Appledog wrote:I find this interesting from a historical standpoint. Do you know which arts trained this 13 Tai Bo (I assume, tai bu "big steps?") and do you have any other information about it? I tried looking it up online, but the only information I could find is in Chinese, and I'm still studying Chinese.
Of course I am looking to find out, why the number 13, and if there is any connection to the 13 postures (i.e. peng and so forth). It looks like obviously not based on the posture names (and associated media). Thanks.
Great thread
"13 Taibo" was the 1st gang group that existed in Taiwan during 1950. The 2nd gang group in Taiwan was "一条龙(Yi Tiao Long) - One Dragon".
The term "太保 (Tai Bo)" in the ancient time was the prince's teacher. This person didn't have any power but since he could influence the future emperor, he had a lot of indirect power. In CMA, 13 太保 (Tai Bo) are not CMA skill. But it can enhance a lot of CMA skills. The original of it cannot be traced. It was used as the "foundation training" for many MA systems such as Shuai Chiao (Chinese wrestling). If you train SC, the first thing that people will ask you can be "Do you train 13 Taibo and 24 Shi?" It has nothing to do with Taiji 13 Shi.