The Forgotten Secret of Tai Chi
by Master "Tommy" Cheng Kay-Ying, 2005.

Tai Chi in the Western world has become more and more popular now but is regarded as something mainly for health like yoga. Some people never understand that Tai Chi was originally a kind of martial art which you can use to defend yourself and they never believe it because of its slow and soft movements in the form.

I learned Tai Chi at the age of 12 and felt the same way. Having been very disappointed, I decided to quit. At this time, it seemed to be God's arrangement that I met my second Tai Chi Sifu who was a monk and told me the story of the change of Tai Chi.

About 400 years ago, Yang Lu Ch'an, the founder of the most famous style of Tai Chi, the Yang style, gained his art under the instruction of Zhiang in Chen village. Zhiang was a general of Ming Dynasty which had been overthrown by Ching people (or Manchus, outsiders from the North of China). He hid himself in Chen village, which was predominantly a group of Shaolin monks, to avoid being arrested. The Chens took what they could and added it to their hard style, and this is where Chen style Tai Chi comes from today. Many modern day masters even go so far as to say that Chen style is not even Tai Chi, and they quote from old records of meetings that were held between all of the old masters of Tai Chi at the time, to which none of the Chen clan was invited.

Anyway, Yang left the Chen village and became very famous in Peking because he challenged every famous master and beat them without hurting them. He was given the nick name "Yang the Invincible".

Ching people (or Manchus), the rulers of China at that time and the invaders from the North, heard his name and invited him to teach the Lords. No patriotic Chinese wanted to pass any martial art to the invaders at that time. But Yang couldn't refuse, so he invented the soft form to hide the real things away from the Ching people and said to them, "it takes at least ten years to show Tai Chi outdoors".

Ching people were very discouraged this way. When Yang closed the door and taught his sons, they practiced in another way - the original version of Yang's Tai Chi, in which you can find soft and hard, sticking and following, locking and throwing, striking and kicking, pressure point hitting. Some of the pressure points are death points if you know how to use them. Quite a number of years later, Ching people gave up learning and Yang was released.

From then on, there were two versions of Tai Chi. The real one is supposed to teach only some selected few who are expected to inherit the art. The other one is open to the public, soft and slow, mainly for health but not good for self-defense. Some people argue that push hands is the martial expression of Tai Chi fighting. Silly! Ridiculous! When people fight, they don't engage that way, they don't circle their hands first that way, they just punch. In the push hands today, you are not allowed to punch, there are lots of rules; you can't grasp the clothes, can't go to the head, can't lock, can't trip, can't wrestle, can't reap the leg, etc. In the original version, you are free to do anything. We push in such a way that you can't punch because you are controlled by the skill, not the rule. We don't bounce people away, because this means loss of control, people just retreat a few steps and keep coming back. Do you think you can always bounce him away every time he approaches to punch? Eventually, your nose is going to be punched and your teeth loosened; it is too risky and meaningless to try to bounce people away when they are punching you.

In the original version, we throw people down and pin them on the ground and the fight is over. He has to submit, if not, something is going to be broken or the joint is going to be dislocated.

In Tai Chi, we throw people down by using mainly the body momentum on both sides, which is why it saves a lot of energy. Therefore, we need the momentum to start with, that is why we need the basic push hand form to start with - still, we do it differently than the others.

It is hard to explain by words unless you come to learn. But young people never come to learn when they see the soft and slow form in the beginner's stage. That is something to start with, not the end.

Why do we do start that way? First, it is a good way to hide the real techniques away from those you don't really want to teach, but you want their money to survive.

Secondly, it is a moving chi kung (breathing meditation), very good for health suitable even to the old and weak, something that can be practiced for a lifetime. If you do it quickly and forcefully, it is not chi kung anymore.

Thirdly, it is also a good foundation before you go further on the Tai Chi road. Three things are being built up gradually that are essential in Tai Chi self defense:

1. You must be able to support the whole body weight by only one leg and shift your weight easily and smoothly.
2. You must lead the limbs by your body, so that you can use whole body power instead of partial power, usually untrained people use only arm power. In Tai Chi, arms are extensions of the body; when the waist turns and shifts, everything moves.
3. You must nourish a habit to maintain an imaginary sphere in front of your chest for most of the time. The sphere is essential in Tai Chi fighting.

When you compare different martial art systems in the world, you'll see that there is a contradiction existing which is very hard to solve. Those which are practical are not safe, like boxing and Thai boxing. They can only be practiced when you are young. Once you come to your mid age, you have to quit. Too much "Bang! Bang! Bang!" to the head is certainly not good for health. Even though you are a champion, you still may suffer from trembling hands after retirement like the former heavy weight boxing champion Muhammad Ali.

