There appears to me to be a huge misunderstanding on what the taolus are for among forummers. Therefore, I offer this essay I wrote for an magazine a century ago to clarify a few things.




Forms, sets, routines, patterns, there are many terms which one use today for this. The Japanese calls them kata, Koreans name them poomse. Yet for all its names, taolus are one of the most misunderstood things within martial arts. A taolu is a series of movements strung together which would contain and opening, a process and an end, often broken up into several sections. Yet strangely, very few people understand their purpose or their value. A popular belief is that these series of movements was a systematic method of recording. For most martial artists in the ancient world who are mostly illiterates and can't write down their knowledge onto paper, grouping movements into sets allows for easier storage in their memories. Others believe that these are a form of meditation in movements. That the movements themselves mean very little but it is the mental tranquility and calmness while performing these movements is what's important. Some even goes as far as to simply dismiss them all together, believing that they are no purpose at all but to look good and performance. Nothing can be further from the truth to say that the taolus serves no purpose at all. If anything, the systemization of Chinese martial arts is based upon them.

The Foundation of Taolu

If one look into the history of combat, one will see that taolu only started to appear during the early Ming dynasty of China. Before that, martial arts one generally practiced as many different separate movements such as punch, kicks, blocks and takedowns. Fighting occurred when one put these separate techniques together during the engagement. The key to victory during this time is how well you apply one move. Namely, a “one strike one kill� philosophy is applied. However, a breakthrough this method of practice occurred sometime around 700 years ago – the invention of sequenced movements. One should know that the appearance of taolus were not by chance. Rather, one can think of the situation in the context predicting the opponent’s reaction to one’s attack.

If one was to attack an opponent in the face area, it is only logical that they will perform a technique to block, deflect or evade it. After several times of not being able to hit the target, one would start to think about what to do when this situation occurs again. The origin of this can probably be traced back to some of the most influential words from military classics that that of Sunzi Bingfa (孫�兵法, Sun Tzu’s Art of War). Namely to attain victory before the actual engagement. This victory is to predict the enemy’s movement or reaction and to have a counter ready to be executed for this. There is an old saying in martial arts “there is no technique that is unbreakable, only speed is unbreakable�. The “speed� in this idiom is not the speed of the body. Rather, it is a speed of thought. What this means is that if one are able to predict how the opponent is going to move, one can move before they do and intercept or evade them before they can fulfill the intention of the technique. In term of martial arts, to know that any move that the opponent makes in order avoid getting hit would mean a certain change in their body’s alignment or positioning. It is from this new position that one can apply another technique. For example, if the opponent raises their left hand to deflect the incoming attack, then it would mean that the lower-left area of their body would be open for attack.

To win before the fight is not necessarily limited to predicting openings of an opponent. Rather, it is just as must a benefit to manipulate the opponent so that they will move in a way that can allow oneself to be in a better position within the fight hence gaining strategic dominance. This can be done through actions of distraction such that they must move in a certain way so that they can avoid being struck or forcibly moving the opponent’s body like pushing and grappling on their limps. On a deeper level, one can manipulate not only the body but the mind. For example, to strike at random areas would mean the opponent’s attention would be drawn to that area. That focus would lead to them losing sight of the bigger picture of the fight thereby allowing different techniques to be applied elsewhere. There are many applications as to how one can win before the fight and I shall talk more about them in other articles.

When one combine many of these predictions, reactions and proactive engagement possibilities together, one can formulate an overall strategy of fighting that can allow us to predict all the moves of the opponent from the start to the finish of the fight. Each move leads onto the next due to the fact that the opponent has not other choice by the follow the sequence in which one manipulate them to. From this, taolus are formed.

So why are there so many of them ?

There is a fine line however, between the strategy of the taolus, and dogma in using them. One should know that although the taolus can give us a fair advantage in anticipating the opponent’s moves, there are still far too many unpredictable things that could happen in a fight. One should never be fixated in the completion of one taolu. Rather, they must have the ability to change in the middle should the situation calls for it. This is the reason why there are so many taolus that are in existence. Through the years of trial and error, the martial artists of the past have found many different possibilities of using one’s body in a strategic manner. And from this a new line of attack is created. For example, a pingquan (平拳, straight punch) in the gongbu (弓步, bow stance) is pretty common for many styles. Yet how your opponent will react may not be consistent with the moves of that particular taolu. Does that mean that one will be completely incapacitated during a fight if such thing occurs? The answer is the ability to change to another taolu that has the answer of breaking the opponent’s unplanned technique. One can also change strategy just to throw the opponent off so that they can’t anticipate our move. Throughout an actual engagement, it is possible to use only one move from different taolus and never completely any sequence laid down by the forms. What is important is not the actual surfacing of these techniques but the potential of using residing within oneself.

