Tung (dong) Families Yang Taijiquan

[Ma_Xu_Zha]

I bought the alex dong's video series on the Yang family style they teach to see the fast taiji and fajing taiji set my teacher was telling me about they do.

The series is done very professionally and well. The Tung family tape has old footage of Tung Yieh Jie who was a student of Yang chen fu. It also shows the fast taiji form their family created, some weapon demos and alot of good push hands.

the second tape is alex dong doing yang long form and the fast taiji set. the fast set doesnt resemble any taiji form i have ever seen. no similarites to the chen pao tui or wu fast taiji at all.

the third tape is the power set which is the wu (hao) long form and the fajing set which is the yang long form done with fa jing at the end of certain postures.

the last tape is weapons. here alex does a slow straight sword set and then does it fast with the tassel used in a special way. he then does a slow 13 taiji saber from and a fast 13 performance. he then procedes to show a longer broadsword form again one is slow the next is fast.

then to my surprise i see for the first time a double taiji stick form. again done slow then repeated fast.

lastly he does a 13 taiji long pole set slow and with fajing.

I was really impressed with this video series i only found browsing the Tung website and not sold on magazines or online martial arts stores. here is where i found it-


http://www.dongtaichi.com/video_a.html

[Ma_Xu_Zha]

has anyone ever gone to the hawaii seminars tung family hold? they look very rewarding and full of lot of good training.

[bamboo_ leaf]

my fist taiji style learned in Hi from a Sam Kaikina RIP. Interesting fast hand sets, and weapons play.

[RAF]

You can bet the house that Yang Cheng Fu knew long pole training along with other "indoor" students. In two places CMC even gives hint to it--Ben Lo interview (wanted to teach Ben Lo the spear) and in one of his books. Also they hold postures for training (CMC and Yang Cheng Fu. CMC lays out holding lift hands and Wang PeiSheng's disciple calls it pile driiving stance in Northern Wu style).

I think these are the so-called secrets that really are quite simple but have a profound effect on your training.

That tape sounds great. I have some old clippings of one of the family members doing the long form and the postures are deep and quite good.

People who say that the Yang Cheng Fu line is only for health have simply never been taught the jiben gong or been exposed to a lot of areas in the system. Fu Zhong Wen's son, in China's Living Treasures tape even exposes their singlel posture fajing training.

The Yang Cheng Fu line of taiji is underestimated and under appreciated in its basic training regarding fighting.

[GroungJing]

You know it !

[RAF]

http://www.chipellis.com/videos/videos.htm

Pictures of two man spear set
http://www.chipellis.com/Pictures/Spear-Set/spear_set.htm

http://www.chipellis.com/Pictures/Spear-Set-2/spear_set_2.htm

They are using staffs in the picture. You can read th following:
http://www.chipellis.com/Writings/TAIJI%20STAFF.pdf


Posture pictures:
http://www.chipellis.com/Pictures/comparitive-pics/comparitive-pics.htm

Courtesy of Wereduck, Emptyflower Forum

[Syd]

RAF,

Well said, I've been guilty of describing the YCF forms as health oriented and I actually love performing the long 108. I don't ever deny that Yang Cheng Fu was a gifted Taiji master, not at all. If anything it's more about what Yang Cheng Fu Taijiquan, as is practiced today by many, that leads me to the Health art statement.

If people are being taught the Yang Cheng Fu curriculum as a martial art then I think thats excellent and these are not of the same cloth as many other groups training Yang Cheng Fu's forms today.

Groundjing...

If this is the case with your own training bro, then you have my apologies for any missunderstanding regarding your lineage and art as it stands today.

Best, Syd

[RAF]

Syd:

Please don't take it personally, I was really painting with a broad stroke brush.

Part of the problem is that traditionalists tend to hold back much of the foundational training and I understand why but the consequences lead to what many believe about Yang Cheng Fu.

CMC must also take some blame for simply telling people that the form and pushing hands is enough. I've seen clips from his early swordplay; he must have known the basics because they train in it. I know he knew the spear but who got it. Robert Smith, if he is all he is cranked up to be with regard to traditional training, should have also known better.

I have seen it in so many places; the person learns the form and goes out and teaches within the first year. They fail to see the depth of the art and also lack the training.

Well, the good thing is much of it is out. I am sure traditionalists will always hold back some part of the training but there is gold in the basics. Knowing a couple of basic training principles coupled with your form will take you further than simply doing the form.

Later.

[Ma_Xu_Zha]

those post with links of chip ellis website were very cool. the website is very good as well.