When the curtain rose on the U.S. Wushu Academy's performance at the ninth annual Chinese Cultural Festival in Washington, DC, the audience gasped. After enjoying 13 music, dance, and martial arts presentations by Chinese performers, they weren't expecting to see a stage filled with a largely non-Chinese group in traditional silk uniforms, presenting a tai chi routine entitled "Nihao, Beijing" ("Hello, Beijing).

But USWA coaches Christopher Pei and Zhang Guifeng like delivering surprises. As Coach Pei asked, "Why introduce Chinese culture just to the Chinese?" So, they set out to train their senior tai chi students in a routine that combined elements of the gentle, meditative Yang style and the dramatic, percussive Chen style, set to a thrilling instrumental theme and performed before a screen showing the Chinese capital's many attractions.

Some 28 students devoted hours throughout the summer to preparing the piece. One remarked, "When I hear the opening notes of the music, I automatically start my routine." They knew their work had paid off when the audience burst into applause even before the routine was finished.

After the evening of September 30, no one who had been in George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium could think that Chinese culture was only for the Chinese.