The Values

Generally, we can see a handful of reason as to why one should engage in taolu preservation. The first of course is tradition. The practice of these sequential movements has been passed on to us by our forefathers. Being inheritors of this medium of an ocean of wisdom means that we have an obligation to preserve them. Considering the importance of taolu in Chinese martial arts, to break this tradition is to break our very identities as Chinese martial artist. Note that this have nothing to do with fighting itself. One should think of this level are more like the preservation of things like calligraphy where it is a matter of culture. Even if it was just for sentimental reasons, their continuing existence is nothing less than passing on the flames of the Chinese heritage. A more practical reason is its comprehensiveness of effective techniques. As stated before, martial arts was founded upon trial and error. Some techniques while seem logical on paper may not be so when put into practice. Taolus contain most of the techniques executable by the human body. But what is important is that every one of the techniques found in the taolu was never there just for show. That they have been tested by the harsh competitive environment of ancient China. Moves that didn’t work or was too easily broken would have not survived to be placed into the taolus in the first place. Some moves may not really occur to one who has not been in a number of actually combat. But as those who composed these taolus did, they are not bounded by what ‘looks good’ and therefore would place them in and enriches the taolu itself in a way we may not understand initially. Lastly, it is the tactical wisdom that are hidden within the taolu. As noted before, taolus were constructed with tactics in mind. The ability to plan ahead and defeat an opponent before a fight begins. Because of the abundance of taolu, almost every possibility of how a fight can unfold is already taken in to account. By studying taolus, we can see how people think and how they react physically and mentally, what can be done against in these situations as well as the construction and anatomy of the human body.

Why are some Techniques in Taolus so Flashy ?

A lot of traditional techniques do look flashy and it is easy to think of them as being ineffective. However as stated before, all moves found in a taolu are undoubtedly effective. So why does there exist these moves that so obviously have no apparent application. It is actually quite interesting that one’s judgment of them being unpractical means that these moves have already served their purpose. As noted before, one of the fundamental reasons to why taolus were composed in the first place was to gain tactical dominance against an opponent. The way to gain this dominance is the ability to predict the opponent’s intentions and counter the techniques which they use. This also means that if one cannot predict the opponent’s intentions, then they will lose that edge in battle and not know how to defend against it. This is the main reason to why a great deal of techniques has been slightly modified to look useless. They were designed to conceal the intentions of these movements and thereby not allowing enemies who might have been spying on one’s training of taolu to see what they are doing.

Note that this is not in contradiction to my previous statement as to all the techniques found in taolus are effective. Just because they are modified does not make them any less effective. As long as the intention behind the techniques have been taught along with the techniques themselves and the move is practiced with the technique in mind, the effectiveness is not lost. The key to turning just moves into actual combat techniques is and always will be to practice against an opponent. It is these that are often done behind closed doors which is why Chinese martial arts community has always been steep in secrecy and myths.

Characteristics

In most cases, many taolus would be training a specific area. Some were design for developing firm stance, others may look to striking, some for locking, counter-locking, different movements of the body developing jumping and kicking skills. special tactical disposition, close or long range, etc These all form certain characteristics of that specific taolu. When practicing them, one should bear in mind what the overall context of the taolu is operating in. Same techniques, performed under different contexts may be slightly different. Affect the requirements for the accuracy, speed and power.

Because of the development of Chinese martial arts, some taolus are known to have been exchanged between styles over the centuries. For example, the taolu named Wuhuquan (五虎拳) are known to exist in both the MIzongquan of Cangzhou and Yingzhua Fanziquan. While the general sequence is almost identical, one would find that there are minute differences in the two versions. Because of the different style of both systems, Wuhuquan would be changed accordingly to suit the overall requirement of that specific style. When practicing taolus such as this, one should be mindful of this.

The Downside

Like all things, taolus today have a great number of faults hidden within them. The fact is, taolus were passed down by human, and humans sadly are far from perfect. Human’s imperfections have affected Chinese martial arts in a number of ways. First is the simple problem of forgetfulness. Although systemization of techniques through the composition of taolus are indeed a good way of remembering them, there are just so many taolus in some systems that in this day and age, a great number of them are partially or even completely forgotten before any form of documentations were made. This means that what are preserve today are already lacking in terms of usable techniques as well as tactical possibilities. The second is modifications of taolus. This modification can come in two ways. Understanding and not understanding the intentions behind the moves. For those who understand the intentions of the techniques, one should bear in mind that due to the different physiques of people, techniques must be modified a little on the individual level just to be able to apply them correctly. However because of this modification, techniques will start to look less and less like their original form which will lead to the second problem. The second is the lack of understanding of the intentions behind the moves. The secretive nature of martial arts schools in China means that many of the original intentions of the moves were only taught to a selected few. And even for those, the quality of the sifu as a teacher will directly affect how well a student understands the technique. Because of the lack of understanding, some people eventually would judge certain moves as being impractical and thereby changing it to what they believe to be better. Thus further distorting the intentions of the overall tactical sequence. Lastly there are the taolus or techniques modified in traditional taolus that were made for performance uses only. Without the environment of struggling for victory which the ancient warriors had, these taolus lacks the solid foundation of what real ones should have as a fighting sequence. When mixing these with the genuine traditional forms, we will have people who only have half knowledge about actual tactical approach to combat in Chinese martial arts. Sadly, this is often what can be seen in today’ world.

The Practice of Taolu

When practicing Chinese martial arts through taolus, one needs to bear several things in mind. First is the understanding of the moves that are being executed. Without understanding the intentions behind that moves, there are no reason to practice them in the first place. The second is the necessity to practice the intentions. What this means is to practice them as if facing off against an enemy. To accomplish this, one needs to be aware three things – ying (形, posture), fa (法, technique) and gong (功, effectiveness).

