VISTA — As Master Bing mimicked a snake slithering up a tree he moved his arms and legs with deliberate slowness and amazing fluidity. Behind him, his 21 intensely focused students from as far afield as Long Beach and Las Vegas followed his example — or tried to.

“Now move by yourself!” Master Bing said abruptly about an hour into the lesson. Half the class laughed in disbelief.

Born Zhong Xue Chao, Master Bing studied tai chi for 15 years in the Taoist temples on the legendary Wudang Mountain in China’s Hubei province — the birthplace of tai chi quan and the internal martial arts — before coming to the United States in April 2006.

“My master told me to spread Wudang Taoist culture in America, so I came,” Master Bing said. “I can teach more here. In Wudang, everywhere (there are) masters.”

The tai chi master has not yet founded a brick-and-mortar establishment. Rather, he runs a sort of traveling school, spending much of his time with students in the Los Angeles and New York areas.

Master Bing came to Brengle Terrace Park at the request of local tai chi instructor Jo Pressbury-Smith after she saw his skills at a demonstration in San Marcos last October. “I (invited him) to North County so that more of my students and other interested individuals practicing tai chi chuan and other related internal and external martial arts forms could (learn from him),” Pressbury-Smith said.

The 21 students who signed up for Master Bing’s course received eight hours of intensive training on Jan. 19 and Jan. 20, learning five increasingly complex sequences of movement or forms: turtle, crane, snake,

tiger and dragon. According to classical Chinese medicine, each form promotes the health of a different part of the body.

“It’s wonderful to get an opportunity to practice these animal forms. (The snake is) at least 500 years old,” said student Jeannie Miller of Vista.

The merits of tai chi go beyond self-defense and organ health. “You’ll notice how slender they all are,” said Susan Roncone as she observed the class.

Tai chi is also not just a practice for the middle-aged. Martin Severhill, 14, particularly enjoys practicing with swords. “My mom, she’s been doing tai chi for years,” he said. “She brought me one day and I like it.”

Though Master Bing brings a valuable body of learning with him, he’s the first to say that attending his workshops isn’t the way to become a master. “To have a complete experience, if you go to China, you can feel it, the Taoist culture and experience the spiritual, mystical feeling of Wudang Mountain,” he said.

Master Bing plans to return to China next year with a number of his students who will stay at the hotel on Wudang Mountain next to the Taoist temple and learn from him and other masters.

For more information on Master Bing and the healing and martial arts of tai chi

and kung fu visit www.

wudangdao.com.