BEIJING TRAINING DIARY – APRIL

Apart from continuing with my own training, due to the relatively long (3 day) public holiday for Labour Day in China, I was able to take advantage of the break to meet two taiji teachers whose jin skills / internal power I have great admiration for, namely Ren Zhongxin in Tangshan and Chen Jiqiang of Wu (Hao) taiji in Tianjin.

Ren laoshi’s background has been introduced previously on this blog (see link) – suffice to say he is one of the very few taiji teachers I have met who allows people to use as much force on him as they want, whilst at the same time being able to uproot and launch the opponent very cleanly, seemingly at will. Ren laoshi clarified that the ‘secret’ is not really in the form (taolu) practice, and certainly the version of the Wu style form he shows is not that different from other branches of northern Wu such as Wang Peisheng. Rather, the skills can only be passed on hand-to-hand during pushing hands or drill practice, by actually feeling what the teacher is doing – even Ren himself was hard pressed to put into words exactly what he is doing, preferring instead to demonstrate by example. One example of a ‘secret hidden in plain sight’ is the phrase “bu diu bu ding” (not disconnecting and not butting). Almost every serious student of taijiquan can recite this phrase, but the way that it is understood varies tremendously from teacher to teacher. Ren and his senior students can easily show that “bu diu bu ding” is actually a state whereby the pushee ‘accepts’ the other’s force but does not resist it, almost leaving them ‘hanging’ on the pushee. I was slightly shocked to find that I was already being uprooted even before Ren (or his senior students) launched me out due to his exquisite tingjin and use of bu diu bu ding.

The other teacher, Chen Jiqiang of Wu (Hao) taijiquan, is not very well known, even in Tianjin. According to his own account, due to his position as a police station chief he was able to visit many martial arts hubs in China (including Chenjiagou and Wudang mountain). After many years of practicing multiple arts (iron palm, bajiquan, also Chen and Yang taiji), he found his final teacher in Guangfu, the hometown of taijiquan, in the form of Wu (Hao) style inheritor Zhai Weichuan, who is widely acknowledged there as one of the main standard bearers of the current generation. After close to a decade of intensive practice with master Zhai, Chen has reached a very high level of skill. He is able to manifest both the ability talked about in taiji histories of being as solid as a mountain, almost immovable when he wishes to be, but also extremely light and soft to the touch at other times. He allowed me to try and push him or throw him out on several occasions, all to no avail. Even when forced into mechanically very disadvantageous situations, without much external movement Chen was able to turn the tables and launch me out or throw me away. As a practical joke, he even demonstrated his ability to lift one foot whilst I was pushing on him full force!

Due to this encounter with teacher Chen I will certainly be trying to include more Wu (Hao) basics into my daily training regimen, and hope to have more to report in several months.

To be continued…..