On December 14, 2020, the second overseas Taiji Health Center in Barcelona, Spain was established through an online ceremony held by Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (SHUTCM) and the European Foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Li Jie, Director of Shanghai Qigong Research Institute and Director of the General Office of Shanghai Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, reviewed the two-year cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine between the Taiji Health Center of SHUTCM and European Foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Xu Jianguang, president of SHUTCM, licensed the Barcelona branch online.

Ramón María Calduch, vice president of European Foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine, was appointed as the director of the branch. He thanked the Taiji Health Center for sharing Chinese-English videos of traditional Chinese health preservation practices with the rest of the world after the COVID-19 outbreak.

Zhang Qi, director of the World Health Organization’s Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCI) Unit, said he hopes the new branch plays an important role in promoting exchanges, traditional Chinese medicine and Taiji.

Foreign TCM and qigong enthusiasts from France, Spain and Sweden shared their reflections on TCM and qigong teaching, health prevention in the post-epidemic period and experience of foreign TCM and Qigong learners. Sun Lei, a teacher from the Qi-Dao School of Shanghai Qigong Research Institute, gave an online tutoring of eight sections of brocade (Baduanjin).

European Foundation of Traditional Chinese Medicine is currently the only organization dedicated to promoting TCM in Spanish-speaking regions, and has made cooperation with more than 50 TCM institutions and organizations in Latin America. The Barcelona branch of Taiji Health Center in Spain will serve as a base to promote Taiji Health in Spanish-speaking countries. It will further spread the concept and methods of Taiji Health abroad and benefit contemporary people through ancient Chinese Taiji wisdom.