I have retired Thai boxing champion friends from when I made movies in Thailand in the 1980's. They told me that they had been selected to be trained at about 10; hard working for the school without payment until 17 or 18 (they were bought from their parents). At that age they started to fight in the ring outside of Bangok. At age 22 or 23 they could enter Bangok to continue to fight and accumulate their experience. At age 27 or 28 they became champion and their golden age only lasted 4 or 5 years. When they came to 32 or 33, they retired with very little money and some become hawkers on the street selling fruits, usually suffering from trembling hands or forgetting things very easily (something wrong in the brain!)

What a tragedy! So much investment, so little reward! Not a good business. When people become weaker and older, they need self-defense and health even more! These martial arts are certainly not ideal enough.

Those which are safe are not practical. I don't have to mention the names, you can see a lot of martial arts, and they are just like dances or acrobatics. In a real confrontation, you never jump so high and kick that way, there is no need to make a somersault, the rear hand should not be placed so far behind the back; once you get countered, the rear hand is too far away to defend with that hand, etc.

Is there a system existing which fulfills the following requirements?

1. Enable you to use less force to handle bigger force? In self-defense, the attacker is usually bigger, that is why he forces you to fight; he thinks he can win. Not like real fighting, you fight people about the same weight usually.
2. When you practice, it is safe; when in a self-defense situation, it is practical and effective.
3. You can practice for a lifetime. Hence the art is worth the investment of time and money.
4. To avoid trading blows, the physically weaker but more skillful side may win.
5. To end the fight very quickly, the physically weaker but more skillful side may win.
6. When there is no need to fight, it is a very good way to improve your health, to prolong your life and to have a lot of fun, as well.

This is very ideal right? It seems a dream of every martial artist who is eager to look for the truth. But it is not a dream; the system I am teaching is like that.

My Sifu learned it directly from Yang Ban-Hou and Yang Kin-Hou - the founder's sons. Yang Ban-Hou was regarded as the 2nd "Yang the Invincible".

Yang Cheng Fu (Yang Kin-Hou's son) had been chosen to be the heir of the art in the 3rd generation, but he didn't like the art and couldn't tolerate the hard training, so he went away. Yang Shou-Hou, the brother of Yang Cheng Fu, liked to hurt people so he emphasized on death point striking; he didn't like the locking and throwing techniques which were designed to control people to minimize killing. Fighting was dirty and cruel, he thought, which was against the philosophy of Tai Chi which emphasized on self-defense without excessive force and he couldn't tolerate the hard training as well. It is said that he attempted suicide several times and was rescued on time, fortunately.

My Sifu was then chosen to be the heir. But when Yang Ban-Hou and Yang Kin-Hou passed away, Yang Cheng Fu came back and wanted his position back. Because my Sifu was not a member of the Yang family, he thought he should return everything to Yang Cheng Fu. The Yang family still didn't trust my Sifu and was afraid that my Sifu might teach somebody else. To manifest the royalty to Yang's family, my Sifu turned himself into a monk (to become a monk means to stay out of the troubles of the dusty world) and vowed that he would hide the secret forever and wouldn't teach anybody else. But Yang Cheng Fu learned his Tai Chi for only a short period of time, staying only at the beginner's stage; that is why Yang's Tai Chi appears like that today. (I call it the Ching version). They say you have to train more than 10 years to accomplish a little and 30 years to become a master. That is rubbish, you are simply being fooled. They just use this as an excuse to explain why people who have learned their Tai Chi can never fight in the skillful way as they have described in the past. The fact is: "Too many things have been lost."

When my Sifu met me (he was 70 something, I was just 13) he decided to break his vow and teach me. He did this because he thought the art should survive, even though he believed his life would be shortened due to breaking the vow. He said that he was willing to do that and asked me to promise him to keep the art going - I promised. It is my mission now to teach this art and I do believe it will develop very well as time goes on because it deserves it.

In Hong Kong, I changed the name to "Yee Chun Do" (Yee means the mind, or intent, Chun means fist, Do means the way to do it) and I didn't start with the soft and slow form. A lot of young people came to learn. But if you say Tai Chi, young people never come; only old people come. Strange? Ironic? The same thing, with different names, the outcomes were so different.

If you have read a book called "The Tai Chi Bible" and really understand it, there is a sentence saying, "All these are Yee and have nothing to do with the outside". You'll understand that "Yee Chun Do" actually means Tai Chi. A name is only a name, don't fuss over it. Truth is the truth, no matter what you call it, or whether you know it or not, or whether you like it or not. I have been sticking to this truth for about half a century. I still keep going on. Will you join me?