In August of 2001 Madame Gao Fu, Harrison Moretz, Andy Dale and I brought our schools together to host the Great Feng Zi Qiang in Seattle for a long weekend seminar, demonstrations, and party, including an evening dinner and cruise around the Sound on the Argosy. Bringing Feng, his daughter, and top student to Seattle then was no small feat dealing with both governments and all the perfect ceremonial issues involved. I have to say, we rocked it.

The group photos are hard copies and not too good any more, but if you look closely you will see many people who made a great deal of effort to make this historic event happen and to be here, including Ken Cohen who drove from Colorado where he was living at the time. Sam Masich (with whom I also studied for several years), left his seminar in Vancouver to drive down and meet Feng for about an hour before driving back.

What I really recall from those days is how unified our community was under Gao Fu. It's not that it isn't now. In fact, I feel Seattle is quite respectful of each other, but there was something transcendent then about how we, even with all our diverse schools and approaches, were all under the same Tai Chi "roof."

For me this was a deeply personal moment. I had met Feng in 1991 before I even knew I would move to Seattle. He lit the fire of Chen Taijiquan for me. And now here I was, ten years later, one of the members of the hosting team.

One can never get time back or the opportunities that arise within its parenthetical flow. And we all had no idea how dramatically our world would change just a few weeks from then with the 9/11 attack.

Gao Fu moved back to China 3 years later and passed away in 2005. Feng passed away in 2012. They both had tremendous influence across the world. I am so fortunate they were part of mine.

The Great Feng Zi Qiang’s trip to Seattle, 2002