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Martial Arts Training in Wudang Mountains
A sacred Taoist range in Hubei, birthplace of tai chi and the internal martial arts, where mountain academies and a working temple teach foreigners to slow down and train.
Why here
Wudang is the soft counterpart to Shaolin: the Taoist mountain in Hubei where the internal arts were born and where tai chi is said to have taken shape. The range is a UNESCO World Heritage cluster of temples and shrines, and its academies teach the internal side of Chinese martial arts, tai chi, bagua, qigong, sword and meditation, framed by Taoist philosophy and health cultivation rather than combat display. Students come for weeks or months and live the routine: standing practice at dawn, slow forms, breath work, and instruction from masters in the San Feng lineage. At the Five Immortals Temple you can lodge and study inside a working Taoist temple, vegetarian meals and daily chores included. It suits the traveler who wants to rebuild rather than spar.
Best months
Courses run year round and take all levels from absolute beginner up. Spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons on the mountain; winters are cold and misty, summers warm and green. Temple study means communal living, a vegetarian diet and a strict daily rule.
Getting there & around
The Wudang Mountains are reached via Shiyan in Hubei, which has an airport and high-speed rail, followed by a road transfer up to the academies and temples. Schools arrange pickups and provide accommodation and meals on site; longer study stays need the appropriate visa.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
Five Immortals Temple
Retreat centerA small, secluded Daoist temple in the Wudang Mountains led by Abbot Li Song Feng, Five Immortals is one of the only places in Wudang where foreign students can lodge and study inside a working temple. Year-round courses cover Daoist philosophy and ceremony, internal martial arts, tai chi, qigong and internal alchemy, with communal vegetarian meals and daily temple chores.
Wudang Daoist Traditional Kungfu Academy
SchoolOn the UNESCO-listed Wudang Mountain, birthplace of tai chi, this academy is led by Master Yuan Xiu Gang, a fifteenth-generation disciple of the Wudang San Feng lineage and ordained Daoist priest. It teaches tai chi, internal wushu, qigong and Daoist meditation to students from more than fifty countries, with training, meals and lodging bundled into stays of a week to a year.