Thirteen Dynamics Applied Taijiquan

TaiJi and XingYi for Self Defence 12

Full Circle

This is the final post in the Taiji for Self Defence series. I mentioned in my last post the importance of approaching whichever school you study with an open and critical mind. I acknowledge the difficulty in this approach as most of us have a good deal invested in our school, style, lineage. I would add to those comments that it is highly worthwhile examining different schools and lineages and early texts. Early texts have the benefit of providing not only interesting basic content but also information on the mind set of writers at differing points in history, including their biases, that are often not actually spoken but can be deduced with a little careful reading.

To clarify this point I’ll give a simple example; in 1943 Chen Yanlin published a book, in to he commented on Yang Ban Hou’s method of dealing with challenges. He noted that YBH dispatched his opponents very quickly usually by preemptively striking, sometimes after using some kind of feint. Chen Yanlin criticised YBH for being sneaky and not giving his opponents a chance, this is despite the fact that using feints and striking first were, in early texts, recognised as being the preferred approach where possible. I’ll look at this in more detail below, but suffice to say by 1943 adopting a sporting approach rather than prioritising effective self defence was an accepted view point.

On to the main objective of this post, just how do we analyse the meaning of a posture / technique in the TaiJi form?

To help with this we should first of all look at a few concepts that are repeatedly mentioned in the various ‘classic’ texts on TaiJi.

The primary area of importance is that of timing. In this context timing refers to how and when to engage with an opponent. The three options are in order of preference; before (preemptive), during (intercepting / striking - borrowing energy) and after (Connecting and countering). Linked to the above three timing options is the often quoted; “It is said if the opponent does not move, then I do not move. At the opponent's slightest move, I move first.” This shows the preference for preemptive action. The second aspect to consider is the importance of the four skills of; Connect, Stick, Adhere and Follow.

The above tactical framework is really important when analysing techniques from the form. I mentioned in previous posts how many “applications” are demonstrated in response to a straight punch, most people with a few years of training will have been shown dozens of responses to the same straight punch, clearly ridiculous. It’s possible that this straight punch framework was initially used for simplicity and was not intended to be taken too literally.

The three timing options; before, during and after, should be the initial lens that we view applications through.

“Before”. Given that preemptive techniques are the safest response (do unto others as they would do to you, but do it first) that should be the first set of techniques we should look for. Here we have to park the potential legal complications of decisively acting first, a conversation for another day.

First question; what do we mean by preemption? It could of course mean simply striking your opponent before they have time to think and act, but it could also mean taking control of their arms just as they start to raise them into an offensive posture. This video clip demonstrates an excellent example (Not Tai Chi) of preemption in the real world.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=2ALA3ws4c84

So where can we find evidence of preemptive action? Surprise- surprise it’s the very first movements of the form! The beginning style, commencement style or whatever else it may be referred to as. The aspect of the movement in question is not the initial raising of the arms but rather the lowering of the palms, this is the dynamic of “AN” a downward pressing action, sometimes referred to as subduing hands or similar. This is a relatively gentle preemptive action, used to try to calm a situation by stifling a possible attack while also giving you the potential to escalate by locking or destabilising your opponent. And referencing the video clip above, the kick left and right sequences include hand / arm techniques that can be used as distraction techniques before the kick is delivered.

Where else might we find an example? One of the most repeated actions in the traditional forms is a sequence often called Parry and Punch, this is a shortened version of the full name which is sometimes translated as; Parry, Take In and Punch, Parry, Press and Punch and sometimes Parry, Block and Punch. There are a few aspects to this short sequence, but the parts we are interested in here are the ‘Take In”, “Block” or “Press”. All of these reference controlling an opponent’s arm prior to striking them, the “Take In” aspect is similar to the action in XingYi’s Beng Quan where the opponent’s arms is held or pulled to prevent them retreating, this is the equivalent of Karate’s HikiTe. A similar technique exists in sword and sabre forms where you press against your opponents’ arm preventing them from unsheathing their weapon.

I can’t bring to mind any other preemptive techniques in the standard Yang / Wu form, but you don’t really need any more, you’re either trying to calm and control or stepping in to strike / kick and bring things to a quick conclusion. There are some additional techniques within my lineage’s Nei Gong sequence, which can also be used in a preemptive way.

