing for the event is done at the World Tai Chi and Qigong Day office in

Overland Park Overland Park ( ) is the largest city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States, and the second-most populous city in the state of Kansas. It is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the pop ...

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

History

The global event began in 1999. However the first event, that inspired the global event, was held in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, in 1998 on the lawn of the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in midtown Kansas City, where the Kansas City Tai Chi Club held a mass tai chi exhibition and teach-in involving nearly two-hundred people.

CNN Headline News HLN is an American basic cable network. Owned by CNN Worldwide, the network primarily carries true-crime programming, recently drifting away from limited live news programming. The channel was originally launched on January 1, 1982, by Tur ...

covered the event, which generated interest beyond Kansas City to quickly grow into a national and international event in the following years. World Tai Chi and Qigong Day has been officially proclaimed by governors of 25 US states, the senates of California, New York, and Puerto Rico, by Brazil's National Council of Deputies, and officials in several nations. In 2013 Harvard Medical School launched a series of lectures regarding medical research on tai chi benefits. The Harvard lecture series homepage was titled "Celebrating World Tai Chi Day." ''The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi'', released in 2012, cited World Tai Chi Day, writing, "A reflection of how successful the invasion of ai chihas been is World Tai Chi Day, organized by Bill Douglas. One of the purposes of this day is "to bring people across racial, economic, religious, and geo-political boundaries, to join together for the purpose of health and healing, providing an example to the world." Millions of people around the world—65 nations participated in 2011—gather one day each year to celebrate the health and healing benefits of tai chi and qigong." This global event was founded by Bill Douglas and Angela Wong Douglas, co-authors of ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to T'ai Chi and Qigong'' (Penguin Alpha Books, fourth edition, 2012). Their book's chapter entitled, "World T'ai Chi and Qigong Day," was a major force behind the global awareness of this health and healing event. In 2013 the National Council of Deputies in Brazil joined 22 U.S. Governors, the Senates of California, New York, and Puerto Rico and other officials and bodies from around the world in recognizing World Tai Chi & Qigong Day. Local and national media worldwide have covered World Tai Chi & Qigong Day events, including Agence France Presse TV; Egyptian national television news; and New York City's Central Park event was covered by NDT Television News. In 2019

Southampton City Council Southampton City Council is the local authority of the city of Southampton in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Southampton has had a council since medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. Since 1997 the council ...

celebrated World Tai Chi & Qigong Day alongside UK Shaolin Temple, who jointly held a free public event in Southampton's Guildhall Square on Saturday 27 April 2019. The event highlighted the importance of

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

and wellbeing awareness with free tai chi and qigong taster sessions. Near to one hundred attendees sampled a number of simple exercise routines to incorporate into their daily routines. The message of the event also reached hundreds of thousands of people through

social media Social media are interactive technologies that facilitate the Content creation, creation, information exchange, sharing and news aggregator, aggregation of Content (media), content (such as ideas, interests, and other forms of expression) amongs ...

and regional press coverage including the

Southern Daily Echo The ''Southern Daily Echo'', more commonly known as the ''Daily Echo'' or simply ''The Echo'', is a regional tabloid newspaper based in Southampton, covering the county of Hampshire in the United Kingdom. The newspaper is owned by Newsquest, on ...

Press and BBC Solent. This global healing event, in turn, inspired what is now known as World Healing Day.

References

External links

* {{Qigong International observances April observances Holidays and observances by scheduling (nth weekday of the month) Tai chi Qigong Health awareness days

Overview

Organization

History

See also

References

External links