How does one train oneself and others to laugh? Chen Ta-cheng has opened a medical devices and equipment business in Taoyuan City. In addition, Chen is also the founder of the Taiwan Laughter Club. Over the past nearly two years, he has made an effort to go all around Taiwan to promote laughter. At the beginning of last year, he spent around NT$100,000 to fly off to Switzerland where he studied laughter yoga. Chen’s wife does not call her husband a joke. Rather, she calls him the instigator of happiness and laughter. This was the beginning of a movement that Chen has started on Taiwan.Two years ago, Chen Ta-cheng was watching the Discovery channel when he saw a program that introduced Indian doctor M Kataria explain the laughter yoga that he had developed. Chen was so taken by the initiative that he decided to start up his own laughing ground on Taiwan. In addition, he is the first person on Taiwan to have received a certificate from India that testifies to his ability to provide instruction in laughing yoga.At the beginning of last year, Chen Ta-cheng established Taiwan’s first laughter club in Luchu of Taoyuan County. Every Sunday, he leads members of the club in letting out enormous laughs. Over the period, he has also been invited to demonstrate laughter yoga by the Taiwan Lions Club, the Taiwan Junior Chamber of Commerce, various community organizations, as well as a number of enterprises and companies. In June of this year, Huang Kui-shuai, a “laughing friend” of Chen’s who also is a gynecologist at Tri-Service General Hospital, recommended that he change the meeting place of his laughing club. Chen took Huang up on the suggestion and now holds a meeting of the laughing club each Saturday morning at a pavilion located at the Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall in downtown Taipei.Several months ago, Huang Kui-shuai established a laughing club at the Tri-Service General Hospital, helping all sorts of people to improve their health and outlook by laughing. In addition, Huang has also received certification by Chen Ta-cheng as a qualified laughing yoga specialist and instructor on Taiwan.Chen Ta-cheng said that even though everyone knows that laughing offers all sorts of advantages to the mind and body, many people are a bit shy about letting out huge laughs in front of others, fearing that they might be chided at or laughed at by their peers. Chen said that learning how to laugh freely and not in a fake manner, as well as being able to laugh at anytime is not something that is as easy as it might seem.Interestingly enough, there originally were 24 types of laughs in laughing yoga, including the one meter laugh, the lion laugh and the milk shake laugh. There is also quarrel laughter, laughter of not having money, as well as laughter of delight. Chen Ta-cheng said that one of the primary types of laughter is “laughing as long as everyone is happy.” In all, Chen is able to demonstrate over 40 types of laughter. Even one elderly man who had long suffered from being constipated developed “constipation laughter.” The laughter was so effective that his digestive system is now much better, making him a much happier person.