The next potential timing phase is the “During (intercept / strike)” phase. In this type of interaction the above mentioned ..the opponent does not move, then I do not move. At the opponent's slightest move, I move first, timing is crucial.

This should not be thought of as involving a blocking action, the reality is there is seldom time to block a really aggressive strike launched at close range (not cooperative sparring distance). This type of interaction often involves some type of feint, this tactic is known as “beating the grass to show the snake” or similar. Basically you present an apparent opening or weakness in your defensive posture to encourage an attack in a specific direction, which you are prepared for. To clarify the situation, you are aware of a person presenting a threat, you are not close enough to preemptively deal with the threat, so you need them to make a move, to help you anticipate their attack you show them an opening.

As the strike commences you move off the line of attack and strike the incoming opponent. The striking of an incoming opponent is referred to in the writings of Chang Naizhou (1724-1783) as “Borrowing Energy”. Chang’s Boxing predates Taijiquan by some time but doubtlessly was a contributing influence. His use of the phrase borrowing energy is more straightforward than the use of the term often used in current TaiJi, where it often resembles a more complex Aikido like pushing hands interaction. Chang essentially uses borrowing energy to simply indicate striking a person as they move towards you, their mass and velocity adds to your strike while simultaneously limiting their ability to avoid the strike or retreat. In the Yang and Wu forms punches and elbow strikes are present but often not obvious, the pursuit of elegance has caused them to be blended into other techniques, but they are there, the Chen style utilises a second form Pao Chui (Cannon Fist) to emphasise these and other more ‘direct’ techniques.

Once again Parry, Press and Punch can be used, but with slightly later timing (fractions of a second) and possibly change in footwork. Other strikes include; fist under elbow, torso flung punch, step forward planting punch etc. The point of footwork is important to understand. A short examination of the TaiJI hand form will reveal that it contains little by way of useful footwork. There are a few reasons for this, firstly the form already takes up quite a lot of space to perform, if we started to include additional, tactical, footwork the space required would expand to the point of complete impracticality. This is why various stepping push hands drills are so important.

The importance of utilising variations in footwork was brought home to me during XingYiQuan training. XingYi is primarily built around the training of five strikes, known as the Five Phases or poorly translated as Five Elements. Traditionally people would train in the the Five Phase fists for years before moving on to other aspects and indeed one of its most famous practitioners Guo YunShen, made his name as a master of the art based solely on his mastery of the Five Phase strikes.

You might reasonably wonder how you can spend years training in just five fist techniques, let alone be considered a master of the art? The reason is quite simple, every strike can be performed in what is considered an ‘orthodox’ method that might be an aligned stance (same hand and foot forward), or a crossed stance (opposite hand and foot forward), some feature a straight linear step, others feature a dodging diagonal step.

All of the fists can then be training in their unorthodox variations; aligned stances done cross stepped or vis-versa, linear done dodging or vis-versa and all can be done as a retreating method in both linear or dodging etc. So five fists easily morph into twenty plus methods, that’s before you start to combine the techniques.

TaijI footwork should be approached in exactly the same way, it is something to explore, some step / technique combinations are more useful than others and the best way to find what is useful and what isn’t is to try them all.

All of this brings us to the last timing option; “After”, (connecting and countering). It’s in this final category, countering an attack that is underway, that the skills of Connecting, Adhering, Sticking and Following are really emphasised. It’s the least preferred timing of defence action, yet it is the aspect that most training is focused on.

Again it should be stressed we are not talking about blocking but simply “connecting”. Connecting usually involves the initial use of the Peng dynamic. This is often a double arm method such as; Apparent Closure, the double arm lift of Beginning Style, or single arms such as Cloud Hands, Grasping the Birds Tail (move one, single arm Peng). The benefit of the double hand techniques is that it has the effect of being a general covering method similar to western boxing, which is useful for dealing with a flurry of unpredictable swinging punches. The vast majority of TaiJi applications will be applied from some point in this mutual exchange of contact. Unlike the very long periods of push hands training, in reality the skills of push hands will be applied for little more than seconds, if not fractions of a second.

