Chan Tai Chi Story

Tai Chi was originated in Chan Ja Gou in China and therefore called the Chan’s Tai Chi. No one knew about Tai Chi before 1850 when Tai Chi was first brought to Beijing by master Yeung. Until 1930s when the legendary tai chi master Chan Fa Ke came to Beijing, there were already many people teaching different styles of Tai Chi. Chan has the incredible skills and techniques that not only made him a legend but also a treasure to all his students.

During that time there were some people practicing Ng’s Tai Chi in Beijing and were quite famous. They heard about master Chan and his skills, so they invited him for some cultural exchange and sharing. After they greeted each other, they invited Master Chan to show them his Taichi routines. Master Chan did not refuse and immediately started doing his routines. After that he was leaving.

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.

One of Chan’s students was Master Hung who later became a really important person is the development of Taichi Kung Fu. Hung learnt the essence of Chan’s Kung Fu and improved the whole system and called it Practical Tai Chi.

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.

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