The mastery of any taolu goes through three stages. Each taolu is like a book in which sets out a story of how a fight occurs. When one attempts to acquire the knowledge of this book, the first stage is often memorization. This is the state in which a student simply imitates the movements taught by the teacher with nothing more than the goal to be able to replicate them in the future. There is an old Chinese saying of:


What this means is that a student must repeatedly practice a taolu a thousand folds before the movements are truly stored into his mind. In modern words, they become muscle memory. Once one has memorized the sequence of techniques, they then must look to understand it. This understanding comes through the knowledge of how each technique is used as well as the tactical disposition which it creates. Once each technique as well as the overall tactic is understood one will understand the subtle differences between an imitation of techniques and practicing them. Small differences in angle, time and rhythm of the movements, the control of one's breath, the strength of force and positions of the body. These are all things are mere observation will not yield. This allows the practitioners enter the last stage in which one practices the taolu with an imaginary opponent in mind. It is the picture of the enemy reacting as the taolu's tactics prepares for. At this stage, it is common for one's mind to not be able to keep up with the movement of the body and one can often revert back to merely repeating the techniques. Throughout this process, three concepts must always be in one's mind during each practice. These are Ying, Gong and Fa.

Ying (å½¢)

Ying is the most basic of all and often requires rigorous training during the early stages of a martial artist's path. Simply put, posture is the form when the body is not in motion. How a fist is held, each stance, etc all of which have a unique requirements for their ying to be correct. Such requirements were constructed as a means of accomplishing a certain intended use. For example, a gongbu there is a requirement for the back leg to remain straight. This was designed as a means of maximizing the forward force. Additionally, the front leg must be turned inwards as a means to defend any kicks towards to groin area. There are many of these requirements if every single posture that one must be able to perfect during their initial stage of training. However, as one develops their martial arts ability through the decades of training, the intentions of the ying could eventually be exercised despite the fact that the body might not exactly meet the requirements. From this, the practitioner should be able to have more flexibility in terms of their movements when both practicing and using. Indeed, one must remember that it is the intention of martial arts that is important. Not the martial arts itself.

Fa (法)

Fa, or technique, is the movement that occurs in between the each ying. It is important to understand this as the same end product might have been the result of two completely different techniques. For example, if one was standing in a left gongbu and was holding their right liquan (立拳) in front of them, it could have been the result of a great number of techniques. Be it a simple straight punch, a smashing punch, a backhand or even a swinging action. The fa of course are some of the more easier applicable concepts when dealing with martial arts because these are the actual movements that would be applied into combat. As with the ying, each fa was design with some form of combative intention. What one should bear in mind however is that what looks like the same technique may actually have a completely different one when looked into terms of their intended effects. As noted before, a technique cannot be seen in isolation. Rather, one must be able to understand how to come to be in the context of the entire taolu. Thereby practicing the technique with the minute differences which differs it from the other.

Gong (功)

Lastly, when talking about role of gong or effectiveness, it is important to further divide this concept into three other concepts of zhun, (準, accuracy), su (速, speed) and jing (�, power). None of these are as simply as they first appear as neither is actually meaning what we commonly refer to when using these words. Rather, it is the deeper level that one must attend to when practicing taolu.

In terms of zhun, or accuracy, the ability to strike the intended area would of course be the basic requirement. Unless specified otherwise, most strikes tend to aim towards the center line. However this alone is not enough. This is because the path which the strike takes is also important as the path in which a strike travels through would directly determine where one’s arm, leg or the rest of the body would be. This means that the travel path can mean the difference between whether or not one’s strike will be effectively deflected/redirected or hitting the target. An example would be if the elbow is pushed to one side, the hand itself would follow. A number of techniques hidden within the taolus contain defenses against counters such as this. Allowing the technique to achieve its goal. Another level of accuracy is about the overall body alignment and positioning. Chinese arts have been known to utilize a great deal of bodily mechanics to generate the strength required as well as the ability uproot an opponent can be found in the accuracy of one’s advancing techniques and stance positioning. So the question of accuracy does not necessarily have to be about striking the target. Rather it is the overall effect of the correct movement of the body. Accuracy of the movements is also a determining factor as to whether or not the next move in the sequence makes sense. If the body alignments are inaccurate, the enemy would move in a different manner as predicted thereby rendering the next technique tactically unsound.

Su, or speed does not mean fast. When practicing a taolu, the question of speed is often a question of rhythm as opposed to moving as fast as possible. Some techniques were designed to operate slower than others. Some techniques requires haste, some may need short bursts while others may need a continuous flow of actions. How fast a technique should be performed is often determined by the technique itself, the intention of it and amount of the body’s movement involved as well as the type of force behind it. Other reason why some techniques should be performed at a slower rhythm is the level of complexity involved. Due to the number of areas a body is moving for some of these moves, it is necessary to slow down when performing them in order to give oneself more time to analyze and perform corrections as one is practicing them. Some systems famous of having built most taolus on this principle would be Taijiquan and Liuhe Bafaquan. Note that this is not limited to ‘internal’ styles, many ‘external’ ones also apply this, but their ‘slow’ may still be fast. Speed is all relative. Some techniques require variation of speed performing them which is often due to the different forms of forces utilized in this one move. In many cases, they would start out slowly, speed up during the process and then slow back down as it reaches the end, each section using a different kind of power. Lastly, one should remember that a taolus is not design to be non-stop. There are areas where one should take a short break from the movement which can give time for one to rest. The tactical implication for this kind of breaks is that the move following it may either be a reactionary technique which require the opponent to move in a certain way before being able to be applied, or that the technique itself may already have placed the fight in a position where there are indeed a short movement of stillness. An example of such moments is when placing the opponent in a joint lock which is escapable but the lock itself has already broken the flow of movements of the opponent.

