A dash of background

Week three!

Hi,
in todays class Sifu John mentioned a name of a Tai Chi master. Cheng Man-ch’ing, or also written as Zeng Man Qing. Well, to be honest, I was not sure who that was. So I did a quick search and here is very, very briefly what I can come up with: Master Cheng lived from 1901 to 1975 in China. He is most famous for creating the 37 posture short form. The number of postures a form can have vary a lot, depending on the master and the style. There are also, for instance, 24, 42, 48 and 108 posture forms. Despite being a master in martial arts, Cheng Man-ch’ing was also known as a master of excellence of five, as there are also painting, poetry, calligraphy, and medicine. His ‘life story’ sounds coming straight out of a cheap Hollywood production. Cheng Man-ch’ing was first introduced to Tai Chi by his doctor. The doctor recommended Tai Chi to Cheng as a relief from his incurable lung disease. Cheng studied hard and was a good student. He not only learned how to Tai Chi, but cured his heavy disease and became a master. That is a somewhat great achievement, I’d say. Well, and even if you don’t have a incurable disease, you are welcome to learn Tai Chi with us. Non-regarding to what personal benefit.

Hope you still enjoy the classes!
Cheers,

sven


Monash Tai Chi Chuan Club, Melbourne
Ps.: have a look at Sifu John’s website if you like: http://yellowbamboohk.com/