About Grandmaster Aiping Cheng
Grandmaster Aiping Cheng is one of the world's foremost authorities in Chinese Martial Arts, with over 40 years of training, competing, and coaching at the highest levels. She founded Aiping Tai Chi in Connecticut in 1996, and Aiping Tai Chi Austin in Texas in 2018.
Early Career
Grandmaster Cheng was born in Hangzhou, which is a city in Zhejiang province, not far from Shanghai. At the age of 15, she was selected for the prestigious Zhejiang Wushu Team, and started intensively studying wushu, tai chi, and sports medicine.
After three years of studying and training, Grandmaster Cheng placed 1st in Long Fist and 3rd in All-Around at the 1973 national wushu competition. She was then selected to the elite China National Wushu Team. The following year, President Nixon opened relations with China and invited the 1974 China Wushu Team on a performance tour to the United States, including a performance on the White House lawn. Grandmaster Cheng, along with Jet Li and other fellow team members, introduced wushu to a fascinated American public.
Becoming a Coach and Teacher
In wushu competitions, athletes compete in long fist (changquan), southern fist (nanquan) and tai chi (taijiquan) categories. While training on the Zhejiang Wushu Team, Grandmaster Cheng demonstrated exceptional abilities in tai chi. She was sent to train intensively with traditional tai chi masters, and became a three-time winner of the All-China National Taijiquan Championships.
In 1981, Grandmaster Cheng began her studies at the Shanghai Sports College studying sports medicine history, sports physiology, sports psychology, principles of coaching and sports theory. In 1989, she was made the head coach of the Zhejiang Wushu Team, where she stayed until 1996, training and coaching many wushu athletes to great success. Under Grandmaster Cheng's coaching, the Zhejiang Wushu Team placed first in long fist competition at two World Wushu Championships.
In 1996, Grandmaster Cheng opened the Aiping Tai Chi and Wushu Center in Connecticut, bringing her vast knowledge of martial arts, sports medicine, and coaching techniques to her American students. Many of her students went on to win at numerous wushu and tai chi competitions in both the US and China. Many hundreds more have benefited from her teaching, learning tai chi and Qigong to improve their health, physical conditioning, and understanding of internal martial arts. In 2008 Grandmaster Cheng retired from teaching wushu and Master Jack Guo took over the wushu school under Wu Dang Kung Fu Academy. In 2017 Grandmaster Cheng moved to Austin, TX and handed Aiping Tai Chi to her disciples Shifu Shirley Chock and Shifu Jonas Karosas to continue her legacy. In 2018 Grandmaster Cheng established Aiping Tai Chi Austin.
Grandmaster Aiping retired from teaching in 2021 and now enjoys spending time with her husband, her daughter and son-in-law, and her two grandchildren in Texas.
Aiping Biography Slideshow