johnwang wrote:Bao wrote:Tai Chi was my first art, ...
When I was 7, Taiji was my 1st art. I learned from a monk who was my next door neighbor in Taiwan. One day I got into a fight and I didn't know how to use Taij, I lost faith in my 1st Taiji teacher. Until I have met my SC teacher, I then relearn Taiji from him.
When I was 11. my brother-in-law from Liu He system (6 harmony) was my 2nd teacher. he taught me a "Bagua Quan (not Bagua palm)" open hand form and "Pi Shou Gan" pole form. One day I got into a fight again, I still didn't know how to use "Bagua Quan" in fighting. He stopped teaching me any more forms. He asked to to drill "1 step 3 punches" for the next 3 years. That day I started to understand how to train for fighting.
When I was 14, I jointed in the long fist information class offered by my Jian-Guo high school in Taipei, Taiwan. During the 1st day of the class, I walked toward my long fist teacher and asked him, "What will you do if I punch at your face?" I wanted to make sure that I won't just learn MA dancing from him.
During my college (TIT) years in Taiwan, I jointed in the TIT Kung Fu information class again. I continued to learn long fist from GM Han Ching-Tang's son Han Su-Yin. He really liked my form. He said all his students belong to class B. I was the only one belong to class A.
When I was in US, I invited my SC teacher to live in my house. I had learned SC from him for 3 years.
All my life, my goal in learning CMA is for fighting. Style has no meaning to me. As long as it can work in fighting, It's a good style for me.
When someon gets old, old memory is all that person has left.
Wow, I didn't know that you learned longfist from Han Qingtang's son!
Anyway, I think in terms of CMA, "style" is basically strategy.
- Longfist specializes in long-range fighting with leaping, etc.
- Mantis specializes in middle-range fighting with certain favored tactics (e.g. trips, waist chop, etc.)
- Xingyi specializes in close-range power strikes
- Bagua specializes in striking while moving freely (and also being generally contrary)
- Taiji specializes in using softness to fight
In another sense, waijia and neijia are different kinds of exercise. These days, I think doing both is better for health (in that you can cover more types of exercises that way).