BEIJING, Nov 1 — Jack Ma’s love of tai chi is well-known, and it’s now landed him a role in a short film alongside some of the biggest names in the Asian martial arts scene such as Jet Li, Sammo Hung, Donnie Yen and Yuen Woo-Ping.
The Alibaba group executive chairman who is China’s richest man shared the news on his Weibo account on October 28.
In the post, the 53-year-old wrote six words in Chinese, “Na yi ye…Na yi meng.” Translated, it means, “That one night …That one dream.”
He also revealed the film’s poster that shows him taking centre stage as the tai chi master, alongside 11 other famous faces in Chinese cinema such as Jacky Wu Jing, Tony Ching Siu-tung, Jacky Heung Cho, Thai action star Tony Jaa, professional boxer Zou Shiming, retired Mongolian Sumo champion Asashoryu Akinori and Australian actress Natasha Liu Bordizzo (who played Snow Vase in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon).
The film Gong Shou Dao (Guardians of Martial Arts) is produced by Jet Li who told South China Morning Post that it aims to promote Chinese culture and pay tribute to the predecessors in these martial arts fields.
Li, of course, is well known among martial arts movie buffs for his titular role in the 1993 Yuen Woo-Ping flim, Tai Chi Master.
A passionate advocate for tai chi, Ma set up a lifestyle company with Li in 2011 to offer tai chi courses online, as well as a school that teaches tai chi and martial arts in Hangzhou in 2013.
Ma who has been practising tai chi since 1988 also conducts classes to teach its philosophy to entrepreneurs.
