Sunday, December 18, 2005

Taidong (Taitung), Taiwan Tai Chi Chuan with Wang2 Jin3 Shi4

For more advanced students, there is a rare opportunity to study with Master Wang2 Jin3 Shi4 in Taidong (among many other cities). Master Wang takes a 3-hour train ride from his home city of Kaohsiung to come teach in Taidong two times every month. He is the president of the Southern Taiwan (Kaohsiung) Tai Chi Chuan Association. He studied with Cheng Man-Ching, Huang2 Xing1 Xian1, and continues under Grand Master Ju:2 Hong2 Bin1. Master Wang is a highly skilled martial artist with 50 years of martial arts experience.

Picture ^^^above: Master Wang & Precious
on Jin1men2 Island, Taiwan.

Picture vvv below: Master Ju:2 Hong2 Bin1 & Precious
at the 2004 intermediate coach training course.

Master Wang comes to Taidong Monday afternoon and teaches a class from 11am - 12pm. Another class from 4:30pm - 6:00pm for one on one private sessions. Then a Monday evening class from 7:30 to 10pm which focuses on push hands practice. Tuesday morning from 6am to 8am we practice at Taidong University. Master Wang teaches the Cheng Man-Ching 37 form (left and right sides), Push Hands, Yang Style 108 long form (in the tradition of Yang Cheng Fu), Yang 54 sword form (Cheng Man-Ching tradition), Broad Sword or Sabre, and San1 Shou3 (known as Da Lu practiced in pairs).
Master Wang also teaches in Kaohsiung, Tainan, Shan Hua, Taichung, and Taipei County. In these other cities, Master Wang usually has over 40 students attend his classes. So, having the opportunity to study with him one on one is awesome! Taidong is an awesome place to live as well! Beaches, mountains, laid back, and much smaller than Taiwan's major cities. Check out my friend's blog for cool Taiwan pics and stories: http://stefunk.typepad.com/
Email me about Master Wang's classes in Taidong.

Tai Chi Sword form at 2004 Chung Hwa Bei


Emmet performing a fantastic sword form in the weapons section of the 2004 Chung Hwa Bei, Taipei, Taiwan. Who taught you this form Emmet?

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Taidong (Taitung), Taiwan Tai Chi Chuan

Over 60 people meet every morning at the Taidong Stadium (Ti2 Yu4 Chang2). They begin Chi Gong excercises at 6AM. At 7AM they practice a few rounds of the Cheng Man-Ching 37 form. The head coach is Coach Luo4 (Luo4 Xian Guang). At 7:30 to 8AM they practice Sword. Currently they are learning the 42 sword form.

This is the Taidong County Tai Chi Chuan Association. Beginners wanting to study the Cheng Man-Ching 37 form can attend a free class with Precious every Thursday from 7 to 8:30AM taught in English with some basic Tai Chi vocabulary taught in Chinese as well. Beginning classes are also taught in Chinese by Head Coach Luo at the Taidong Social Eduacation Building (She1 jiao4 guan3) on Monday and Wednesday nights 7:30 to 9PM. At the Taidong Stadium there are often opportunities to push hands every morning beginning around 7:30 to 8:30AM.

Coach Luo is an excellent teacher! He has been studying martial arts since childhood. He focused on Shaolin Gong Fu in his younger days and later changed focus to Tai Chi Chuan. One of my main reasons for moving to Taidong was to study with coach Luo. I first saw Coach Luo at the 2002 All Taiwan Cheng Man-Ching Tai Chi Chuan Meet in Jin1 Shan1. There was a push hands competition and the two finalists were Coach Luo and my teacher of that time from Taichung. My Taichung teacher was of excellent skill... Very soft. I never saw him pushed over before this competition. But in the end, Coach Luo won. I then knew Coach Luo's skill was great. I was happy to later learn that his teaching skills are equal!

Coach Luo teaches with great detail and always includes applications of the postures he teaches. He is also very humble and dedicated to his students. In pushing hands he is very skilled yet very soft. In pushing hands, some teachers forget the student in showing off their own skill. With Coach Luo he always has the students learning in mind and focuses his pushing hands on helping his partner to improve. His humility can be seen in his request that he be called "coach" rather than master.... though his skill far surpasses other teachers I've had that welcome the title of "master".
Contact me by email if you are interested in any of these classes.

Friday, March 25, 2005

The awards ceremony at the 2004 Chung Hua Cup.
Cheng Man-Ching 37 form Champion: Precious James Powell

Saturday, March 19, 2005


Luis Molera competing in moving step push hands in the 2004 Chung Hwa Bei, Taipei, Taiwan.
Visit Luis' website: http://www.taichi-luismolera.de/es/index.htm

Luis performing a Fan form.

Saturday, January 01, 2005

2004 Chung Hwa Cup (Zhong1 Hua3 Bei1) 2004 中華盃


The 2004 Chung Hua Cup was a wonderful experience. Maybe 150 International Tai Chi Players from around the world joined over 500 Taiwanese Tai Chi players. (Photograph: Precious competing in Moving Step Push Hands
by photographer: Emmet Whelan)