Here in the U.S., it's a delight to train alongside a few dozen people regularly. In China, it's such a part of their daily experience that you can't throw a rock in a park and not hit Taiji practitioners. It's not at all odd to carry weapons around. Plus there's nothing like the feeling of practicing inside Shaolin Temple, or on top of Wudangshan, or even on the Great Wall. Sure, you can practice anywhere. But who cares if you mess up when you're practicing alone in your backyard? When you're practicing in China, you commit more, because you've worked so hard to get there.

Plus it's a lot of fun to see the world, and China is a huge part of that.