“There is a long, long story     1     Tai Chi and me,” says Jose Gago, 61, a Spanish man who has taught Tai Chi in his hometown for almost 36 years.

Although the first martial arts school     2     (found) in 1982 in Ourense, Spain, Jose did not make the trip to Yongnian, China until 1994     3     (further) his study of Tai Chi. Since then, he     4     (travel) to China over 20 times. For Jose, Tai Chi is not     5     (simple)a sport.     6     attracts him most is the Taoist philosophy rooted in Tai Chi, of which the main elements consist in the principles of “softness, slowness, balance and rootedness”.

His martial arts school, which provides introductory programs for     7     (begin), has approximately 150 students,     8     (range) from children under the age of 5 to senior citizens over 70. He has trained thousands of students in Spain, many of     9     have won awards in a number of tournaments.

Jose's hometown has hosted a number of free Tai Chi community classes and Tai Chi is acting as an important bridge for     10     (culture) exchange.