For many centuries one of China's major sports and exercise activities, Tai Chi has recently experienced a world-wide boom, its popularity rising rapidly in Australia.
Khor(1990)estimates an increase from 2,000 Australian participants in 1980 to 100,000 in 1990 and proposes health promotion and therapeutic benefits as major
reasons for the current interest. There is, however, no systematic research. This study examined motives for initial involvement in Tai Chi and how these motives varied with
respect to demographic factors. Two hundred and twenty-three subjects (M=65, F=158), ranging in age from 12 to 82 years, were included in the study. They were all the beginners in Term 1, 1991, who had no previous Tai Chi experience at all.