Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

Very interesting discussion. Traditionally, we were taught that 'awareness' (yi), of energy flow (qi) should be smooth and even. This awareness of mind however, should not be confused with the physical deployment of the form (xing). The physicality of form will deploy according to the structural bou...

Thank you very much for your reply. I suspected as much, and agree with what you say. Our Sigung taught from the perspective of qi anf fajin, but a very good lady I know, living in Scotland, but from Mainland China (she is a Chinese Doctor), is also a taijiquan master, but has not been taught qi, or...

Dear Members I practice a small gungfu system, preserved within a family. However, we practice a long form of taijiquan that is referred to as 108 Yang Cheng Fu (slightly different pronounciation in Hakka). It has been pointed out by one or two people that its structure is similar, although not exac...

Although it has been sometime since I have posted on this thread, I have at last made a small breakthrough. I showed the Ho Chi Minh taijiquan clip to a Wu taiji master - who suggested that further back in history, Old Yang and new Wu looked similar. However, he then forwarded the following clip of ...

Public Demonstrations of Vietnamese Martial Arts. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The film footage referenced above, is believed to be from the time period 1946 - 1947. The time-frame is problematic from a Vietnamese historical perspective. But I have...

A colleague of mine, started a similar thread to this on another forum, and that thread has developed much the same - around the subject, so that our knowledge of the subject might be broaden, deepened and generally enhanced; Ho Chi Minh http://www.emptyflower.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi/YaBB.cgi?boar...

Dear Louis

Thank you for your kind words!

Sometimes - the wild goose is caught!

Thank you

Dear louis Thank you for you interesting assessment. Quote: 'What exactly are you aiming to uncover?' On the face of it, this seems slightly illogical - if I knew before-hand, what I was going to uncover, then I would already know, and therefore have no need to search for it. And such a direct quest...

Dear louis Yes of course, assuming that the Tai Chi Classic was written in Putonghua (modern manderin) script - which is what I assume you are calling Manderin? Rather than Guanyu (classical Manderin) script, or one or two of the other versions of Manderin. The point being that in our living Hakka t...

Dear Louis In the Hakka dialect, the term 'monkey head' is pronounced 'mahlow tow'. Whilst 'throat' is generally pronounced 'how', but can be pronounced in its longer form of 'how lung'. The second pronounciation of 'how lung', would be written with two chinese characters - whilst 'monkey head' - 'm...

Dear Louis This is only a tentative attempt at clarification. So please forgive its weaknesses in advance. In Hakka parlance, the term 'monkey head' is used (sometimes) to refer to the position where the chin is placed slightly forward and down. This has three distinct purposes; 1) Such a position c...

Thank you. Below are two more quotes, adding to the historical context, and giving a perspective around the era the footage was taken. Extract 1. 'Thus unexpectedly reprieved on her north-western frontier, China within two years faced another threat, this time in the south. France had established he...

Historical Information. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have found two very interesting extracts that serve to build the historical perspective around the Ho Chi Minh clip of Tai Chi Chuan practice. Extract 1. 'in the weeks that followed, Giap redou...

Thank you both for some more very valuable posts. Below, is a post I have received from a master of kung fu, living in Vietnam; 'Vietnam Martial Arts Trained -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- There are many many Chinese Influences in Vietnam as the numb...

Dear Audi Thank you for your interesting and helpful post! I suppose that what I should do, is ask a Wu stylist of the other tradition, and see what they say. Although Bob, has posted elsewhere that the further back one goes in history, it might be that there is less variation between styles, and th...