Yes, the good old debate: some people reckon Tai Chi is a good fighting art, some reckon Tai Chi is useless.

In my opinion, Tai Chi when trained properly, is really good for street fighting. Why?

1. We are trained to be free. In a street fight, things could get very chaotic. So having a free mind and free techniques could be an advantage. Locked in rigid techniques could be a disadvantage.
2. We are trained to stay calm. So our mind stays clear to look for ways to get out.
3. We are trained to stay upright. Everyone knows if you fall down on a group fight your head basically becomes the other team's soccer ball.
4. We are trained to be sensitive, to the opponents as well as the enviroment.
5. We are trained to be plyable, hence minimizing damage.
6. We are trained to generate fair lot of power; well, soft power but powerful none the less.
7. We do have a lot of kick azz techniques in our form.

No matter how different we train in different schools and different ideas, most of us do seem to train up these attributes which is useful in street fighting.

Does anyone have further points to add to support this? Or anyone with disagreeing points?

Cheers,
John