nicklinjm wrote:Looks like there's almost no information about William Hu online. Bao, would you mind introducing a bit about his MA background and what you found special about his taiji?
Oh... I don't know if I am in the right position to say much. I don't think I could possibly make him justice. He was a very private person, and I think that in the most of his life he seemed quite reluctant to teach, both earlier and later in life, so it would be much better to find some of his close students and let them tell their stories. I could mention a few things and say something briefly, but please don't make too much out of it.
First of all, he was born in a literate, well educated family with connections directly to the imperial court. His grandfather had been a librarian, so Dr Hu was more or less raised with books and remains of the imperial library. But his family was also a martial arts family, they all practiced martial arts. He would tell stories from when he was a child, about how he watched them train and what they did. I remember one time in a class when he taught a form, he showed different variations and applications of a movement as how his aunts and uncles had interpreted the same movement. It was quite fascinating as well as funny to watch and learn from his late family members. He always had a lot of heart and humor when he taught, and it was all very personal. From what I remember he had a formal teacher from about 6 or 7 years of age. But, and again if I remember correctly, he learned and practiced from about 3 years of age with many different people and family members.
Bill calls his Tai Chi the "Hu style", but this was never something I heard Dr Hu claim, so I guess this name is more or less just a practical way to keep things simple, or a way to label Hu's own teachings. I don't think Hu was was interested in labels and styles, though he learned many different arts. And I don't think his family tradition was a strict style. Just as someone described old Chinese thought as a "big pool of different ideas", this might be a good way to describe his own family tradition. But from what I understood, the main focus was absolutely about internal practice and principles. His own teachings focused on internal principles, but he was very careful about not labelling anything "this" or "that", though he called it Tai Chi. What he taught was not a certain or a strict Tai Chi style. He mainly taught shorter forms, drills, single movements and exercises, as well as body mechanics and applications/practical martial arts methods. More or less everything he taught as practical methods revolved around a few main principles of angles, leverage and the use of precise body mechanics.
So I hope this was vague and respectful enough and that it doesn't upset anyone.
(After writing this, I reached out to a couple of Bill's students and shared it before publishing. So at least, I have their approval.)
Please let my know if anything was unclear. I don't think I could say much more here. But I will try to answer any additional questions on PM.
Posted: Tue Oct 05, 2021 1:10 pm