If you are initially facing your opponent square on, the preferred position for your arms, relative to your opponent, is to be inside and above with your hands above your opponent’s elbows close to the shoulder to provide control not only of their arm(s) but also their torso. This can allow methods such as Pat The Horse High, Step Up Plant The Fist, if your opponent raises a leg, brush knee twist step can be applied from the “inside” position. You can move from inside to outside using Cloud Hands, Step Up Grasping The Bird’s Tail.

Once outside, Parry and Punch is an example of controlling an arm from the advantageous outside position, allowing you to pin an arm while delivering a strike. Lotus Leg can be used to destabilise and sweep from the outside oblique position.

Being to the outside of your opponent and placing your self in an oblique position is a safer place to be, though all of these positional options should be understood that in the context of a serious confrontation any position will be very temporary and the entire conflict will usually be over in seconds.

The technique Single Whip repeats several times in the form, this probably indicates its potential usefulness. If you are square on and on the outside of your opponent’s arm, the hooking hand allows you to achieve a temporary “inside” position by hooking and pressing over their arm achieving control long enough to strike with your other hand.

I think this post has gone on long enough so hopefully there is sufficient material here to help any serious practitioner to look at their own form(s) with a fresh enquiring perspective. I’m happy to receive questions on any aspects on which I’ve not been sufficiently clear or, inevitably, what has not been covered.

Slap & Kick Man (Original Full Unedited Clip)

TAIJI FOR SELF DEFENCE 11

Lost and Found

Having examined how martial arts and in particular TaiJi got lost as a practical martial art, it’s time to look at how we can find it again. I don’t want to go over old ground and several aspects of this question have been looked at in some depth in my previous blogs, both in this (self defence) series and the previous form collector series. What I want to do in this post is to look at how you can make sense of the applications held inside your form.

To start to make sense of your form the first thing that needs to be done is to discard what is not useful (© Bruce Lee) acknowledge and address your own confirmation bias, as mentioned in a previous post, by developing a critical eye.

Developing a critical eye and applying sensible real world analysis to the content of your form(s) is essential, so be honest with yourself about what you have been taught and how you understand the form’s applications. You have to ask a few simple questions in relation to each posture and proposed application:

1. Can you envisage utilising this technique, as it was taught to you, in a live situation where your safety is threatened?

2. Is there an easier, safer way of doing the same thing?

3. If the explanation of a certain application involves multiple attackers (very common), does it require the attackers to stand in specific locations or wait to attack in order? If the answer is yes, it should be obvious that the explanation is wrong. Excluding cinema, attackers don’t wait in line.

4. If the explanation involves a supposed attack from the rear, does the technique require the attacker to wait while you turn to face them and are they in range of your counter without you having to step towards them after you have turned? If they are in your range before you turn, then you are obviously in their range, so why are they waiting and why don’t they attack you from behind?��
These are few simple filters that can be applied, although the questions are easy in theory they can be difficult to apply and answer because you may very well have been taught these applications by somebody you know and trust. This is the battle of confirmation bias.

Here are a few examples that I’ve had to address:

1. Step Back Ride The Tiger, this was explained as a defence against two people, one facing you and the second a little off to your right. The idea being the front facing assailant kicks to your mid section and you catch their kick with your left hand, at this point the patient second attacker punches you towards your head, you pivot to the right and parry / catch their punching hand. You then kick the second person, meanwhile the first person is stood on one leg waiting for something, though I’m not sure what.�
2. Turn Body Pressing Kick. This technique requires the practitioner to pivot through 180’ on one leg and then kick out horizontally with the other leg. First of all in any conflict standing on one leg and spinning is asking for trouble, but the core of the problem rather like the example above what is the attacker doing while you elegantly spin around before you kick them? They are in your range, so you are in theirs.�
3. Another similar example is Turn Body and Kick, this involves doing a backward crossing step and spinning close to 360 degrees on both feet, returning back to where you started and then kicking out! In this format the technique defies all logic or rationalisation.

I was able to clarify all of these and several more dubious techniques with a little research. For example the image below is of two Okinawan Karate practitioners performing something very close to Step Back Ride The Tiger. It is also similar to Step Back Repulse Monkey (hands in transition not in the final position). In this sequence either the leg grab or hand attack could be first and the other technique is a follow up by the attacker and a second defensive response.

