Bao wrote:I do agree with that you can use "hua" to lift. But I don't agree that Mizner's vid is a demonstration of what Zheng Manqing calls tifang. Mizner direct and return the force directly into the student's line of attack mostly without "ti" or "lift".
Tifang means that you let your opponent float and then you hook in to his movement using fajin. It can be fast and direct, but the opponent must be uprooted first, made to float.
If you watch here about 3.03 in this vid,
https://youtu.be/fSYPOhSgiis?t=183, you can see that Zheng follows his opponent's force and yields downwards a little (hua). Well timed this makes the inexperienced PH practitioner to loose his balance forward, his heel lifts from the ground. So he lifts himself (ti) up on his toes. Now it's very easy to place or displace (fang) the opponent, preferably by "fa" /using fajing.
wayne hansen wrote:No one in these clips should feel any pride
Even when the pushing is not bad the acting of the dummy shows a level of deception
![cool 8-)](./images/smilies/yabb_cool.gif)
Why did he not describe it as "lifting". Why did he describe it as a response to incoming force that can't be turned away?
The drill Goodson describes and what you're describing I learned (similar to at least) within the CMC line as uprooting. You don't need to come at me to have your root severed. You can be rooting, yielding, moving towards or away and I can uproot you, it doesn't matter. T'i-fang, specifically is neutralizing then releasing, uprooting may or may not happen, too. if you don't like them, then probably not.
I believe there is confusion between T'i-Fang and T'i Chin. I quoted his description of T'i Fang earlier. Here's his description of t'i chin.
Cheng Man Ching wrote:13 chapters, chapter 7, p 54 in ben lo
T'ai Chi Ch'uan is also excellent in its application of
t'i chin (uprooting strength). Uprooting can cause an op-
ponent's feet to leave the ground, resulting in his fall.
The Classics say, "By alternating the force of pulling and
pushing, the root is severed and the object is quickly
toppled without a doubt." The application of leverage is
similar to that of a jack or crane. It is like the following
diagram. If the distance between the point of applied
force and the fulcrum is longer, then
we need to use less force to obtain a
greater result efficiently. When we use
t'i chin and fa chin, the opponent be-
comes the center of gravity, our hands
and wrists touching the opponent be-
come the fulcrum, and our foot and leg become the
point of applied force.
As usual. though, the conversation is focusing on the wrong aspect, semantics, and missing the meat. What do you make of the skill and can you replicate it?