Lastly it is matter of jing, also known as power. Chinese martial arts unlike most others have a large number of different form of power which supports either different or even the same techniques. A single technique which uses a different form of power will have different effects on the target. Causing them to react differently that will assist the use of the next technique in the taolu. Some powers used by striking on the surface, some strikes deep, some uses just the arm’s strength, some just the wrist while some uses the entire body. The direction in which the strike comes from may also alter the intended power. It is only when one understands the power involved that they will be able to exercise the intention behind the move. If we use the idea of a sky scraper as martial arts and the accuracy being the framework, then the power would most certainly be the base of the building.

It should be noted that that these three things are actually not what one should have in mind as they progress further up the level of martial arts training. Rather, they are merely things that one should be able to perform correctly without thought. What is one should bear in mind is the strategy and tactics involved in the taolu. These are merely factors of supporting the tactics.

Taolu is a uniques aspect in the Eastern art, I won't dispute that; however, it is hard to find out how useful Taolu is in proportion to the time taken to practice it.

For foundation it is extremely useful as it give people a method and a standard to train.

For techniques, taolu when treated correctly can be useful as a texbook or a dictionary to one's technique. Nonetheless, knowing taolu does not mean one knows how to actually apply the techniques he learns from taolu. It is just stupid to fight in forms when the battlefield is moving so fast. Like dictionary, it is only useful when one knows the grammar and how to put the words into a sentence.

Beside taolu, one must also practice in real time fighting in order to learn the grammar, if not taolu becomes a dead art so is the whole martial art, and sadly this is the trend of Chinese martial art development.

Yi Quan was a school without taolu and focused on realy time fighting; however, because it did not have taolu, the practice of it became so relaxed that there were no underlining principles, and eventually nobody knew anything about it anymore.

Thus one cannot put too much time on taolu and neglect actually fight and vice versa. However for an individual it is more beneficial to put more time on sparring with real people then taolu.

Actually, the is only because people practice it blindly. Without an understanding of the overall tactical doctrine of the system or the application of the taolu, there will be no Quanyi. And without instilling Quanyi into your practice, you are effectively waving your arms around.



That is exactly the fault of most of the world's CMA practitioners. They imitate the movements. But they never move beyond imitation alone. When practicing, it is important to 'see' the enemy react and know how your taolu's predisposition has accounted for and countered that reaction. This is actually much more difficuit than people think. Most people who tries it will find they their body moves much faster than their minds and their visualization are unable to keep up. Thus they revert back to just waving their arms. I actually think that this ability is more abuot the innate intellectual capacity of an individual rather than how hard one works.



Firstly as noted, speed is relative. Secondly, speed is nothing if the enemy intercepts your intention, not your movement. This means before you even pull your hand for a punch, the enemy has already stopped you from pulling because they have anticipated and countered accordingly. That is what taolu is about. Lastely, speed becomes non-existant when you enemy is applying pressure to your body and thus you need to push back to stop yourself being stumped.



Ironically, despite having practice Yiquan myself, I found that every single Yiquan practitioner has a 3-step mind. Meaning they are unable to think of what to do beyond a combo of 3 moves. This is the core detriment of people who doesn't practice taolu. Their minds are stagnated and operate on the primitive 'one-strike-on-kill' philosophy. Most marketed Yiquan schools trys to suppliment this fault by putting people to intensed sparring. But all this does is reinforce their 3-step mind, operating on reaction and sapping their ability to strategize during combat. Sadly, modern day martial arts generally prefers this doctrine which is actually quite sad.



That is like saying running is important in a race so people don't need to learn how to walk. No, taolu sets up what fighting is. And fighting is a matter of approprietly application of the taolus

Not quite. There is nothing about a taolu can intercept anything, unless you know way before hand abut what your opponent is going to do, which you can't know until you touch. "Feeding hand" is not a good practice. The direction and the change of it is depend on the feeling of the touch. This is essential the "listening" theory. Using taolu in a fight disregaring the feeling is illogical and ineffective. Taolu cannot train the listening; only sparing can.


Except the fact that taolu is nothing like walking. Everybody can punch and kick, even a kid can, but what they do not know is how to apply the punch and kick in different situtations and to generate better power. Taolu is about give a person vocabularies, but whether he can use them in a sentence is entirely depended on his understanding og grammar. The reason why sparring is more beneficial is because grammar is live and vocabulary is dead.