Having analysed the techniques in your form and modified or discarded certain troublesome postures, it’s time to start adding context to each posture. Firstly it should be understood that there are several short sequences where a case can be made for one technique naturally following the previous one, but that is not always the case and you should avoid creating unlikely scenarios to justify one techniques place in a sequence. Remember the forms have gone through endless editing and modifications so there will be occasions when logic may not apply, if indeed it ever did!

To illustrate the point about forms evolving over time, I’ve inserted a few youtube links to examples of the Wu style form, the first one being the earliest, dating back to when the Wu style was still based in Beijing, probably 1920’s and probably before it was known as Wu style and would still have been referred to as Yang Small Frame and before it went through a major standardisation and simplification process.

The second is from 1937 featuring Chu Minyi a close early disciple of Wu Jianquan, here we see something more closely resembling TaiJi as we know it today.

The third features Cheng Wing Kwong (Zheng Rongguang), probably in the early 1950’s, a direct later disciple of Wu Jianquan based in Hong Kong and in it we see a form that, in its content, is essentially the same as we see today.

The fourth features Cheng Tin Hung (Zheng Tianxiong) mid 1960’s, nephew and student of Cheng Wing Kwong. The two Chengs are part of my lineage.

Cheng Tin Hung is showing a slightly larger frame than his uncle but otherwise largely the same. However one thing all four have in common is that none of them had yet reached the point of slowing down into a form purely of meditation. The forms are all performed at a relatively brisk walking pace.

In the next post I’ll close the series with some comments on how to interpret the form postures utilising the strategies and tactics outlined in the TaiJi Classics.

Wu in 1925 Beijing https://youtu.be/ARv78Jxutrc?si=Ga6CjL9arB_NCLwn

Chu Minyi https://youtu.be/jCjORjDZf-w?si=CdAxMRdvkwBktdsu

Cheng Wing Kwong https://youtu.be/HxsfZUuLl_Q?si=i_oKZyyw4jvln5wh

Cheng Tin Hung https://youtu.be/OcytCV5qq7Y?si=Om3AfS7KPwE1s4Rj

In my last post on TaiJi and XingYi as a mode of self defence I touched on the fact that neither of those two arts are particularly unique, despite what many practitioners would like you to believe. Shortly after that post this came up on my Youtube feed. It very clearly shows the reality of Chinese and Japanese martial arts. They are fundamentally the same, of course there are adaptations and variations but I think the similarity due to shared roots is obvious.

From Kung Fu to Karate El karate no puede ser entendido sin el estudio de sus orígenes. Estos se encuentran principalmente en diferentes artes marciales chinas, las cuales podemos ...

TaiJi and XingYi for Self Defence 10

The Map Is Not The Territory

In the last post I looked at the social and political environments that resulted in the martial content of martial arts being deprioritised in favour of health and fitness.

In this post I want to look at “how” the various arts changed and more importantly the implications for those of us that wish to better understand and utilise the martial potential of the various arts that we study. In order to avoid confusion it should be understood that when I say martial art I am referring to skills of self defence in a situation of non consensual violence, in other words when you are being attacked, not when you are engaging in a sporting competition, or as Anko Itosu (1831 – 1915) Shuri-te stylist, often referred to as the founder of modern Karate said “Karate….It is not intended to be used against a single assailant but instead as a way of avoiding injury by using the hands and feet should one by any chance be confronted by a villain or ruffian.”

In previous posts primarily in the “Form Collector” series I looked at the benefits and pitfalls of form practice. In this post I want to look at what happened to Forms / Quan / Kata (Forms here on foreword) through the transformative period that I outlined in my previous post and consider what the implications are four our training and how we should approach our Forms.

The sub heading of this blog; “The Map Is Not The Territory" is a metaphor created by Alfred Korzybski to illustrate that the way in which we perceive the world (our mental map) is not necessarily how the world really is, due to our mental habits, preconceptions etc. But if we take the metaphor out of the phrase we are left with a truth. A map, the type a hiker might use, can only ever be a partial representation of the real world, territory, that the map details. An experienced map reader can run their finger along a route on a map and use their experience to visualise what a walk along such a route would entail, but no amount of examination of the map would add up to actually walking the twenty miles along that route. A Form is a map it is not combat (the territory), if a form that is well constructed it will help an experienced practitioner to understand and evaluate possible scenarios.

