Chuxiong Zhou

Chuxiong Zhou was born in 1923, Hunan China. He started private school when he was 5 years old and had to memorize Confucius, Laozi, and classic Chinese poems. At the age of 7 he lost his father and when he was 11 he lost his mother. Chuxiong grew up with his grandparents and attended boarding school in 1935 at the age of 12. After graduating from high school, in 1939 he joined the army and walked from Hunan to Chengdu (564.79 miles) and attended Huangpu Military Academy where he had artillery, calvary, and infantry training. At the age of 18 he was promoted to artillery second lieutenant in charge of Chinese troops.

Flight Training:

From 1944 he joined the Chinese airforce. His training brought him from China to Lahore, India where he did his preflight training. At the age of 22 in 1945 he attended two years for of pilot training with Westpoint Airforce Academy Fighter Pilot training program. His class of 23 men traveled across the pacific on a 24 days boat trip to United States. He first went to Randolf Field San Antonio, Texas where he was trained on the P-51 Mustang airplane. In 1947 he went to Williams Field Phoenix Arizona to complete his flight training.

Finding the love of his life:

In 1948 after World War II Chinese Civil War escalated between Nationalist and Communist, and since he didn’t want to fight his own people he requested military discharge and returned to Shanghai China to become a civilian pilot for the first commercial airline in China called the China National Aeronautics Company (CNAC). On his 1st day flight testing at the end of the day out of 10 flight stewardess interns who was training he found Ru Xin Wang. She was in the first group of Chinese Commercial Airline flight stewardess. It was “Love” at first sight. During the courtship they loved to go dancing to the song “As Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”. It was certainly first class living, as they had lunch in Shanghai and dinner in Hong Kong. On October 28th, 1948 they got married. Together they had two sons and a daughter. Zuolong in 1949, Zuomin 1950, Zuohua 1954. He had a successful pilot career, but he will always remember the most dangerous heroic story from his flying days; which was during a crash landing as the plane was caught on fire he was able to save a full plane of passengers and they all survived.

The Hardship Years:

In May 1949 CNAC had an uprising and he moved to Hong Kong. In November 1929 he participated in the “two aircraft” (China Air and Central Air) uprising and with the invitation from Zhou Enlai he moved to Tianjin China. In 1951 he attended Captain’s training at Fung Huan Shan in Chengdu Sichuan. In 1955 as the capital airport in Beijing started to build he was sent by China Airline general company to be a building inspector. During the years as the inspector he took great interest in architecture and self-taught this profession. During communist revolution in 1957 he was labeled as anti-communist “rightest” and as punishment his pilot license was revoked and he was sent to Xinglong province (where there was a lacked of electricity, roads, pure water, and modern buildings) for labor reform and became a tractor driver. His salary was cut by 80 percent. Two years later, due to his extensive educational background, the local governor asked him to become the architect for the town. He was given a new job as the county architect but at his farm worker’s salary. For the next 22 years as a self-taught architect he designed and built 18 buildings such as: a fertilizer company, cement and paper plants, a hospital, a school, two theaters, a refrigeration facility and a crematory. During those years he was only able to visit his family a limit amount of times when his business trips passed through Tianjin or during the Chinese New Year. In 1979 the government in China pardoned him with apology and five years back pay for wrong accusations and punishment against him. He was free to seek another profession.

Journey back to United States:

After the pardon, he became an English professor in Tianjin Foreign trade institute for 10 years until he retired in 1990.

In 1990 he moved to United States to live with his wife, daughter, and son-in-law

In 1993 at the age of 70, he took his exercise of Tai Chi to a whole new level and started teaching Tai Chi Class at American Legion Memorial Park and at the Carl Gipson Senior Center. For the next 20 years he touched the lives of many students young and old as Tai Chi Master. He was featured in the Seattle Times during the ten year anniversary of his Tai Chi Class and multiple times on the Everett Herald.

Traveling Highlights:

Chuxiong Zhou loved to travel. In addition, to all the placed he went to as a Flying Tiger pilot, flying instructor, architect, tractor driver, English teacher, and Tai Chi teacher. He went on many trips with his grand-daughter Domi. Some of the many places they went to include: Los Angles, Boston, San Francisco, Alaska, Hawaii, Mexico, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, and San Antonio

Favorite Hobbies:

Besides traveling he loved to take pictures and produce his own DVDs and CDs. At the end of his life, at the age of 89 he still enjoyed a variety of exercises including bicycle, swimming, gardening, dancing, Tai Chi, and even basketball

His Life:

His life was a life of continuous learning. He was always willing to learn and adapt to each changing environment and succeeded in each profession.

His life was a life of achieving harmony between the body and mind. He strove diligently to maintain a healthy body and set an example for others to follow.

His life was a life of positive thinking. His unwavering confidence inspired all those around him.