IDO MOVEMENT FOR CULTURE

At present tourism is considered a highly important component of the contemporary social system which has transformed and continues to transform ecosystems, settlements, landscapes and mentality. Globalization, which involves the circulation of mass tourism, consumer goods and related technology has thus helped to modify whole territories and the traditional customs of the native people, as other industrial sectors have. Travel has also become a kind of lifestyle for a growing number of people who have the desire to visit new places, meet people, experience unusual sensations. This is also true for the practitioners of Eastern martial arts who go near the places of origin of their discipline to deepen their learning by being in contact with the local customs, to learn from the renowned masters and the local community.
The study is an account of the visit to Chenjiagou village in Henan province of central China is the village of the Chen family whose ancestor Chen Wangting (1600-1680) created the oldest style of Taijiquan. This martial art was declared by the Chinese government in March 2006, to be part of the national heritage. The author stayed in Chenjiagou in the late summer of 2009 and in the spring of 2010, for a total of seven weeks, thus having the opportunity to collect a lot of direct testimonials, both visual and in conversation with residents and tourists. A special emphasis is devoted to the museum of Taijiquan .What seems to be most important is the inclusion in a network of really authentic relations, experienced by a person in search of himself through a discipline which guides him, in this location, to his other self. The author also expresses a concern that the village might be subject to transformations that would distort the alleged typicality.