There is a saying "when fighting there should be no opponent; when practice [taolu] there is an opponent". The 2 feelings are completely different. Imagine a scenario where a boxer who never learn any taolu vs a person who practice taolu more than actually fighting. My bet is the boxer will win because he has experience in fighting whereas the other person does. Spending too much time on taolu is "talking war on paper". I'm not suggesting that we do not practice taolu anymore; what I'm saying is the development of Chinese martial is too focus on taolu and the application of the art is trough the mouth but not the arms, and eventually it will become a myth.

Taking too much time on taolu is why the large schools- shaolin, wudang, etc- are dying; they've become preformers instead of martial artists.

I don't usually talk anything about martial art, as there is no point to talk at all; however since we are talking about development, I'm willing to share.

You should read the article again. Because the developement of taolu was a direct result of people becoming smarter and being able to predict enemy movements as well as forcing a move.



If it wasn't useful, it won't even exist.
The question is just a matter if one has practiced it enough to make it work.


Correct. But the taolu will teach you what to do after you've established the direction of the force through listening.



If you read the article carefully, you will see that the taolu is the story.
You words indicates that you have never practiced taolus with the emphasis of zhun, su and jing in mind.


Only for those who never attempts to apply their taolu in combat.


I prefer to imagine one practices his taolu, understands what they mean, applies them into combat. Thats a much less sterotype.



No, they are dead already because of the cultural revolution.

More importantly Ashura, taolu's usage is not one taolu from top to bottom. Maybe you didn't read it carefully enough. I will post it again.

If we keep talking, we will eventually come to a bad Chinese habit, "the door". That's why I said I didn't want to talk in the first place. All I'm doing is sharing my experience with you, and if you have to give me the door just because I don't agree with the effectiveness of taolu then so be it. Just a reminder, if you read what I said, you will find that I agree that taolu has its use but disagree that it equals to Chinese martial art. There are much more to it than taolu. Here is my last reply to your points:


Just because you wrote the article, doesn't mean that you are right. Taolu is a concentration of techniques and through which people can practice by themselves without a partner. You cannot predict the enemy with a set of taolu in mind in actual combat because the enemy is always changing.


Again didn't say it wasn't useful, but a different kind of usefulness.


No matter how many time you practice it, if you still can't apply it in actualy combat, it is meaningless. If you don't practice in sparring, you can't apply taolu in actual combat. Even "application of taolu" is wrong because combat is about techniques, not taolu.


Then how do you establish the listening?


Only those who never spar use taolu in combat. Combat is live and is always changing, whereas taolu is dead and static. If you have to break up each taolu into different segments in combat then there is no point to talk about "taolu" as it does not suit the definition anymore. The breaking up of taolu means taolu no longer exist, and in the time of combat you are "empty". If you do research on martial art theories, in particular the Mantis theory, that is the state of mind everybody wants and needs to achieve.

I never said it does. This article is purely on what taolu is about. I havnt even started on the purpose and stages of sparring. Or the need for the development of Gongfa, or the anatomical, cosmological understanding in order to grasp CMA as a whole. But taolu is the backbone from which all others exists to support. And taolu's existance is very much the key to the tactical dotrine that is the essense of each system.


Incorrect, the taolu is not just a collection of techniques. That is only for beginners. Even at the intermediate stage, one must already being to cultivate their understanding on the reason behind the sequential nature of the taolu. And that sequence exists because it is a story of which how a fight exists from start to finish. How the enemy move is predicted and the taolu's next move was designed to counteract it.


Which is why there are so many taolu. A good system spent decades if not centuries in actual combat in experiencing how enemy reacts and how they can be forced to act. This collection of ideas are then grouped together to form an overall approach to a fight of which the taolu is based upon. Thus, each taolu generally trains a quasi-specific tactical approach.


Have you never heard of the saying 既得藝，必試敵?
You always try it out on people. But without being able to fully master a taolu, there is no chance you will ever apply it correctly.


This is the 3-step mind I was talking about. The technique part of fighting is no longer what combat is 'about'. Competence of the techniques is a pre-requisite. Not a goal. A fight is about who is able to out-strategise the enemy. Techniques are merely there to put the strategy into action.


No, intermediate students or lower applies individual techniques. Which are just sanshou. Advance level students should apply all the taolus at once and as one. The key difference is that advance students no longer as 'breaks' in their engagement. Flexibility in the application of taolus is the key.


Actually, even in a system as aggressive and unforgiving as Tanglangquan, an 'empty mind' is just intermediate level training. It is for people to get a 'feel' for battle. But as one progress, they should start to learn how to calmly strategise and set traps for the enemy even in the heat of battle. This calmness in the face of chaos is one of the hardest thing to achieve. But personally, I also think it is the greatest asset.

Wujiang your wide knowledge of Chinese martial arts especially on forms "taolu" is worth praising. Many people now a days have very little understanding and interest on what taolus are. For me aside from all that you have mention, taolu are the blueprint and identity as to who we are what martial school or martial style we belong too it helps develop our martial identity and not just learning and developing generic punching and kicking.

The effectiveness of taolu in fighting is no doubt usefull and I say this because I was fortunate enough to be a student of an original martial master who understood the relationship and effectiveness of taolu in fighting in which I myself use it in training to compete in a martial art sparring tournament "lei tai" back in the 70s and successfully defeated nine other fighters.

