Loo-Chi Hu (28 December 1924 – 8 September 2013) was a Chinese-born New Zealand marine equipment designer, fisheries consultant and

t'ai chi Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called " shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. ...

teacher. As well as being awarded the

Queen's Service Medal The Queen's Service Medal is a medal awarded by the government of New Zealand to recognise and reward volunteer service to the community and also public service in elected or appointed public office. It was established in 1975 and is related to ...

, Huloo, as he was known, is notable for having sailed a 65 year old junk from Taiwan to America, despite never having crewed a sail ship before, as well as rescuing adventurous Norwegian sailor

Thor Heyerdahl Thor Heyerdahl KStJ (; 6 October 1914 – 18 April 2002) was a Norwegian adventurer and ethnographer with a background in zoology, botany and geography. Heyerdahl is notable for his ''Kon-Tiki'' expedition in 1947, in which he sailed 8,000& ...

Biography

Huloo was born in China in 1924. As a teenager Huloo learnt t'ai chi in Shanghai from Chen Wei-Ming. In 1949

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

came to power while Huloo was working as a fisherman in

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. At his father's advice he stayed in Taiwan. In 1955 he and five others sailed a junk renamed ''Free China'' from Taiwan to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

, escaping the oppressive government in control at the time while also persuading that government to sponsor the trip as the Taiwanese entry in a boat race that was to run between USA's east coast and Sweden. None of the men had ever worked on a sail ship before. One of the five men was the USA Vice-consul to Taiwan who was placed on board to document the trip and a documentary movie was released. The journey was initially abandoned due to poor weather. When resumed it took 112 days including a delay in Japan for repairs after having hit Typhoon Annie so they were unable to enter the proposed race. While acclaimed as a sensation upon arrival ''Free China'' eventually fell into disrepair over the next several decades. It was privately repaired in the late 80s and as at 2007, after having been lost for several years, there was talk of it returning it to Taiwan. In 2006 the surviving crew were invited to belatedly celebrate the 50th anniversary of the sailing. The effort to save the junk from being scrapped were documented in ''The Free China Junk'' (2010) including its eventual return to Taiwan and a reunion of the crew. Huloo settled with his family in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, New Zealand in 1967. He worked in the marine industry where amongst other things he developed navigational aids. In 1970 he was asked by the UN to assist in searching and rescuing

and the crew of ''Ra II'' who were attempting to sail from Morocco to Barbados in a papyrus boat. The search was successful and Heyerdahl was guided to port for four days. In Christchurch, Huloo offered t'ai chi instruction for free, saying that inability to pay was not a reason to deprive someone of the benefits of t'ai chi. Huloo led daily 6 am classes, variously over the years at Phillipstown School or Hagley Park or in a shed next to his house. Some of Huloo's students went on to found the New Zealand National Tai Chi Association in 1988. For his charitable efforts at promoting t'ai chi Huloo was awarded the

for community service in the

2002 New Year Honours New Years' Honours are announced on or around the date of the New Year in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published in supplements to the London Ga ...

. In 2003 he released an instructional DVD of his 84-form Yang-style t'ai chi. In 2008 a documentary of Huloo was made called simply ''Huloo''.

Personal life

Hu died in Christchurch in 2013.

References

External links

Huloo on IMDb
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Loo-Chi 1924 births 2013 deaths People from Christchurch Chinese emigrants to New Zealand Tai chi practitioners Recipients of the Queen's Service Medal