This brings us to a serious issue, how good (accurate) are today’s Forms? Returning to the Map analogy, as we are now deeply into the age of digital navigation fewer and fewer people can actually read a map, so even modern maps constructed with high resolution satellite imagery are used less and less. It is now not uncommon to see some vintage maps hanging on walls serving little more than a decorative purpose, now imagine a scenario where an experienced hiker has a map that he likes because it reminds him of a great walk he has done, but doesn’t like the key at the bottom of the map (the key tells you what all of the symbols on the map mean) he knows what the map means because he’s been to the territory it represents so he cuts the key off and puts the map on the wall.

Sometime later another person sees the map and likes it and draws a copy of it, but to make the map a little more symmetrical and pleasing to the eye he moves a few hills, and changes the course of a few rivers and the locations of a few bridges, but it still looks similar in many places. The original owner can still discern the relevant geographical details, then some time later the drawer of the second edition in entrepreneurial spirit thinks on how much he enjoyed drawing the map and decides to make the drawing experience accessible to more people by creating a painting by numbers version of the map. It’s a little simpler, easier to draw and paint and still looks something like the original. But could you use it to navigate by? Probably not. In essence this is what has happened to many Forms; standardised, smoothed out and simplified, but without some serious analysis they don’t really represent the territory of self defence.

This distortion of forms, while present in many, not all, modern Chinese Arts and Japanese Karate to quite a large degree it is somewhat less present in Okinawan arts (Uechi Ryu, GoJu Ryu, Shorin Ryu and others) and some Chinese arts, particularly those exported from China in the late 18th , early 19th centuries. This is good news for the practitioners of TaiJi and XingYi because we can use some of the information in other arts to fill some of the gaps in our understanding. We can do this because contrary to what some would have us believe, TaiJi and XingYi really are not that different to any other martial art. While some strategies and tactics may vary we are always fundamentally working on the basis of two people each with two arms and legs fighting each other. We can even go so far as to assume that both individuals are right handed, as all Forms make that assumption! Even those that display left handed focused techniques.

It’s easier for practitioners of TaiJi and XingYi to be open to learning from other styles if they can acknowledge the history, albeit somewhat sketchy in places, of the schools’ origins and histories. Both TaiJi and XingYi clearly have their roots in early mainstream boxing schools, I’ve included some images of TaiZuQuan and ZhangQuan showing postures that can clearly be seen in either TaiJi or XingYi or indeed both. I’ve also added an image from Qi Jiguang’s Ji Xiao Xin Shu" (New Book of Effective Fighting Techniques), published in 1560. This book contained a sample of what was thought to represent the best boxing schools of that era. The methods it contained fed directly into the Chen Village and the creation of Chen TaiJi Quan.

So how did we get from established military hand to hand techniques in the 1560’s to where we are today? Referring back to the map analogy above, forms and the techniques they contain went through multiple generations of transmissions and changes. Probably the most profound change was the overlaying of Daoist health cultivation methods, the precursor to what we now refer to as QiGong. This shift of training focus ultimately produced what we now know as the “internal” martial arts. The word Internal should not be confused with soft, this difference will be examined in the next post.

Looking specifically at TaiJi as it's probably the most ‘modified’ martial art, TaiJi focuses on what are referred to as the eight powers, these are simply eight methods of applying or receiving force. At least one of these powers should be present in every TaiJi technique. One of the effects of smoothing and standardising the form was a greater emphasis on manifesting one of the powers rather than performing an explicit martial technique in each form posture. This loss of specificity of technique and a focus on core shape - power had the benefit of allowing a greater integration of QiGong principles into TaiJI. One example of this smoothing and simplifying is the technique of Step Back Ride Tiger. In earlier forms this technique involved a step back and a pivot to the right of between 90’ and 120’, in some modern versions the pivot has been entirely deleted with little more than a slight glance to the right and a waist twist of 10’ to the right before returning to the starting direction. I’ve seen several Youtube clips of instructors trying to explain why Step Back Ride Tiger is not White Crane Spreads Wings, it has to be explained because the techniques now look extremely similar.

