Taijiquan (T'ai Chi Ch'u"an)

[arnisador]

Originally posted by Dronak

That's one of the problems I have with trying to copy my instructor's use of Chinese words. I'm aware that there are different tones used (constant, rising, dropping, or a short drop then rise) but it's rather hard for me to tell which one is being used sometimes. I suppose it's something you just pick up after hearing it often enough.

I had hoped to pick up some terms from my Chinese Tai Chi instructor, who had virtually no English, but it was just too difficult to make out the terms.

 

[Sanxiawuyi]

Chiduce wrote: It is good to have another Martial Historian; whom can can some clarity on numerous martial issues of typical concern and those of great martial hisorical significance! I'am tending to walk along the path's of yourself and others. It is your insight sir, others, (as well as those before us) into the martial way which has led to my idesire to continue this martial journey of knowledge of self! Sincerely, In Humility; Chiduce

Thank you for the kind remarks! :asian:

I have been researching martial arts for a few years now, as well as have been a devoted student for over seventeen years, and have spoken with some amazing people. I love to share my findings, as I know how difficult it is to track down much of the information needed to put the past together. I work in the media field and hope to compile a lot of my findings in documentary format at some point.

I would love to see a documentary on martial arts that doesn’t deal totally with Shaolin or “Kung fu”. There is a whole history of wuxia and martial arts in China that goes way beyond Shaolin, such as the arts of Wudang (Wutang in Wade-Giles) and Emei. Rich in history and story, but most of what is known in the West is Shaolin. Trust me, there is much more!

Sanxiawuyi

P. S. If you want to read some great traditional Chinese martial fiction, I highly highly recommend The Deer & The Cauldron

The Deer and the Cauldron is the last martial arts epic by Yeung Jin (aka Yong Chin or Louis Cha), who is indisputably the greatest martial arts novelist ever to live.

Note: like other Cha novels, Deer and Cauldron has been loosely adapted to film in a movie in two parts titled Royal Tramp and Royal Tramp 2

Have fun, and by the way, have you heard of the new Jet Li movie "HERO" ?! See what time magazine and others say!

 

[Dronak]

Oh, I either missed or wasn't aware of the neutral tone. How is that different from the constant one? I really should try to remember the numbers associated with the different tones. I've heard "first tone" etc. before but never remember which one is which. As far as indicating which ones they are, you could just stick a number after the syllable. I believe that I've seen that done before. I won't attempt to guess at one and write something horrible so I'll just use "blah". It would be like blah1 or blah3. I really wish that books indicated the tones for the syllables of Chinese words, but they just write the words alone. Without tone indicators I have at best a 20% chance of getting each one right (neutral plus 4 tones) and an even smaller chance at getting words right.

 

[Hu Ren Qianzai Long]

:soapbox: Darn Pinyin :soapbox:

 

[Nightingale]

there's some interesting information here!!!

 

[East Winds]

If you want some authentic and well researched history of Taijiquan, have a read at some of Douglas Wile's work :

"T'ai-chi Touchstones : Yang Family Secret Transmissions" or

"Lost T'ai-chi Classics from the Late Ch'ing Dynasty"

Regards

Alistair Sutherland

 

[7starmantis]

I have to say, I highly recomend this book as well. Very good!

7sm

 

[Taiji fan]

My instructor is Chinese and competed in China, so authenticity is not an issue

sorry I just had to jump in here......being Chinese does not automatically make you proficient in taijiquan....there are many Chinese people who have only studied the simplified form and often in competition routines the aesthetics have taken precedence over correct practise. I have seen plenty of awful Taijiquan being performed by Chinese practitioners. The problem with taijiquan...where ever you are....is that there is much more bad than good....lots of ego....tons of misunderstanding and so getting to the heart of it is a journey fraught with wrong turns. Taijiquan also seems to attract alot of people with psychological problems, amazing how many control freaks there are out there I often wonder if this is just a curse with taijiquan or whether other martial arts have similar problems.......

 

[7starmantis]

I think if it is a curse, it bleeds over into kung fu as well!! We attract many freako types.
I think most taiji competitions are completely the oposit of what taiji is all about. Isn't competition in and of itself off a little in the journey through taiji?

7sm

 

[chinkoobake]

Originally posted by Sanxiawuyi
Cantonese, a very harsh language. Chinese Mandarin on the other hand is very soft and a pleasure to listen too (Crouching tiger Hidden Dragon).

:asian:

A rather subjective comment, no?

 

[chinkoobake]

Originally posted by Taiji fan
there are many Chinese people who have only studied the simplified form

hell, most Chinese people haven't studied it at all!

 

[arnisador]

Originally posted by chinkoobake
most Chinese people haven't studied it at all!

I'm sure that's true. I wonder what the statistics are on this?

 

[7starmantis]

I treid to find some stats on that but couldn't. I would bet its probably middle line. Low in terms of how many people live in China. It's weird though that many who live here don't study it, or haven't studied it.

7sm