# Why do all Taiji videos blow chunks?



## Shadow Hunter (Jul 14, 2003)

:asian: 

Why do almost all the videos on Taiji availible in English make me want to puke? It does not matter if the guy doing it is Asian, Caucasion or green. They all should be put against a wall and shot.

I have been trying to get any information I can to help me reach the higher levels while getting around the language barrier I have with my teacher. But so far, every one I have seen has made my jaw drop onto the ground with it's lack of quality.

It is hard for me to admit it, but I have got to be better than 99 percent of the morons making videos or books. Yet I _know_ I have yet to learn a good part of this art. The more popular the video, the worse it seems to be.

Any ideas on why this is so?


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## Taiji fan (Jul 15, 2003)

:rofl: I know exactly how you feel. Many vids are little mor than ego trips for some very substandard taiji pratitioners....what style are you looking for, the Chens and Yangs have made their own videos.  There is a subtitled version of the Yangs one, infact I am sure you can get it in English on DVD.  A mate of mine has a huge collection of videos that he has collected over the years,some times when we are bored we put some on, just for the laugh and so we can be amazed at the dire level of practice. On the other hand trying to get some of the very good teachers/practitioners to make a video is like tryingto get blood out of a stone.  People make videos for various reasons......cos their students want something to practice with at home......as a way of getting more income.....as a way of making a name for themselves.....or because they genuinly think they know what they are doing.....


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## Ken JP Stuczynski (Jul 15, 2003)

They all seem to suck.

Even mine isn't much better, but at least I use multiple angles (split-screen) and don't wear black with a black background!


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## Taiji fan (Jul 20, 2003)

There is a great tradition of sub standard taiji being taught in general...it stands to reason that the majority of videos will reflect this....


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## wakinaguri (Dec 8, 2003)

I understand your frustration with the videos.  A lot of them are very poor to say the least.  One person you might try is peter hill.  I have videos from him and I think they are very good and informative.  Just a suggestion.


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## arnisador (Dec 16, 2003)

Yes, my experience has been similar--they're disappointing.


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## 7starmantis (Dec 17, 2003)

I would think that it has to be a hard task to make a Tai Chi video that was informative, and entertaining as well. 
Not saying it couldn't be done, just not a task I would want to undertake.

7sm


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## wingchunner (Dec 18, 2003)

Check out the Chen style and Fu style videos in their respective sections at our website:

http://www.immortalpalm.com

Good luck.

Martin Yoder


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## grydth (Feb 25, 2007)

Here's a digestive blast from the past.... perhaps now well worth revisiting. 

When this thread was last alive over 3 years ago, it appears (Wayne's World anyone?:ultracool) the forum was ready to hurl :barfver the poor quality of Tai Chi videos.

We've just seen a beautiful video posted here this weekend ..... but admittedly that was a performance and not a teaching video. 

So : what's out there now? Has the scenery gotten better, or should the air sickness bags be kept close at hand?


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## dmax999 (Feb 26, 2007)

I asked about this DVD a couple months ago.  No one had seen it at the time.

http://www.ymaa.com/publishing/tai_chi_DVD/internal/taiji_fighting_set_DVD

Tai Chi Fighting Set by Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming.  It is exceptional quality.  I didn't feel any queasieness watching it at all and thought it was put together with top quality.  It was shockingly good in my opinion, well better then I had thought it could have possibly been.

His books are pretty decent too, and that video was so good that I will try some of his other ones at some point in the future.


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 26, 2007)

dmax999 said:


> I asked about this DVD a couple months ago. No one had seen it at the time.
> 
> http://www.ymaa.com/publishing/tai_chi_DVD/internal/taiji_fighting_set_DVD
> 
> ...


 
YMAA generally has quality videos and the Tai Chi Fighting Set or 2-person set is a good one to know and train.

The majority of Taiji DVDs (VCDs) that I have are out of China and some are good and some are bad just like here in the US.

Chen Zhenglei's tend to be very good as is a Zhaobao DVD I have. But then there are some that are bad as well. I have 2 from the Yang family both purchased in Beijing and 1 is very good and one...well... isn't

And I hate to say this because I have great respect for the man and his skill but the DVD of William CC Chen is not so good. And while I am not a big fan of 24 form Liang Shouyu's DVD on 24 and 48 is excellent


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## grydth (Feb 26, 2007)

dmax999 said:


> I asked about this DVD a couple months ago.  No one had seen it at the time.
> 
> http://www.ymaa.com/publishing/tai_chi_DVD/internal/taiji_fighting_set_DVD
> 
> ...



An 88 posture 2 person fighting set sounds like it would rock. Does your group practice this?

I have found various books excellent for review, learning background, history and fine tuning.... but I've never drawn a longer form solely from them. I have heard some excellent practitioners can do so.

I have some of this teacher's books in my library, too. While I learn from them, I have the impression that his deeper meanings often elude me.


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## bushidomartialarts (Feb 26, 2007)

who's chunks?

i've never seen _that_ in any of my tai chi videos..


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## grydth (Feb 26, 2007)

I'm thinking it is the Yellow Dragon Breath posture from, "Wayne's World 3: Wayne and Garth do Hong Kong".......opcorn:

Or not.......


