By Amanda Huang

Copyright 2006 Yen-nien Daoguan

English Translation copyright 2006 Yen-nien Daoguan

All rights reserved

Ever since I can remember, I have always considered myself to be on the sunny side. I’ve always loved physical exercise and working myself into a good sweat. For me, it always felt as if I had just spent a few hours relaxing in a spa, recharging my batteries and reviving my spirit. I would take any chance I could get to try out different sports, traditional or new, Chinese or Western. But after reaching a certain age, my career as an athlete began to take its toll on my body: increasingly severe lower back and knee injuries eventually forced me to reassess my physical fitness regimen.

Before my retirement as a teacher, I had learned and practiced the basic 24-step, 42-step and 64-step styles of taijiquan, but I hadn’t devoted myself to a serious study of the art. All I did was to join in the early morning exercises in the neighborhood park, and although there was an instructor, no attention was really being paid to the underlying principles of taijiquan, such as proper breathing techniques. We would just follow the instructor’s movements as best we could, with the result that each of us developed his own tentative “style” of performing a given set—groping for but never quite achieving the correct postures. In my search for a qualified instructor, I even contacted the ROC (Taiwan) National Taijiquan Association, and enrolled in the Saturday early morning class taught at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall by the chairman of the Association himself. Although he placed much emphasis on imparting the concepts and theories of Taijiquan, the chairman unfortunately was too busy and often had to cancel the class, or had to call it a day after only a few warm-up exercises. But it was also Chairman Zhan who recommended the Dunhua North Road Gymnasium and told me to go to the opening ceremony of an international martial arts event. For the first time I was able to appreciate a live performance of Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan. The Yangjia Michuan school of Taijiquan revolves around the importance of correct breathing (rhythmical inhalation and exhalation), and the delicately synchronized movements, subtle and relaxed, are elegant without losing any of their martial grandeur. The fluid moves, all executed with a well-controlled force, combine effortlessly to complete set after set with all the magnificent naturalness of an imposing painting of the Yangzi River—flowing on and on, and leaving an indelible impression on my mind. I made some enquiries, and finally I made my way to the Yen-nien Daoguan, starting my Taijiquan education all over again, beginning with the basic bending forward exercises. It was in the summer of 2002 that I began my life as a Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan novice.

Three years flew by, and before I knew it I had mastered sections 1, 2, and 3, Tuishou and Yen-nien Taiji Fan practice. In addition, I had become better acquainted with the inner workings of the Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan School, its people and affairs. I feel like having unexpectedly come upon the most precious treasure, and hope no one will mind if I take this opportunity to share my joy and excitement with others.

First off, I have to praise Old Master Wang Yen-nien’s perseverance in imbuing Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan with new life, setting new goals and new functions for this school.

I have repeatedly read the venerable Master’s biography, as well as his personal letters, notes and recorded oral reminiscences. All these materials have instilled in me a deep admiration and reverence for Master Wang. It is an almost overwhelming task to pass on such a longstanding tradition to the next generation, to inherit the past and usher in the future as Master Wang has been doing for 60 years now. Only a very small number of people with utter devotion to their cause, willing to work hard and sacrifice their personal comfort and pleasures, may achieve such a feat. Plodding ahead without financial or other support from the government, relying only on his own energy and efforts, taking one small step at a time, Master Wang was able to spread the Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan tradition not just in Asia, but even to America and Europe. Taijiquan schools and teacher training centers were, and still are, set up around the globe as the movement keeps growing with Master Wang Yen-nien firmly at the helm—and that is truly a staggering achievement. What he probably deserves the most praise for is how he managed to push through vital reforms and sweep aside the thousand-year old spirit of Taijiquan as “a means to dominate the weak and rule through martial arts.” Master Wang injected the softer, more flexible philosophy of Daoism into the art, calling on adepts to “overcome the limitations of a practice that aims solely at winning competitions and garnering applause, and focus rather on the quality and meaning of life.” He advocates “a modern definition of Taijiquan’s purpose and goal that stresses physical and spiritual cultivation to maintain a healthy, happy, and open-minded outlook on life.” Like few others could and would have done, Master Wang adapted Taijiquan to our changing times, reinterpreting its venerable tradition and turning it from a strictly competitive activity into something that breathes the spirit of harmony and well being. It took a lot of courage to do this, and only someone of Master Wang’s standing and reputation could have pulled it off. But the truth is, what I am most in awe of is that someone well into his nineties, instead of resting on his laurels and resisting further change, can sustain such an open mind and absorb the zeitgeist and wisdom of a new age.

The second thing I genuinely admire is the atmosphere among all members of the Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan movement of “honoring one’s teacher and cherishing his teachings.”

