In order to speed up the modernisation of the teaching of physical education (PE) within colleges and universities, many have introduced a multimedia system, as well as creating a great deal of courseware. The authors of this article selected as the research target, Taijiquan (a Chinese martial art), which is the most popular course at a college in Wushu, People's Republic of China, and have made a comparative analysis of the qualitative and quantitative effects caused by the application of multimedia technology to teaching. Through the resultant experimental observation, it was found that a multimedia system can bring several improvements to the teaching of Taijiquan. © 2014 WIETE.