In the late 1990’s I was fortunate to spend a little time with Master Wang Hao Da a senior Wu style practitioner, known primarily for his pushing hands skills, but he was also one of the first Wu stylists to bring the fast form into public awareness. At the time he said (via a translator) that the fast form can look different, not only between practitioners but performance to performance by the same practitioner. At the time and for several years later this rather confused me and I put it down to something lost in translation. It was some years later when I read a work by Chen Yanlin who was a student of Tian Zhaolin, who in turn was a student of Yang Jianhou, not the more widespread Yang Chen Fu lineage.

In his writings he explained that the form can be performed in two possible ways, with the emphasis being on either blood or energy. “Blood” meaning the focus is on the physical / martial manifestation of the form, while “energy” being a focus on QiGong. Many experienced TaiJi practitioners will; be aware that each posture can have several applications, one simple example is that of range, so a technique such as turn body swing fist can at one extreme be a wrist locking skill while at the other extreme it would be a shoulder locking skill and in the middle an elbow locking skill. So in the “energy form” any variation would be due to the large frame / small frame variation, but in the ‘blood” variation a practitioner could choose to do any one of the three techniques or indeed throughout the form where the technique is repeated vary the technique for each repetition. Hence the form looking different during each performance, this approach is something of a challenge in today’s environment where there is so much emphasis on standardisation.

In summary we have practical issues created through historical circumstances that have to be acknowledged and addressed if TaiJi and to a lesser degree XingYi practitioners need to take into account if they are to maximise the value of their training regards practical self defence. First and foremost what has to be acknowledged is that in all likelihood the “traditional” art that you are training bears little more than a passing resemblance to how these arts originally evolved. Quite simply get over it and adapt.

The next post will look at how we can adapt, both ourselves and our training.

TaiJi and XingYi For Self Defence Part 9 - How and Why it Got Lost in Translation

Picking up where we left off in the last post, what prompted martial arts to go off track? I mentioned that it wasn’t just TaijiQuan that went off track when it came to practical self defence, but other Chinese martial arts and indeed, Japanese (Okinawan) martial arts went through the same process, why was this?

The causes of the shift in focus of martial arts from battlefield skills to civil self defence to a health / fitness pursuit with martial connotations were similar though not identical in China and Japan. A little bit of history…

From early to mid 1800’s both China and Japan went through enormous social and political changes. In Japan after centuries of social and political isolation the Meji Restoration in 1868 restored imperial power and a slight relaxation in Japan’s isolationist policies. One of the events that prompted Japan’s desire to open their society were the events known as the O***m Wars in China. In the first O***m War 1839, the imperial Chinese Government had outlawed the o***m trade and seized several British o***m trading ships. The British Navy acted in defence of the o***m traders (o***m was, at the time, Britain’s largest export product!), the Chinese were defeated by superior western technology and forced to sign a highly unequal treaty. It was a massive humiliation for what was once a regional super power. This was followed by a second O***m War 1856, this time Britain was joined by, America, France and Russia. The outcome was the same China was once again humiliated and forced to legalise the o***m trade.

Japan was highly aware of this and when an American “trade” delegation arrived accompanied by some large battle ships, the Japanese found themselves also signing some very uneven trade deals, but at least they avoided a major military embarrassment. Japan became somewhat enthralled by western technology and began the process of modernising its society including its military and in due course became a major regional power as it totally abandoned its isolationist policies. This culminated in 1894 with the invasion and occupation of China’s Manchuria. A major humiliation for China and brought into focus their lack of technology and military prowess compared to their neighbours.

So this brings us to a point in history in the late 19th early twentieth century where Japan was rapidly building its military and China was reeling and suffering a major inferiority complex as it carried the label “Sick Man of Asia”. For slightly different reason both China and Japan wanted fit recruits for their military and China more generally wanted to address what it saw as an historical imbalance in the nations focus on intellect and academic study and a widely held disregard towards physical health. let alone military strength.