Taolu is just one part of traditional martial art training, other components include actual sparring, conditioning of the body to withstand blows, conditioning of the fist and feet to deliver powerful penetrating strikes, conditioning the forearm & shin, conditioning etc. etc. all these are part and parcel of training. Training in Traditional Chinese martial arts was originally design that is comparable to today's special forces it is not a kids playground or a day care center it is a boot camp only the best and strong move on to be the best fighters.

It is just unfortunate to see the decline of traditional martial arts.

Hi Wujiang, I appreciate the effort in which you have written this article. But unfortunately I find this article incomplete and partially incorrect. I will try to add some points of (constructive) criticism here.

In my own opinion, Taolu (or kuen as I know the term) is created for multiple purposes:

1. To preserve the arsenal of individual techniques of a particular system/style in the future.
2. To hand over a basic foundation of the essence and the energy of a particular system/style.
3. To teach the student how to walk.
4. To teach the student how to combine several *BASIC* techniques and postures.
5. To ensure the student practices all the techniques and postures of a system equally and therefore ensures that a firm foundation can be formed before learning how to listen to the Jin(g) of the opponent(s) which brings the martial art student to a high(er) level.
6. For health reasons, for example the (original) Taijiquan long form is strung together in a certain way that allows the circulation of Qi to complete three entire cycles in one sequence, which equals the Qi cycle of three days. Another example of good health is to establish good stamina.
7. To put the entire arsenal of techniques and postures into your muscle memory.
8. To teach the student all the basic principles of the style, so that (unlike you claim: Like all things, taolus today have a great number of faults hidden within them.") the essence of the style remains intact. It's up to the student however to ponder and to study the theory behind the style so that the student applies all principles of the style hidden in the taolu.
9. To create a sense of enemy.



I don't agree to the strategical purpose you mention, as this is established through experience in pushing hands and sparring practice as mentioned by Ashura earlier. And has in my opinion nothing to do with the taolu itself. Although the two (strategy and taolu) are related to eachother in a certain way, strategy isn't "born" out of the taolu. Strategy can only be applied when one doesn't have to think about the techniques themselves (this is where the taolu has one of it's purposes, because one has practiced the taolu time after time again and the techniques of the taolu are now in muscle memory. The mind can be still this way because the body reacts automatically as it were natural). But to actually learn to apply the techniques of the taolu correctly, and to learn how to read the opponent, one has to practice with a partner.



You did only mention half of the concepts of Gong:

- accuracy
- speed
- power

These are to be included as well in my opinion:

- flexibility
- balance (root)
- concentration

These six concepts together, in combination with good strategy and tactics, define the effectiveness of technique.





Maximum Jing can only be applied when using the entire body correctly, and thus makes your statement invalid.



The base of the building would be correct posture (from which root is born; power is born out of root).

All your other claims can be debated. This however is incorrect. Taijiquan's original development had nothing to do with health.

Rather, if you analyse the tactical disposition of Chenjia Taijiquan's taolus, you will find that it is a system that was developed from Northern, Shaolin-influenced martial arts and designed specifically to fight against the very same thing. After the tactical doctrine was formulated, it was then systematised into martial arts principles in which was reintegreated back into the training. Because the practice of the principles itself becomes integrated with health cultivation, the health idea began to form very late after. Therefore, the health side of martial arts practice of any form is nothing but an expected coincidence. Winning a fight comes before health. Not the other way around. Therefore the taolu which is combat-strategy oriented, has nothing directly connected with health cultivation, it is just a side effect.


Unfortunately, this is the common mistake that is made by practicing a chinese martial arts today. Even more unfortunate is that there is no point in me debating the matter because without actual demonstration, such ideas are near incomprehensible. Therefore, the only thing I can say is that I encourage you to find a teacher that is able to explain the techniques of a taolu to you but more importantly is why one technique leads onto another. Most taiji teachers can't. Some is able to do the former. Only a very few can do the latter. I can only wish you the best of luck in finding such a a teacher.


These are not gongs. These are basic prerequisites. It is like saying you need to be able to walk on two feets to learn martial arts. If you don't have balance and concentration, most teachers won't even let your through the door in the old days. When practicing, concentration is more classified into Quanyi, not Gong. Quanyi being Xin, Yi, Shi and Shen. 'Concetration' doesn't exist in Chinese martial arts practice because it is impossible to practice without it. If your mind is not in the right place, you are not practicing at all. It is only in the modern world can there exists people just go through the action with an unaware mind. So as far as traditional martial arts is concerned, concentration does not even in the vocabulary. Balance is the same thing, you can't practice if you are not balanced. Again, it is in the modern age that you actually have something like this to be so explicit. In the old days, it is just something you need to have before you even think about practicing.

Flexibility is not a gong either, but this is just how the language works. Namely, Gong are things you strive for and perfect during practice. But you can go too far for each. Like I said, Zhun, Su and Jing are not one dimensional. You can go too far with it when practicing but still not perform the techniques incorrectly, just less desired. Flexibility on the other hand does not. You can just keep stretching and stretching until you become a rubberband. But in practice, if you execute a technique that only requires a certain degree but you over do it, you will have effectively done it wrong, not just less desireable.

I had a feeling you would go here, but fact is, back then it wasn't called Taijiquan yet.



I already have a good teacher for twenty years now.