“He who teaches me, even for just one day, is my father for life”—this concept, though it has a 5,000-year history, has largely been lost in today’s school and campuses. But not in the Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan School! Here the spirit of reverence and respect is still very much alive. Since Master Wang’s wife passed away and his children have grown up, he has mostly been under the care of his students. After a life of teaching and promoting Taijiquan, even Master Wang is no longer quite as strong and healthy as before, yet there is always someone to look after him and see to his needs. At every large-scale event or activity sponsored by the Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan School, one can see the old Master, cheerful and content, surrounded by a throng of his students; every time an important decision has to be made in the Association, everybody still looks for Master Wang for guidance and direction, and students will frequently lend financial support to new projects and events. When Wang Yen-nien explains certain postures and movements, or expounds on the theory of Taijiquan, you can always see his students watch and listen with spellbound attention, the expressions on their faces a mixture of humble respect and thirst for knowledge. And this goes for both domestic and international students.

Although I don’t have very much personal contact with Master Wang, yet practicing my moves to a recording of his classes and listening to his hints and commands, some of them in Taiwanese, I get the impression that he is quite sprightly and even a bit mischievous—strict but not severe -- the type of teacher students warm up to easily. In the end, it has to be the power of education that allows a large organization like the Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan School to be so thoroughly permeated with respect for teachers and learning that it becomes a positive subconscious attitude, a natural habit of all those involved. One thing I noticed is how any instruction material, pamphlet or other publication associated with Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan will infallibly go to considerable lengths to introduce, right on the first page, the origins and history of the Yang Family Hidden Tradition in much detail. This is a clear indication of how seriously Master Wang has always taken his great responsibility to pass on this wonderful and longstanding tradition to the next generation. Inspired by their teacher’s unassuming and polite attitude, as well as his persistent teaching by example, all students may, through diligent practice of Taijiquan’s quiet, supple movements, cultivate a calm and peaceful manner. Well aware of the benefits they are reaping, students feel a further increased reverence for Master Wang and his down-to-earth, courteous style, and over time identification with shared values and ideas leads to a sense of belonging and gratitude that it has become very hard to foster in modern communities and organizations. Therefore I am all the more touched when I see how my fellow classmates regard Master Wang with such deep veneration and treat him not only like the outstanding teacher he is, but also, and more importantly, like a father.

The third thing I would like to commend here are the firm roots that Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan has in martial arts theory, and the sheer beauty of the diction and language found in the school’s canonical works.

After I had only just finished my first class, I already knew that I would have to set some time aside to study my lessons really well. That was because even the most basic warm-up exercises, such as “bending forward from the waist”, “bending left/right from the waist,” or “left/right waist punch” had been analysed carefully and taught in small steps by the instructor, who also demanded that we should pay minute attention to balance and weighting, and fully and accurately execute all moves. Steps should be relaxed, the center of gravity firm, gyrating or stretching action unforced but complete. When squatting on one leg, the instructor would explain, in perfect accordance with sports-kinematic principles, how one had to distribute one’s weight and maintain overall balance while raising the other leg at a specific angle. When we started doing actual sets, the instructor wouldn’t just tell us “how to do it,” or what the set of moves looked like, he would also wait until even the last of the students was able to repeat the moves on his own in perfect agreement with the teacher’s rhythmic breathing mantra. I kept making surprising discoveries: it made a difference how high you raised your foot, or in which direction you aimed with a kick; there was an arcane quality in the subtle fluid motions into which either the raised flat or the horizontally aligned hand would almost imperceptibly segue many times during a given set; when making a half-step forward with one hand pushing outward, your torso would either straighten up or bend downwards, depending on how you adjusted the center of gravity…this was all very interesting and enlightening! What astonished me the most, though, was how our instructor was able to describe even the most esoteric and hard-to-explain concepts in the most snappy and adequate terms. Take this illustration of the proper amount of exertion: “Not a bird’s feather may be added, nor a fly’s weight be dropped. One should stand straight as an arrow and yet be lithe as a cat, and the energy (Qi) should run smoothly through one’s system, reaching every last atom. One's movements should yield a strength that is determined and vigorous—like tempered steel, so that nothing can withstand it. The moves should have the force of an eagle pouncing on a hare, with the agility and grace of a cat catching a mouse. When still, be as the mountain! When in movement, be like the river! Store energy like drawing a bow, release it like letting loose the arrow…” Can you imagine a more heroic spirit, a more vivid description? How could someone not be moved by such language!

I am by no means a senior student of the Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan School, and seeing that my level of competence is still rather low, I do not wish to further bore anybody with my shallow insights. But one thing I can state without exaggeration, and that is that I have learned a lot about Taijiquan in my classes, and have done so with much pleasure and enjoyment. What’s more, I have also learned much about the good in other people. One thing is for certain: I will practice this “sport,” along with others, until the end of my life. Yangjia Michuan Taijiquan has truly lighted another light in my life!

Huang Shuying

2005.08.23

Taipei