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A Brief Tai Chi HistoryIt is as difficult to find two Tai Chi followers that agree on the history of the art as it is to find common ground between Apple or Android phone users. Loyalties are often blind and too often emerge from selective experiences. But, it is widely recognised that the single postures of Tai Chi - as we recognise them today - were finally formalised by the Chen family a few hundred years ago. Later, this style was adapted by and outsider, Yang Lu Chan, who created the Yang Style, which in turn encouraged further variations (and further confusions).
In short, adaptation and evolution have been common in the history of Tai Chi, yet when you look at the position of the two great families today - Chen and Yang, you wouldn't think so as neither have been proactive in the spread and dissemination of Tai Chi 's diverse nature across the globe. Both prefer to maintain their grip on the art. As too does the government of China. |
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In the mid 60s, Cheng Man-ch'ing was invited to move to New York where he again set up a school and for next 10 years taught Tai Chi, calligraphy, painting, Tai Chi sword and traditional Chinese medicine.
What made this seemingly uneventful decision controversial was that Cheng Man-ch'ing chose to teach westerners. He had been invited over by the business community in New Yorks China town to teach the Chinese what were called the "5 Excellencies". But Cheng Man-ch'ing had chosen to open his doors to everyone irrespective of age, race or gender. He turned no-one away, much to the horror of the traditional Chinese community. To placate this community, rumours spread that he taught only a "watered down" version of Tai Chi, by removing the "deadly strikes" and the "secrets of internal strength." Cheng Man-ch'ing merely smiled and nodded and let the rumours spread. |
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In another part of the USA, another recently arrived immigrant named Bruce Lee had set up his martial arts school and had begun to teach Americans the traditional Chinese martial arts. He too was challenged by the Chinese community in San Francisco and was to told to stop and not reveal the "secrets" of the arts. But neither Bruce Lee nor Cheng Man-ch'ing did so, each in their own way carried on and by doing so brought the arts to new audiences, new influences and new possibilities of evolution.
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Cheng Man-ch'ing's classes encouraged this. Though his school was a place of respect, it was not necessarily one of discipline. According to his New York students, no-one bowed or placed their hands together in greetings in the way it is obsessively done today, in the cultural appropriation rituals found in training halls across the western world. No-one was expected to wear satin uniforms or take gradings. No-one was offered teacher-training courses or sold Cheng Man-ch'ing mugs.
Laughter could be heard more than the striking of punch bags or the counting of sit-ups. Cheng Man-ch'ing's desire to spread the message as widely as possible meant that he focused less on the martial (as had done each of his predecessors) and instead emphasised the other aspects, the life-style skills and the philosophy. For these, he believed, would outlast the short term physical gains, and better serve the health and longevity of those people who came to his classes. |
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The Professor, tells this story. It is a story of travel and a story of cultural exchange, adaptation and empowerment.. A story of an art that opens itself to another time and place and in so doing lays down the blueprint so that others may further develop its practices and principles.
And this is what makes it so interesting. Not because it is the best Tai Chi style, (an infantile notion) but rather it is the most adaptive Tai Chi style best suited to embrace change. |
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Some argue that the style has changed so much it is no longer Tai Chi. It is an argument that only finds support in the dusty halls of tradition, where historians argue that being able to trace the origins of one style back to the Bronze Age or the construction of the Shaolin temple (with the help of a passing gibbon who had flown in on the back of a dragon) determines true value.
History of course, will always have its place. But we should also remember that when water stops running, it stagnates. (See Lee Remix Video). Got a comment? Leave it below. |
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“My imagination is a monastery, and I am its monk” John Keats
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