Yes they ARE trained in any good school. It's called meditation, rooting and stretching. It's true however these things are the first thing one practices/develops in training nowadays, before learning any taolu or single techniques.

I don't know the exact definition of a gong though, as I don't speak Chinese. I was taught martial arts in my native language.

Correct, I am sure you know, the earliest source of "Taijiquan" came almost 200 years after Chen Wangting. One possible name of it back then was Chenshiquan which was found during the reign of Qianlong. But this is speculative at best because in the context, it could have just mean 'a fighter of Chen'


I will not comment on your school's practices. However, I wish to speak as a mod here that we wish to discourage any discussion on the legitimacy of modern day schools or teachers.


So why exactly are you debating with me something you don't even understand the meaning of ?

Let's just say that I didn't fully disagree on your posts. Taijiquan (or better yet Chenshiquan) of course was first only a martial art before it was deepened, that wasn't the point I was trying to make. I was more talking about Taijiquan as we know it today, which is probably discouraged to discuss on this forum.



What's considered modern at CHF ? What timespan is "legal" to be discussing ?



Truth is I don't really know much about the Chinese terminology and history of CMA, but the theoretical and practical area of CMA is doing alright in my opinion. I don't mean to start an meaningless argument here. So let's just agree to disagree on some points.
Please point me in a direction where I can study the terms described by you in the article. That way I will be able to research nmy

If you read the forum rules, you will find the answer to both those questions.

There is no difference of 'today' and 'yesterday' for martial arts on this forum. Only traditional and untraditional. Distortion can come in a number of ways but most common is the lack of understanding of what martial arts are and often look to other disciplines to substitute this shortcoming.

However, your claim that taijiquan was 'only' a martial art before it was deepened already shows a complete misunderstanding of what it is. It was, is, and always will be a system for fighting. Nothing less. There can be other benefits from it, but those must be built upon the firm foundation of combat effectiveness. If any practice deviates from this core, then it will not longer be taijiquan, just something completely different using the same name. If you wish to talk about that kind of practice, might I refer you to the Chinese Science, Technology and Medicine forum or the Chinese Philosophy, Religion and Mythology.


Without the ability to read chinese as well as ancient chinese, I am afraid I have nothing to offer you.

If it is all right I would like to enter this discussion and try to change the direction a little. I found the discussion quite interesting, but it seems to be getting slightly bogged down.

I was particularly interested in the idea of taijiquan as being developed from northern Shaolin and being developed to fight against it. It made me think about what I see as the nature of taulu and the main source of argument about the practice.

I see taulu as teaching about change. The taulu is the essence of a particular idea. With the idea one can generate a taulu, and with a taulu one can learn the idea. So let's say the idea is using the romanticized ideal of a tiger or a crane for fighting. The taulu is the expression of this idea. The idea can then be used in fighting, but one's opponent might learn to block the habits and timing of the idea of the tiger so one would switch to crane. Within a systematized idea such as crane, one would learn changes in timing and stance, but they would all be within the idea of crane. To truly change, one needs another idea. There are also taulu containing the idea of both tiger and crane. One practices the ability to change from one idea to another by practicing this taulu.

Thus taulu were developed to deal with exactly the problem people claim they create. Some think that because a taulu is a specific set of moves, that one must use the movements in a particular sequence like a robot. Nothing is further from the truth. Taulu propose sets of solutions to problems, but they were never intended to be static repositories of fixed movements. They are intended to teach one how to change, first by teaching various possibilities within a given idea, and then by teaching about how to change between ideas.

This is where my question concerning taiji comes in. I can see the northern Shaolin influence, but taiji seems to have the same idea in all its taulu, long or short, fast or slow, it all seems to be one idea with different expressions. Taiji would not have become so successful if it were not successful historically as a martial art, so why is it focused on a single idea if it has its origins in Shaolin where there are many ideas? I suspect that it is because the idea of taiji is the idea of change itself. However, I suspect that in many taiji schools the basic idea of change has been lost. Most taiji taulu I have seen performed have only a single energy and timing. This is not true when one watches someone truly advanced where change is expressed in the movement, but it is true that when one watches the vast majority of taiji players one sees fairly monotonous movement.

I think this lack of change as shown by many taiji people may actually lead to both its popularity, people like something where they do not have to change, and the commonly perceived weakness of the style. One is unlikely to be successful at sparring if one cannot change. So criticisms of taulu seem to be true when they are focused on an art where it appears the form contains no change within it. However, if one sees the inner idea of taiji to be change itself, then one can understand how such a system has grown to be more successful than the Shaolin that started it.
Josh

I think we need to separate two things here. The system of taolu practice in general and any one particular taolu. If you are talking about one single taolu, then you have got the idea. However on the generalised level of hat taolu is fundamentally about, it isn't 'entirely' correct. Taolu's existance isn't about isn't just 'one' idea. Rather it is the tactical doctrine formulated on a collection of ideas. So if I take your example of Huhe Shangyingquan of Hongjia, the tiger and crane part is actually just one part of the whole taolu. The basic foundation of Hongjiaquan such as the widened stance, the Shier Ziqiao, etc etc are all inbuilt into the taolu. A comparison would be that you will not find the kind of rabid hand-based attacks you find in tanglangquan in a Hongjiaquan taolu.


