lAt the Olympics Opening Ceremony, traditional Chinese cultural icons including a mass performance of tai chi boxing left worldwide viewers with a strong impression of Chinese culture.

During the performances, children filled in ancient Chinese paintings with the color green, stressing the theme of environmental protection. It also linked to the key tai chi concept of man connecting with nature.

To most Chinese people, however, tai chi boxing is an early morning exercise in the park, or a supernatural kungfu appearing only in film and literature.

But for 39-year-old tai chi master and club owner Huang Zhongda, the martial art is also a stirring stunt.

The tai chi expert recently went to watch the popular film Kung Fu Panda. It wasn't the fat bear, but the Western understanding of tai chi boxing that made him curious to go and watch the Hollywood cartoon.

"In Westerners' imagination, the panda could knock down the powerful wolf by a slight touch - that's exactly what I have been looking for," says Huang.

At the Shanghai Stadium in the city's busy Xuhui district, Western fast-food restaurants, pubs and supermarkets fill the streets. But among the hustle and bustle of the city lies Huang's tai chi house, wrapped in white valances.

The tai chi school was never part of Huang's original plan. The tai chi expert only returned to the practice of martial arts after a 10-year hiatus. But after devoting his time to regrouping and training, Huang eventually developed an aggressive tai chi tuishou (pushing hands) style of tai chi boxing.

"There is no secret to my tai chi style, I just find the unbalanced points on my opponent's body and burst the power to break his balances," he says. "That is so called 'si liang bo qian jin' (move a thousand cattle with four tales)."

His moves were filmed and put on the Internet - and before long he became well known in the country.

His fame attracted many people to learn the martial art form - or challenge him. Guo Changda, a runner-up in a national Chen-style tai chi boxing contest, came to square off with Huang in 2005.

"I couldn't use my strength at all, then in a second I found I had been pushed down by master Huang," says Guo, who became Huang's first disciple.

In 2006, Huang's tai chi house was born. For the past two years, college students, white collars, old martial art masters have come to learn from master Huang.

"Taekwondo and karate prevail all over the world because they have clear rules, ranks and have been simplified enough to prompt ordinary people," says Huang. "But Chinese kungfu still remains unsystematic and mysterious, mostly due to the fact we don't have clear standards."

Apart from teaching others the Chinese martial art at his tai chi club, Huang has done a lot to advance the martial art of tai chi boxing - he has even introduced a nine-level ranking system. At level four, a more aggressive form of the martial art surfaces and at level seven, there is a return to an internal focus.