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Born in 1902, Cheng Man-ch’ing achieved the modest title ‘The Master of Five Excellences’ due to his expertise in poetry, medicine, painting, calligraphy, and last, but most definitely not least, tai ji quan (more popularly known in the West as tai chi chuan ). Cheng was fond of referring to himself as ‘the old child who never tires of learning’, and in his later years could be heard bemoaning the fact that old age had caught him unawares.

He was nine years old when he was struck on the head by a rock or a brick, which for a short while placed him in a coma and erased his memory. To aid his recuperation, he was apprenticed to a well-known painter, who soon discovered that the young boy was no slouch with a brush himself. In time, Cheng was able to provide for his family by selling his own paintings.

In his late twenties he began a serious study of tai ji quan as a way of counteracting tuberculosis, which he’d contracted a short while earlier. (Given that he lived until he was seventy-three, we can assume that his novel approach to a cure was successful.) The style of tai chi which he evolved is still widely practised today.