Yes and no, taolu's own tactical disposition means that it is theoretically possible to employ it in its exact sequence. But that takes an enormous degree of expertise of the entire system's tactical doctrine to accomplish. I have never seen a single person achieving this. It should be noted though that some taolus are easier to employ than others and some systems as a whole are easier to employ than others. In any event, the best I have seen is the ability to use around 25 sequential moves from a single taolu in actual combat. Being able to control the enemy's movements in every part.


Correct. I have talked about the dangers of stagnations and tactical predictability in my article.


Not really, this is where the analysis of taijiquan as well as the other systems of china is needed. Chenjia taijiquan is designed to fight against Shaolin influenced systems. You are able to get this by analysing the tactical disposition of Taijiquan and Shaolin-influenced systems and you can see how it's developement targets strongly at the apparant weaknesses of those systems. It's latter developement, Yangjia Taijiquan, was not. Rather, it is altered from the original Chenjia in that it's targeted rival is actually Shuaijiao. Other systems such as Wujia on the other hand does not follow this and goes off to development that isn't about fighting Shuaijiao but a generalized northern systems with a more inclinication towards fighting against stuff such as Xingyiquan.

I can't agree here. All martial arts has tactical versitility built into it with multiple dimensions of how to defeat the enemy. Taijiquan is no different in this sense.


I think this is were the whole bruce lee stuff comes in and completely throws people off. All martial arts techniques are based on its effectiveness on accomplishing its Quanyi. As long as Quanyi is met, the techniques themselves has some wiggle room for different practice. However, most if not all 'grandmasters' shows a complete lack of understanding of what the Quanyi is about. Which in turns they loses grasp with reality and therefore 'expresses themselves through their moves'. Too many people who practices Taijiquan does it with the whole new age 'internal movement' in mind as the method in which they practice it will not accomplish what the technique was intended to do. This is completely incorrect approach to practicing martial arts.

Martial arts is about fighting. All benefits you gain through martial arts must be built upon a solid foundation of combat effectiveness. You can gain other benefits from it, but if you don't have the firm understanding of it as a fighting system, then everything else is distorted and wrong before you even begin practicing. The problem with most practitioners today is not about the lack of change, but a the lack of more fundamental concept of understand what the system is about in the first place. Why does one move requires what it requires. Why does one move lead to another. Too many people look at everything except combat. The tactical doctrine of a martial art system can be found inside the taolu and there are just too little people who understands them.

Yes I see the problem of understanding Taulu as a series of martial techniques when they often appear abstract, but I was thinking about the higher levels of training where it is assumed one knows the applications. (Though as you mention many never get that far.) What I often see is people who know what they are doing but who practice with one timing and one energy. This leads to practitioners who can be easily predicted in sparring. The taulu can teach techniques, but if it does not also teach change, the techniques are not as useful. (By the way, I am amazed when you say you have seen people who can use taulu in sparring for many moves in a row. I consider it a profound accomplishment to use 3-5 moves in a row.) So you are asserting the primacy of the applications, which I totally agree with you about, while I am saying that the ability to change is what allows applications to be used in variable situations, which I think you would agree with.

So here is my question in a less subtle form. How does taiji match the ability to change from one animal style/deity/mythological character to another as found in Shaolin styles? It is in the taulu that change is studied, and then in sparing where changing between what is learned in taulu is practiced. How does taiji with a more limited number of characters such as the crane, tiger, and monkey of Shaolin approach the problem of change in sparing? I see crane based moves but there is no change into the character of a crane. I see the “repulse monkey” move, but it has nothing to do with the character of a monkey. Taiji does not seem to change its character in the same way. How does the taulu of taiji (if you want we can stick to Chenjia to be more specific.) teach change in a way that matches the clear changes between what is learned in the taulu of Shaolin?
Josh

Correct. In many ways, one's own ability to improvise and how versatile you are in actual combat is more a matter of natural born talent as opposed to taught material. Because even if you teach how you can adjust certain techniques, you will eventually be left with just those combinations you are taught. The ability to unify a system into a single united yet adaptable engagement tactic is really something one does for themselves.


It was an elemetary Tanglangquan taolu. Extremely easy to apply.
You will find that for most parts, elementary stuff are much easier to use than advance stuff. Thats why they are called advanced. Cause it takes a heck a lot more effort make it work. But it is also why people generally considers them 'impractical' because they can't use it within 3 seconds of learning it.


You should remember that these are martial arts techniques. It is the human's bodily posture and movement that matters. Not the imagery itself. The imagery helps one grasps the requirements of the technique. Not the otherway around. Despite how alot CMA people like to boast about how their system encompasses the whole animal kingdom and some vegetables as well, at the end of the day, it is still the human body doing human bodily things. So don't expect you can grow feathers when performing Baihe Liangci

For repulse monkey, it is the most common 'distorted' technique today. Like I said, as long as the Quanyi is met, there are some degree of freedom one has as to how it is performed. In it's original form, the Daolianhou is perform with the upperbody crouching inwards as your backhand moves forward. That is there the monkey imagery comes from. However, as the technique itself can be accomplished just as well without it, most of the upper scholarly class who practices taijiquan prefers the more straight-backed, arms at 90 degree way to performing it. It isn't 'as' good in terms of application, but it does the job none the less.