C.J.W. wrote:Funny that CMC's name keeps popping up in this thread as an example of a "real deal" Taiji fighter.
My late maternal grandfather was a Taiji enthusiast, and learned Taiji from Gan Xiaozho 干嘯州, one of CMC's disciples, for about 10 years starting in 60s. Later on, my mother and uncle also got interested in the art, and trained under Wu Guozhong 吳國忠 -- another disciple of CMC -- at the 228 memorial park (called New Park back then) in Taipei when they were both in college in the early 70s. My mother once participated in a demo with both Wu and CMC, and actually had the opportunity to train with CMC at his home a couple of times. Furthermore, my Fujian White Crane teacher (over 100 years old now) was friends with Huang Shengshyan and also practices CMC Taiji. So needless to say, I basically grew up watching my family doing Taiji and have heard all the "inside scoop" about CMC, his Taiji -- and his private life.
The reason CMC managed to established himself as the top Taiji guy in Taiwan wasn't really due to his supposedly superb Taiji skill, but his connection to Madame Chiang. He was Madame Chiang's art teacher and, through her, became friends with Chiang Kaishek. At a time when Chiang ruled Taiwan in ways not unlike what Kim Jong-un does in North Korea today, it basically meant that CMC was untouchable, and no martial artist would dare challenge him and make him lose face.
As for CMC's relationship with Yang Chengfu, I was told that when YCF's son Yang Shouzhong was asked about CMC, he replied, "Oh yeah, I remember him. He was a decent painter and doctor who cured my mom's illness and trained with my dad for a few months back in the days."
"Really? But why did your father let him write his book on Taiji? Doesn't that make him his top disciple?"
"No, not really. My dad just thought he was an artist and a scholar -- someone who would be good at writing books."
(It's also worth noting that Yang Shouzhong detested CMC's 37-posture Taiji, and refused to acknowledge it as an offshoot of the Yang style that CMC supposedly got from his father.)
The real reason that CMC came up with his own 37-posture Taiji was because that he only spent a short period of time with YCF, and didn't know his style well enough to teach it. CMC got most of his Taiji skills from Ye Daimi 葉大密, a high-level IMA teacher who opened a school in Shanghai where CMC went and trained for about 4 years.
Lastly, I'd like to say that I really have no reason to bad-mouth CMC, especially considering my family's connection to him. I'm just telling the facts as I've been told by those who were close to CMC and knew him personally because I feel that the Taiji community deserves to know the truth.
Thank you for the account.
I didn't think much of Cheng Man Ching, his form, or his fighting skills until I started to learn more about him due to the ubiquitousness of his fingerprints all over the lineages I've studied.
So it is entirely possible that all of the people that have written about seeing him fight were mistaken. It's entirely possible that because he was untouchable politically that people would challenge him and then just let him win to keep him from losing face. It's entirely possible that the students and grandstudents he produced actually gained their skills somewhere else and just credited him as their teacher because he was well known. All entirely possible.
I don't doubt at all that he spent some time learning from Ye Daimi, he was in poor health in Shanghai long before he met Yang Cheng Fu.
I will say that one thing that reading his writing suggests is that he was extremely arrogant and proud. In some places I swear his hubris radiates from the page as strongly as Allistair Crowley's.
What T.T. Liang (who studied with him in Taiwan, translated his first book into English for him, posed for photos of partner work used in that book and others, emigrated to the USA with and co-presented Tai Chi Chuan to the UN with, but did NOT practice the short form) said was that he was the greatest of the 15 teachers he was lucky enough to study with. This was after Cheng had essentially disowned him for reasons I'm not privy to, even refusing to look at him when he happened to run into him on a subway train in new york and kow towed, begging forgiveness.
He said that he was an accomplished fighter, "When Cheng would fight with someone who threw a lot of punches he would remain calm and wait for the real one, then neutralize and counter. Cheng would stand in Retreat to Ride Tiger and wait and tempt the opponent to kick, then he would catch their kick and push. He protected his groin by turning in the toes of his front foot." and "Cheng Man-ch'ing had a match with a Pa-Kua master named Liu. Cheng stood in the middle and followed him around, always on guard. As soon as Liu closed in to attack, Cheng found a defect and knocked him down."
Lessons With Master Liang: T'ai-Chi, Philosophy, and LifeHe also recounts how the director of the Huang-P'u Military Academy tested Cheng in private and after half an hour of him being unable to lay a hand on Cheng and Cheng didn't even try to counterattack, among other encounters and thereafter proclaimed his skill was genuine and didn't oppose his continued teaching of the Captains.
Regarding his learning, via Chen Wei Ming the claim is that he met Yang Cheng Fu in 1930 and studied with him until his death in 1936. He ghost wrote "Application Methods of Taijiquan" (1931) and "The Essence and Applications of Taijiquan" (1934) during this time. According to Patrick Kelley, Cheng Fu moved to Shanghai in 1928, which is where he would have met CMC, while Shouzhong was left behind in Canton to teach for him. Reportedly during this time in Shanghai, Cheng would answer challenges on behalf of Yang.
Sometime around during WWII (@1939?), Cheng fled to Chun King, where he met and studied with Chang Ch'ing-Ling, who learned from Chien Hou but was Cheng Fu's disciple on paper. He studied primarily pushing hands with Chang, and this is where he made the change from the vertical to the horizontal circle in the four corners pattern.
THEN in 1949 he moved to Taiwan, published his first book, and started teaching the 37 posture form. His standing with Madame Chiang may have shielded him from some challenges, but he had at least twenty years of getting beat, then beating others, under his 47 year old belt by then. I believe this was also when he started associating with Liang, a high-ranking customs official, so the encounters Liang claims to have witnessed would have happened after this time.
It's entirely possible that these people are lying or mistaken. I'm at a disadvantage, all I have to go by are known dates and facts and the written words of himself and those that knew him directly, not the supper-table talk of neighboring families who knew a friend of a friend who knew him in his later life. It wouldn't surprise me that Yang Shouzhong detested the short form, it essentially cuts the learning and practice time ostensibly in half and it's "not what my father taught". It's also worth noting that today the Yang family association teaches several different shortened forms that don't appear to follow the same internal logic or flow as the CMC 37 (which beautifully tracks the long form), for whatever that's worth.
But beyond all of this, the reason CMC keeps coming up is because I keep bringing him up, because there have been many different accounts of his skill at fighting and the fact that he only ever learned Taijiquan as a fighting art.
Was he an "real deal" fighter? I don't know what that word really means in this context. All evidence I have seen suggests he merely accepted and issued private, friendly challenges. He got beat regularly until he didn't. So I would simply call him a skilled fighter. He was an accomplished teacher (and innovator) of Taijiquan, doctor, painter, calligrapher, and poet.
