Sun style Taijiquan
I have done a tiny bit of Sun style Taiji and wanted to pull together some notes for other beginners in this style.
If you are mostly interested in watching a high quality modern production of the classic Sun style form, then skip toward the bottom of the article to the video of Master Faye Yip. The other examples presented, particularly from the Sun family are included for historical completeness.
Cheng Style Taijiquan
Wutan’s version of Cheng’s form as adapted and considerably shortened from the Yang Long Form.
My own notes are here and are more detailed and potentially more confusing. This presentation might suit a more confident and/or experienced student.
Presented verbatim from The Path of the Complete Martial Artist (sometimes referred to as the ‘White Book’), Wutan KungFu International (WKI), They SoonTuan, pp 69-70, March 1991, £10.
Brush Knee Twist Step
In our school we tend to call this one ‘brush knee push’.
I stumbled across Master Gu’s video below after falling down my usual YouTube rabbit hole.
We also tend to drill this quite a lot, but I can’t say I am anywhere up to a 1000 times a day!
Yang Taiji - Application
From the YouTube Channel of Kevin Lee we see Dr Mark Cheng showing the application of techniques from Yang Style Long Form (large frame, old style). It seems that he learned Tai Chi from this father.
Dr Cheng explains that like most Chinese Martial arts, Tai Chi includes the ability to:
Kick
Punch / strike
Throw, and
Joint lock
The way of the warrior
In this podcast there was a reminder of the wonderful 1983 BBC series - The Way of the Warrior - which has been uploaded to YouTube.
I watched this series with my father, but can’t say I remember the individual programmes. He bought the book that accompanied the series and I am currently looking for a copy.
The quality of the video compared to modern standards is shocking! Nevertheless, there is so much there worth learning, you just have to push through.
Peng, Lu, Ji, An
Literally - ward off, rollback, press and push.
From Tai Chi Forms in the section called grasp the bird’s tail or grasp the sparrow’s tail.
The Taiji Classics
I am a keen podcast listener, and one that I look forward to is The Tai Chi Notebook by martial artist Graham Barlow. His interests cover Tai Chi, Xing Yi, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and the study of the martial arts. He often interviews fellow practitioners, but on his most recent podcast he was alone and talking about the ‘Tai Chi Classics’. I played this over and over on repeat, and I am sure I will do so again. Listen below or find the podcast in your favourite podcast player.
Is Tai Chi Good For You?
Difficult to say, but speaking as a slightly overweight man in his late fifties (1.9 m, 98 kg), I enjoy it! And isn’t that half the battle with exercise?
Short Form - deeper
There are five main family styles of Tai Chi, and Wutan schools start by teaching the Yang family style (link).
Specifically, the head of our school, Master They Soon Tuan, recommends we initially teach what is colloquially called ‘Short Form’.
The Short Form comes in many variations. The one we teach consists of thirty seven ‘postures’, and is much abbreviated from Yang’s original ‘long form’, but can still take anywhere from six to ten minutes to complete when focusing carefully on technique and breathing.
Wutan’s ‘Yang’ short form is actually derived from a form created by Cheng Man-ch’ing (Zheng Manqing and sometimes referred to as ‘CMC’) (link), who studied with Yang Chengfu for a number of years.
Short Form - An Aide Memoir
Tai Chi ‘Short Form’ after Cheng Man-ch'ing (or Zheng Manqing).
Always forgetting the sequence of moves? We hope this helps.
Each ‘section’ finishes / starts with Single Whip.