Tai chi school 1950 Hong Kong

[GrahamB]

A guy getting a tour of a taichi school from a HK movie from 1950s

https://www.facebook.com/roger.to.1/vid ... 156262452/

[wayne hansen]

i would guess chen tin hung

[I am...]

If that was how it was taught back then, what the hell happened?

I had a friend that passed away a few years back that had practiced Yang style since the late 40's, his tai chi was much faster and he was much more fiery than most of what we see nowadays.

[Bao]

If that was how it was taught back then, what the hell happened?

I have no idea if something happened. It's basically Wu, but they mix some Chen methods into the pot. This is a movie if you haven't noticed. I guess the big difference today is that they would focus on wushu flavor and add wire-fu as well.

[longarm]

This Is the Wu Taiji of Cheng Tin Hung. All from their system.

Here is the full film from 1956. It appears that Cheng Tin Hung is in the film and in the above clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqno6p2yaWc

[GrahamB]

I suspected they were from a real school though as they all seem to know what they're doing.

[kenneth fish]

I am....

I posted a while back regarding the Taiji that I had seen in Chinatown New York as a child. It was very much like what is on the film, and then some - practice was deep and strenuous, and there was a lot of dynamic exertion in the solo forms. So yeah, what the hell happened?

[windwalker]

If that was how it was taught back then, what the hell happened?

I had a friend that passed away a few years back that had practiced Yang style since the late 40's, his tai chi was much faster and he was much more fiery than most of what we see nowadays.

You don't mention whether your friend "RIP" had any of the skill sets that taiji was/is noted for.
What was it that he did that made it "taiji"

As to what has happened

This is really not very new,,,very few and far between ever achieved the skill sets the that art was noted for.
Those that did also might have expressed it in different ways according to their nature.

Yang Chengfu and Wu Jianquan are equally renowned in Beiping as Taiji Boxing experts. It has been said: “Yang Chengfu is good at shooting people away but not good at neutralizing, whereas Wu Jianquan is good at neutralizing people but not good at shooting them away. Therefore both of these men have a shortcoming, but if they were strong in both qualities, then they would be at the peak of Taiji skill.”
To which I say:
It happens that some people possess the theory but really cannot understand its reasoning. Issuing and neutralizing only seem to be two things but are actually one, and so you cannot issue without being able to neutralize, nor neutralize without being able to issue. As it says in the Classic: “Sticking is yielding and yielding is sticking.”


However, a person with a hefty build and abundant strength will have an easy time throwing people far away and cleanly. Yang’s body is big and tall, and it is known that when he does pushing hands with his students, he often likes to test his issuing power. Therefore his students all describe him as being good at issuing.
Wu’s personality is gentlemanly and very urbane.

Regardless of who he is pushing hands with, he is always only defensive, never crowding or grabbing his partner, and so his partner is never crowding or grabbing him. I have heard that while he was teaching Taiji Boxing at the Beiping Physical Education School, whenever any of his young and strong students were trying things on him during pushing hands, Wu would only neutralize to thwart their attempts, and never once threw them away. Therefore people suspect that he is only good at neutralizing and not good at issuing.

I say that if Wu is often issuing, but is not able to make his opponent move, or move away very far, then we could suspect that he is not good at issuing. That Wu is never throwing people away is evidence of a polite temperament, indicating that he does not wish to be issuing without good reason, which would only provoke resentment on the part of his partner, and it does not mean he is not good at issuing.

https://brennantranslation.wordpress.co ... xperience/

interesting read echos many of the thoughts here.

[Bao]

This Is the Wu Taiji of Cheng Tin Hung. All from their system.

I suspected they were from a real school though as they all seem to know what they're doing.

It's not filmed in a school, it's a film studio.What is shown is directed. They are acting and their lines is from a script.

. So yeah, what the hell happened?

Movie Kung fu was changed from classical to modern competition wushu.

[C.J.W.]

Perhaps it's worth noting that the footage is obviously taken from an old movie or a TV show from that era with theatrical elements added.

[GrahamB]

Hey you don't say!

Thanks for pointing out the obvious guys.

I meant that these people in the background obviously are tai chi students. When actors pretend to do tai chi in films it's obvious they have had 2 lessons if that. The guys in the background obviously know the form, etc

[cdobe]

This Is the Wu Taiji of Cheng Tin Hung. All from their system.

Here is the full film from 1956. It appears that Cheng Tin Hung is in the film and in the above clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mqno6p2yaWc

I didn't see any credits for him, nor did I see him. All of the elements shown in the movie were taught by all Wu style schools in Hongkong. I didn't see anything distinguishing.

@Bao
They certainly had no idea about Chen style at that time in Hongkong. What do you mean?

[Bao]

I didn't see any credits for him, nor did I see him. All of the elements shown in the movie were taught by all Wu style schools in Hongkong. I didn't see anything distinguishing.

Exactly. There is nothing Cheng Tinghung-ish going on here. It's just a tai chi movie mix with Wu style as a "base".

@Bao
They certainly had no idea about Chen style at that time in Hongkong. What do you mean?

Of course they had. There was a tremendous amount of people moving from mainland to HK in the end of 1940s to the beginning of the 1950s. This was also the time when the "real" HK movie industry took shape. Why? Because virtually all of the people who led the industry in the 1950s were from mainland China, mostly from Shanghai and Guangdong but also from Beijing. This period was just after Chen Fake had popularized Chen Tai Chi in the mainland. For the people going to HK, Chen and wu style were even more modern and "in" than Yang style. Wu might have been the standard HK tai chi style, but the popularity of Chen style and tai chi wrestling and lei tai matches in the mainland is probably a reason why there is Chen flavor in certain elements. It's also better for action and it's appearance closer to more regular Kung Fu. Everything in film making is done for the audience regardless it's in HK or in Hollywood.

[GrahamB]

Where exactly ? I don't see any Chen flavour. I think cdobe is correct.

[cdobe]

I didn't see any credits for him, nor did I see him. All of the elements shown in the movie were taught by all Wu style schools in Hongkong. I didn't see anything distinguishing.

Exactly. There is nothing Cheng Tinghung-ish going on here. It's just a tai chi movie mix with Wu style as a "base".

Everything that is shown in the clip is part of the standard curriculum of Wu style that was and still is taught in every major school of Hongkong, Malaysia and Singapore. Please name any element that you believe doesn't belong.

@Bao
They certainly had no idea about Chen style at that time in Hongkong. What do you mean?

Of course they had. There was a tremendous amount of people moving from mainland to HK in the end of 1940s to the beginning of the 1950s. This was also the time when the "real" HK movie industry took shape. Why? Because virtually all of the people who led the industry in the 1950s were from mainland China, mostly from Shanghai and Guangdong but also from Beijing. This period was just after Chen Fake had popularized Chen Tai Chi in the mainland. For the people going to HK, Chen and wu style were even more modern and "in" than Yang style. Wu might have been the standard HK tai chi style, but the popularity of Chen style and tai chi wrestling and lei tai matches in the mainland is probably a reason why there is Chen flavor in certain elements. It's also better for action and it's appearance closer to more regular Kung Fu. Everything in film making is done for the audience regardless it's in HK or in Hollywood.

Chen style wasn't a thing in Hongkong until much later. Even in mainland China, Chen style wasn't big outside certain areas until the 1980s.