In Japan as a part of its modernisation it had largely abandoned its traditional ‘BuJutsu’ (Bu=War / Jutsu=Craft) arts and modified them to ‘Do arts; Judo, Aikido, Kendo etc, Do meaning way implying a philosophical life pursuit. This involved the creation of structured training and a focus on sporting competition. The concept of self defence was further down played due to the impact of exposure to western military arms, it was thought that empty hand martial skills were of little or no practical value given the effectiveness of modern fi****ms.

Meanwhile over in Okinawa the locals had been training for generations in a variety of martial arts generically known as TouDi, which translates as Chinese Hand. These arts were, over several centuries, imported from southern China, primarily the Fujian province. Some Japanese officials became aware of the arts of Okinawa and were impressed by the general health of the Okinawan population and decided that these arts should be taken to the mainland, some time later it was thought that with some modification, they would be ideal for introduction to the school syllabus as a part of the nations drive for physical fitness.

In general terms the modifications made to TouDi was the introduction of a structured training regime suitable for teaching large groups (as opposed the the more casual and haphazard Chinese approach more suited to one on one or small groups), the introduction of a training uniform and grading system based upon that used by the Judo school. It was also decided that due to the generally antagonistic relationship between Japan and China the name of the art should be changed. A very similar Kanji in Japanese to the Okinawan Tou was Kara (empty) and the Japanese version of Di is Te, hence the creation of the term Kara-Te.

The more specific changes to Karate training to make it suitable for use in schools was some simplification of Kata, reduced, or entirely removed attention to practical application and, as in line with other ‘Do arts, a high focus on competition.

At the same time over the East China Sea the newly created Republican government of China from 1911 was undergoing the same rush to westernise that Japan had gone through a few decades earlier. Part of this was the need to strengthen what was seen as a weak population, government officials went out across the nation to identify suitable martial arts for general national enhancement and those suitable for use in the military and school structure.

XingyiQuan was identified as suitable for military use as much of its structure leant itself well to bayonet fighting and its hand techniques are direct and relatively easy to learn to a level of basic competence. Xingyi along with a few others were deemed suitable for use in schools, with similar adjustments to those made for Karate in Japan’s school system. The government was also trying to promote martial arts for health at a time when historically martial arts were viewed as something attributed to lower social classes and thieves. A great deal of work was done to change the perception which included emphasising the long history of some martial arts, this on more than one occasion meant inventing a long history, and in general the deep philosophy behind some martial arts. In the wider population TaijiQuan was gaining attention as it was thought quite exotic having only recently come out of the Imperial Palace into public view. Furthermore Taiji’s Daoist philosophical underpinnings was attractive to the literati, the impact of this particular customer base will be looked at later. Rather like the Karate in Japan, much of Tai Chi was simplified in order to make it suitable for teaching to large groups, this is well illustrated to the changes made to both Yang and Wu styles by their main promotors; Yang ChengFu and Wu JianQuan as they both moved their business from Beijing to southern China.

Examining the literary history of martial arts over the period is revealing. I can find only two texts from the Imperial era, the so called Tai Chi Classics by Li Yiyu (1881) and a text attributed to Yang BanHou that became the basis for Wu family’s “Gold Book” dated approximately 1875. Li was largely influenced by the Small Frame Chen style and Yang was the second generation of the Yang family tradition. So both of the identified roots of Tai Chi are covered, both texts make little reference to the health of the individual and no mention of the state of the nation’s health. Both books are practical if a little obscure at times and deal with the practical application of skills, references to energy are largely framed in the context of mechanical structure or kinetic energy.

From the 1930’s through to the end of the Republican era (1949) there was an explosion of writings on martial arts and everyone that I’ve read include numerous forwards by various martial commentators and the general great and good of society and they all bemoan the sickly state of the nation and its youth. There’s also a notable shift into philosophy while insisting martial theory complies to now fashionable modern scientific concepts and there is no shortage of references to the amazing abilities of generations past. The desire to tie martial arts and Tai Chi in particular to all aspects of China’s cultural history can be seen many times, for example Chen Xin’s magnum opus; The Illustrated Explanation of Chen Family TaiJiQuan over 700 pages covering everything from Taoist Cosmology to Chinese Medicine and of course Tai Chi. It is a fascinating read and clearly a work of great devotion by the author, but very much a product of its time.

Having explored why martial arts lost their way the next post will look at the how they changed.