Chan Tai Chi Story

The advanced Chinese Kung Fu Tai Chi became known to people in 1850 when the master Yeung brought the Chan’s Tai Chi to Beijing. The combat system was then being taught and study widely in China. Many different forms and streams evolved. One of the best Tai Chi masters ever born was Chan. He taught Tai Chi in Beijing around 1930. His skill was extremely good and yet he was a very nice person.

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.

In 10 minutes time, Chan has finished demonstrating his routines which was a surprise to Lau and his students because it was much quicker than they thought. The Ng’s Tai Chi is very different from the Chan’s and usually it takes them almost an hour to do the similar two routines. Chan did it ten times faster than them and he demonstrated exceptional power in the moves. Some started criticizing his moves like the speed is supposed to be slower and the power was too much. But the master Lau commented it fairly because he saw the moves to be fast yet smooth, powerful yet relaxed. He then practiced ‘push hand’ with Chan and decided to officially learn from him because he saw how good he was.

Among the people who studied Tai Chi from master Chan was Hung. Hung learn the best of Chan’s technique and even improved it. Hung called the improved system the ‘Chan’s Practical Tai Chi’. Hung is one of the most influential people in the Tai Chi history.

A move that Hung improved is the beginning move of the first routine of Chan’s Tai Chi. The move is called the King Kong Pounding. In 1957, Hung visited Chan in Beijing. He took the opportunity to enquire Chan about the King Kong Pounding move. He questioned whether the move can really be practically executed in real combat to handle powerful punches. Chan was positive about it due to his personal experiences. After that Hung modified to move and simplified the uses. Basically, the move is simply to direct opponents punch with right hand forearm and at the same time to twist left arm internally to avoid any possible elbow attack and use opponent’s force to bounce himself away.

Chan had experiences using the move in real situations. When Chan was living in his home town, the town was disturbed by robber’s activities. The governors tried to hire martial artists to guard the town. One of them was Chan. One day another martial artist knew that a Tai Chi master was joining them. He went to challenge Chan. He was sitting on chair and smoking in the house during that time. The martial artist directly came in front of Chan and threw a punch at his chest. Chan immediately stand up but the punch had almost arrived on his body. He executed the King Kong Pounding move. He touched the man’s wrist with his right hand and once he stretched his fingers, the man was bounced back and fell on the ground.