In the 50s of the 19th century, the world didn’t know anything about Tai Chi Kung Fu before the grand master Yeung taught Tai Chi in Beijing. The Tai Chi system he taught was called the Chan’s Tai Chi. In the 30s of the 20th century, the famous master Chan was invited to teach Tai Chi in Beijing. His kung fu was so good and personality so kind that people called him the Tai Chi Man.
One of the well known Tai Chi forms is called the Ng’s Tai Chi. Around the time when Chan was teaching Tai Chi in Beijing, there were many people studying the Ng’s form there. A master called Lau and his students heard that Chan was very good, so they decided to invite master Chan to demonstrate his skills. Chan came and started demonstrating his kung fu routines after a brief greeting.
Everyone else were assuming an hour for the observation but turn out he finished in a little bit more than 10 minutes. They marveled at how powerful and quick master Chan’s moves were and started discussing. Some said he was too fast which is not correct according to traditional Tai Chi theory. But the Master Lau knew that although he did the moves fast, they were executed in smooth circle motions and although there were releasing of power, he remained relaxed. He was very humble and decided to learn Tai Chi under Chan.
Chan had many students and many of them were famous taichi masters. One of the most influential persons was Hung. He spend a lot of time and effort studying and refining Chan’s combat system and came up with a modified version called the Chan’s Practical Tai Chi, also known as the Hung’s Tai Chi today.
An example of the refinery is the very first move of the first Tai Chi routine. The move was known as the King Kong Pounding which basically was used to defend opponent’s straight punch and direct the strength to throw the opponent back. In 1957, Chan told Hung about this move and the practical use of it. Hung later modified the move to simply raise right hand forearm with stretched fingers to defend against a right punch attack. And the left hand is twisted inwards and raised in front of the body to defend against elbow attack that may follow.
Hung used to tell a story about this move. During a time in the past, Chan was employed as a martial artist to defend a city due to the robberies there. Another martial artist in town heard the news came for a fight. Chan was smoking in the house with both hands holding something. The man came in and tried to punch Chan right away. Chan used the King Kong Pounding move to contact with his wrist and stretched his fingers. Immediately the man was knocked back and fell out of the door. This is how powerful the simple move can be.
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