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## dmax999 (Feb 27, 2007)

grydth said:


> An 88 posture 2 person fighting set sounds like it would rock. Does your group practice this?


 
We are slowly working through it.  You really have to have a lot of Tai Chi experience to get the subtleties from it, but the DVD covers it in great detail.  It clearly shows how easily Yang Tai Chi can be used very effectivly against someone.

Without the experience, you can still learn it, but it will be more difficult and harder for you to correcly apply it.  We have some novices trying it, and they can get through the moves pretty good, but they are missing some of the "spirit" of the moves.  I'm sure over time even that will come to them.


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## Gufbal1982 (Feb 27, 2007)

Chen Zhenglei has some rad DVD's


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## grydth (Feb 27, 2007)

Gufbal1982 said:


> Chen Zhenglei has some rad DVD's



Many thanks! Any details you can provide - subjects covered, where to buy, ones you'd recommend - would be most appreciated.


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## grydth (Feb 27, 2007)

dmax999 said:


> We are slowly working through it. You really have to have a lot of Tai Chi experience to get the subtleties from it, but the DVD covers it in great detail. It clearly shows how easily Yang Tai Chi can be used very effectivly against someone.
> 
> Without the experience, you can still learn it, but it will be more difficult and harder for you to correcly apply it. We have some novices trying it, and they can get through the moves pretty good, but they are missing some of the "spirit" of the moves. I'm sure over time even that will come to them.



Are you tackling this project solely through the video? I'm not sure we could do that for a form of this length. We did learn a short form through a well written and illustrated article - am I ever glad there is no DVD of *that* process - but I think this one would be beyond us. We'd need a sifu in person.

Best of fortune in this difficult task!


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## dmax999 (Feb 27, 2007)

grydth said:


> Are you tackling this project solely through the video? I'm not sure we could do that for a form of this length. We did learn a short form through a well written and illustrated article - am I ever glad there is no DVD of *that* process - but I think this one would be beyond us. We'd need a sifu in person.
> 
> Best of fortune in this difficult task!


In addition to the DVD I have Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming's "Martial Applications of Tai Chi" which also has the form in it.  But, if you see the video, you can see it is possible to get through the form and at least learn the moves (The video is far better then you would expect at explaining in good detail).  I plan to one day go to one of his weekend seminars for that form up in Boston once I know the form pretty well for all the corrections I need to it, probably next year.


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## grydth (Feb 27, 2007)

Thanks! I'll bring that up when the whole crowd comes over for our monthly dinner bash next week. I think it does bear checking out. This teacher that you cite does indeed have a lot of material out there.

As I said, we haven't yet attempted learning by video alone... it just possibly may be that your crowd is more skillful than ours.:waah:  Ahhhh, but I bet our food is better!


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## Gufbal1982 (Feb 28, 2007)

grydth said:


> Many thanks! Any details you can provide - subjects covered, where to buy, ones you'd recommend - would be most appreciated.



Try here:

http://www.taichidepot.com/master/chen,zhenglei.htm

I personally like all of them!  It's awesome if he ever comes to your state where you reside and see him do anything really...but I like it when he does the strikes.  There's so much energy in it, and to seem him demonstrate is even more rad...he gets this look on his face that just makes you appreciate taiji so much more!


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## grydth (Feb 28, 2007)

Thank you! 

Now that you have mentioned it, I see this Master is on the cover of the current issue of Tai Chi magazine. A quick look shows him to be well worth listening to... I'll read that article fully today and expect to learn from it.

What a difference 3 years has apparently made in the quality of what is available for study - let's hope this trend continues.


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## East Winds (Feb 28, 2007)

Yang Jun has a relatively new teaching video out called "Yang Family T'ai Chi Ch'uan Traditional Form". It is beautifully filmed from three camera angles, showing each posture in detail and their martial applications. Thoroughly recommended if you are interested in Yang Family Taijiquan the way it was finally transmitted by Yang Cehng-fu. Obtainable from www.yangfamilytaichi.com

Expensive, but worth every penny.

Very best wishes


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 28, 2007)

Yang Jun













Yang Zhenduo
















 
Yang Zhenduo Dao




 
cheng man ching 




 
Chen Taijiquan - Laojia Yi Lu (part 1)




Chen Taijiquan - Laojia Yi Lu (part 2)





Chen Xiaowang 19 movements


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## grydth (Feb 28, 2007)

East Winds said:


> Yang Jun has a relatively new teaching video out called "Yang Family T'ai Chi Ch'uan Traditional Form". It is beautifully filmed from three camera angles, showing each posture in detail and their martial applications. Thoroughly recommended if you are interested in Yang Family Taijiquan the way it was finally transmitted by Yang Cehng-fu. Obtainable from www.yangfamilytaichi.com
> 
> Expensive, but worth every penny.
> 
> Very best wishes



That site is a nice find in general. Among other things of interest there, I note they are doing testing for their new 9 level ranking system. That could be a thread topic.........


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## Gufbal1982 (Mar 1, 2007)

Xue Sheng said:


> Yang Jun
> 
> 
> 
> ...



here's Chen Zhenlei teaching 










He even does fa jin in the second clip =)


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