elcome to the website of Lin Shan Tai Chi School based in a southern suburb of Cape Town. It was established in 1997 by Marleen Bilas who teaches the traditional Yang style. Since then Marleen has taught hundreds of students of all walks of life, including children and senior citizens, and also people with various health conditions. Lin Shan is in a unique position, as its Tai Chi Grandmaster, Dr Lin Feng-Chao, resides in Cape Town, which ensures that the standards of teaching are maintained.

The name of the school was suggested by Dr Lin when Marleen asked him for something appropriate. “Lin Shan” means “Spiritual Mountain”. In the left circle of the school’s logo are depicted the Chinese characters for “Lin Shan” together with a profile of Dr Lin in the “Brush Knee” position.

The image on the Home Page was inspired by a line in the Tai Chi Classics: “In stillness be like a great mountain, in movement like a mighty river.” This symbolises the essence and the great strength of Tai Chi. The Chinese characters relating to this line in the Classics can be seen on the right of the header. (All the Chinese calligraphy is by Dr Lin).

In the East the traditional way of teaching was that the master positioned himself in front of the class when doing the form and all his students had to follow as best they could. However, Dr Lin treated his students differently and worked with each one individually. He taught them one move at a time and only proceeded to the next when the first had been mastered to some degree. In this way his students gained a thorough foundation. Lin Shan classes are conducted in the same manner, and each student receives individual tuition. 

According to the traditional principles along which Tai Chi is taught, students always remain under the guidance of their master. Therefore, Lin Shan also falls under Dr Lin’s patronage. At the end of each year he visits the school to see how the students are progressing and gives a lecture and demonstrates the form.

Marleen Bilas

ai Chi has been one of Marleen’s passions for almost 25 years. She became involved in this martial art for two reasons: her interest in all things Chinese and a health condition, which precluded her from more strenuous exercise. Marleen was born with a congenital heart problem called Fallots Tetralogy, in which there were four defects inside the heart. Children with this condition are termed Blue Babies and did not survive into adulthood. Marleen’s childhood was very difficult; shortness of breath made it necessary for her to be carried from room to room when at home, and she had to be wheeled around in a pushchair when they went out, even at six years of age. At that time there was no one in the world who could perform operations on the heart and fix the problem. Only in 1944 was a technique developed in America that could alleviate the symptoms, but not correct the cause. Nevertheless, Marleen was very fortunate that her parents were able to take her to America for this operation in 1948, which gave her a new lease of life, for otherwise she would not have reached her teenage years. Nine years later another operation was necessary and this made it possible for Marleen to lead a more or less normal life, but sports and most exercises were still out of the question. It was only in 1966 that Professor Barnard performed open heart surgery, during which the defects inside the heart were finally repaired. From then on she was able to lead a normal life, and have a child. Nowadays she is very healthy.

Marleen realised that exercising the body is vitally important and if she had not found a suitable program, her health would probably have deteriorated as she became older. Thus she was looking for an appropriate form of exercise and in the early 1980s she discovered ‘The Kung Fu Exercise Book’ by Michael Minick, which taught simple Chi Gong breathing exercises. This brought her in contact with Tai Chi, as the book contained a description of this martial art which inspired Marleen to find out more about it: “All the movements are performed slowly without any exertion, and always in a curved or circular manner. The movements blend imperceptibly into one another like a stream flowing into a greater river – without beginning, without end.”

These words acted like a magnet that guided Marleen’s search for a teacher, but as Tai Chi was then not well known in the West this wasn’t easy. Books seemed to be the only source of information, but she soon realised that this was not the best option. Eventually in 1987 she succeeded in her quest and found a teacher who provided her with a good grounding. Afterwards she studied under Kioshi St John Thompson for a number of years, where she also gained her first teaching experience. Finally, in 1995, Marleen was accepted as a student of Grandmaster Dr Lin Feng-Chao, who teaches the traditional Yang style. Later, in order to deepen her understanding of Tai Chi, Marleen also learnt acupuncture with Dr Lin for a couple of years.

Tai Chi practice has certainly benefited Marleen greatly, as she is now very healthy and has the stamina to keep up with any of her younger students. Besides regular teaching, Marleen has run various Tai Chi workshops within Lin Shan, as well as at karate schools in Cape Town and Kwa Zulu Natal. She has given numerous introductory talks, and has also been invited by various organisations to speak on the health benefits of Tai Chi. Among these was the Heart Foundation’s program called ‘Mended Hearts’, the ICU staff of the Red Cross Children’s Hospital, and the Medical Historical Society at UCT.

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Felicity Harker

elicity's interest in Tai Chi began some years ago when she attended Dr Lin’s acupuncture clinic in order to help her overcome the effects of a motor accident. Once her health had improved, Dr. Lin encouraged her to begin learning Tai Chi.

