I will soon be relocating to Hsinchu, Taiwan. starting a small taiji group
there. For those interested you can contact me here.
robert wrote:I don't speak a lick of mandarin or taiwanese so I haven't pushed with anyone in the parks. I worked out at 2/28 Peace Park a few days 7 or 8 years ago and saw a couple groups in the park pushing hands. In one group the people would lean over backwards to neutralize - seems strange.
I hope anyone who has more experience with the Peace Park group will write more of their experiences there. The group usually meets at the south east corner of the park by a small pond with a bridge in an all dirt area near some public restrooms. Across the street from the park was (and probably still is) a restaurant named "California Kitchen" (or something like that). The group meets daily from 7AM-ish to 11AM-ish.
Humble guests are always welcome... Pride filled martial artists will return home humbled and dirty.
Their philosophy is to compete while they are young, and save the solo form for later years. They have also been "tested" by many other groups in the park, as well as by many visitors from different counties with different forms of martial arts. One year, a member of Gracie’s family from Brazil visited the park. Respect was exchanged between the two parties and the agreement on the rules were made. After three short rounds of free style pushing, Gracie went home with dirt on his back.
The most reputable one was led by Mr. Zheng Shyan-Chi, a senior student of Grand Master Huang Sheng-Shyan. He came to the site every morning, rain or shine for a number of years. There are about 20-30 players in the group who meet regularly; their practice is mostly for the preparation of push hand tournaments in Taiwan. Under the government’s support, there are Tai Chi events almost every month around the island, with the winners being awarded with top money, such encouragement motivated this group of practitioners to train their push hands around the rules of the competition. Many young players were attracted by their seasonal Push Hand camps, coached by several ex-champs.
windwalker wrote:Maybe things have changed, I found them to be very open with many who do and can speak English..
Not really a big fan of ph as practiced by many there and in other places, for those who do enjoy and like
to push there are many groups with different levels and types of practices.
Some more open then others....as in all things its best to experience and evaluate
hands on....Many of the groups seemed to be very receptive to let others feel their view point
in a very direct way.
windwalker wrote:The group that I interacted with, the teacher Zheng Shyan-Chi, is very old now and seldom makes it the park from what I was told.
There are some senior students who carry on the tradition. For those looking to push with people of all different levels and out looks this might be a place worth checking out...They did comment positive about my own work although as I mentioned ph is not something I normally do nor train for.
=robert"]
I didn't go up to the group or try to talk to anyone, so I wouldn't disagree. From my experience I have found people in Taiwan to be very friendly. Last time I was in Taipei I was working out at Dr Sun's Memorial for a few days and there was a group there doing PHs. Next time I see people doing push hands I may see if anyone speaks some English.
Humble guests are always welcome... Pride filled martial artists will return home humbled and dirty.
One of the groups I saw, where they weren't leaning over backwards, had an older guy who seemed to be pretty good. He seemed to be using jin and was good at taking his opponent's balance. For the most part I train on my own so I don't do much push hands, usually at workshops.
.A “narrow” system is one that specifies a particular response for a particular attack. So for every possible attack, there is a specific response. And because there are a great many possible attacks, there are also a great may specific techniques to counter them. With “narrow” systems, you have A LOT of techniques — like the proverbial 108 hand techniques, for instance. A “wide” system has much fewer techniques, but looks to the changes possible for each of them. So for instance, you might only have 5 or 6 basic punches… but many “changes” associated with those punches. See also Baqua, with it’s emphasis on changes.
Mike Staples
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