Felicity joined the Lin Shan school and took to Tai Chi immediately and practised regularly. She had been a ballroom dancing instructor for some years and this provided her with an excellent grounding for learning Tai Chi. She thus progressed rapidly and in a short time she was experienced enough to assist teaching the beginners. It is the school’s policy that once dedicated students reach a certain level, they are encouraged to become teachers. On progressing further they are also accepted into the advanced classes by Dr Lin.

Besides a group of dedicated students who have been with Lin Shan for many years, Felicity took over Marleen’s students at the retirement complex ‘Constantia Place’ in 2007. They were primarily practicing Chi Gong exercises but some were keen to learn the Tai Chi form. Felicity realised the latter was physically too difficult for them, so she simplified and adapted it by removing the complicated turns. The members of this group are very keen and after only a few months of practice they began to experience the benefits: they feel more relaxed and have better balance control. Furthermore, like most students, they have noticed that even if they don’t feel quite well enough to attend class, but nevertheless arrive, they feel revitalised afterwards.

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 Dr Lin Feng-Chao

r Lin was born in Taiwan in 1948. His interest in traditional Chinese medicine began because even though his father was trained as a western doctor, he was unable to solve his son’s various health problems. As a teenager Dr Lin attempted to improve his health by practising various martial arts. During the weekends he studied Shaolin Kung Fu, Ba Gua Chang, and Hsing I with different masters who gathered regularly in the park. Only later did he discover Tai Chi. The way he did is a rather interesting story. One day his class mates teased him for having failed to achieve anything with all the martial arts training, and suggested that he should now try an old man’s form of exercise, namely Tai Chi, which was being taught opposite their school. As a last resort Dr Lin decided to follow their suggestion, and at age 15 he became the youngest student in the class. He practised diligently and after only two years his health improved significantly. This was the beginning of his lifelong dedication to Tai Chi.

During this same period Dr Lin became interested in Tui Na, a technique used by many martial arts masters to massage their student when they receive injuries during practice. This form of treatment works directly on the body’s metabolism and if practised correctly it can cure many ailments. For a couple of years he studied Tui Na with an old Chinese refugee living in Taiwan, having to travel a long distance each weekend. Dr Lin still uses it today in his acupuncture clinic.

In 1969 Dr Lin’s teacher moved to Canada and he suggested that Dr Lin became a student of the legendary Cheng Man-Ching, who had acquired a great reputation in china and later moved to America where he was one of the first teacher who brought this martial art to prominence in the west. Besides his Tai Chi, Dr Lin also studied acupuncture and Chinese medicine under Cheng Man-Ching and remained with him until his death in 1975.

When Dr Lin moved to South Africa in 1989, he had already taught hundreds of students in Taiwan and had himself gained the title of Grandmaster of Tai Chi. During his time in the Mother City, Dr Lin has acquired a reputation for his skill as a traditional Chinese acupuncturist, where not only Capetonians but also patients from many different countries visit his clinic.

Although his main focus is on acupuncture, Tai Chi is a vital aspect of Dr Lin’s healing art. He feels it is essential that an acupuncture practitioner should first learn Tai Chi in order to gain the necessary sensitivity to feel a person’s energy and find the correct point to place the needle. Thus, Dr Lin only teaches someone acupuncture if they have studied Tai Chi for a few years. This especially applied to his son Yu-Kuan whom he nurtured in order to take over the practise. Marleen was very surprised and honoured in … when Dr Lin asked if she would teach Yu-Kuan Tai Chi. Many years of intensive study with his father has resulted in Yu-Kuan becoming well respected as an acupuncturist in his own right.

Dr Lin also made an effort to spread the knowledge of acupuncture among western health practitioners. As part of the university’s Special Study Module courses, second year medical students have for five years attended lectures on acupuncture and basic concepts of Chinese medicine at Dr Lin’s clinic. In 2010, in appreciation of his work in this field, the University of Cape Town made him an Honorary Lecturer.

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Cheng Man-Ching

heng Man-Ching was born in China where he studied under the legendary master Yang Cheng-fu before moving to Taiwan in 1949. By this time he had became famous as a master of the traditional Chinese Five Excellences: Tai Chi, painting, calligraphy, poetry and medicine. We are very fortunate that Cheng Man-Ching fervently wanted to educate westerners on the health benefits of Tai Chi. He achieved his dream and became famous as one of the first Chinese masters to teach in America. Between 1964 and 1975 he spent some months each year in New York and the rest of the time with his family in Taiwan. Originally Cheng Man-Ching had wanted Dr Lin to move to America. However, his father would not allow it – how fortunate for Cape Town.

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