I only spent five days in Shanghai before I made the 1100mile train journey down to Hong Kong. I knew that Yan taught a class on Sunday mornings and I was keen to make it down in time, so I arranged to depart Shanghai on the Friday morning. Unfortunately, there were no sleeper tickets left so I spent the 1100mile overnight journey to Guangzhou on a hard seat carriage, which appeared and felt more akin to a battery farm. The discomfort was somewhat softened by the group of friendly Chinese passengers who helped me develop my pronunciation of Mandarin with the help from my trusted phrasebook. At the end of the 20 hour journey two of them were kind enough to assist me through the chaos and into the metro to Guangzhou East station where I could take the connecting train to Hong Kong.

In contrast to the cramped conditions I had endured travelling down from Shanghai, the journey from Guangzhou East to Hong Kong was a luxurious one. When I arrived at the station I was fortunate to find there were plenty of seats available on the next train. For only a few HK Dollars extra you can upgrade to first class, so I decided to treat myself and give my legs some well deserved room. As I walked out of Hung Hom train station and onto the taxi rank it was apparent I had left the mainland, with followers of Falun Gong standing next to the queue handing out pamphlets describing the brutality their members faced at the hands of the Chinese goverment. The transport system in Hong Kong is plentiful with buses, cabs, the metro (MTR) and regular ferries connecting Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. I had made a reservation at a hostel on Argyle Street, which is where the Hong Kong Tai Chi Association is based. Needless to say, shortly after I arrived I took a wander across to see if anyone was around and to check out the rooftop where Ian trained in the early seventies. There was no answer at the intercom but I managed to gain access as one of the residents left the building. I took the lift up to the eleventh floor and found the main door to the association. The only thing that distinguishes it from the neighbouring flats is the logo sticker on the front door. Again, there was no answer, so I explored round the corner and walked up the steps which led to a door which opened out onto the rooftop. There were no clear signs that the it was used for training purposes any more (there used to be punch bags hanging), although there was still plenty of room to practice. During my stay I made another couple of attempts to contact the association office via phone without success, apart from one of those wonderful conversations between two people who don’t understand a word the other is saying. As it turned out I was kept more than busy for the next ten days.

The following morning I was up around 5.30am to make the underground journey to Lai King station and then a ten minute bus ride to Highland Park where Cheng Tin Hung’s son, Cheng Kam Yan lives. He holds an early morning class with some of his close students at the basketball court behind the apartments. When I arrived I sent Yan an sms to let him know I had arrived. Shortly afterwards he appeared and greeted me with a big smile; immediately it felt like a home from home. Although he looks very much like his father, Yan’s character, from what I understand, is much different. He is yin, calm and soft in character, in comparison to his fathers yang, fiery nature. Yan was respectful of how diligently Ian had kept up his practice of the system for the last forty years and was keen to see what I knew of the Wu-Cheng system. We immediately went over the eight methods of pushing hands and then some freestyle, before moving on to the square hand form and weapon forms (the following week we went over the round form and the 48 styles of self-defence). Yan was extremely open in his teaching, or rather, his sharing of the art. As expected, there were slight differences in some of the postures or emphasis in the forms. Yan explained how every teacher is different to some degree. He said it was not necessary for me to change my form to his way but to understand and note the differences. Practising free pushing, Yan was pliable but rooted. His emphasis with regards to self-defence is the defencive part, giving very little away, holding a strong centre and dealing with what comes at you whilst not leaving yourself open to being countered. He exposed one of my key weaknesses which was leaving my leading arm too far forward. This, he demonstrated, left me very vulnerable to having an arm lock put on.

It was encouraging to see Yan and his students practice all of the Wu-Cheng system (apart from the internals) out in the open. He made constant references to the fighting practicality of tai chi, although this was not his primary focus. He thought that tai chi was much more than fighting; it was a way keeping alive his fathers teaching of a complete martial system in an undiluted fashion; it was a way of keeping healthy and fit into old age; and it was a way of applying the principles of yin and yang. Like Wang Ming Bo, Yan had little interest in making any personal profit or financial gain from tai chi. He just seemed to enjoy sharing his practice with others, and was keen for his students to do the same. On leaving, Yan said he was pleased with what I was practising and encouraged to see how the system has developed in Scotland. He jokingly said I had passed the test, which was warmly received. On departing I said to Yan I hoped to see him and his students again and they would always be welcome to come to Edinburgh to train with Ian and the other students at Meadowbank.

My main focus on setting out to Hong Kong was to make contact with other Wu-Cheng style tai chi players, so my next point of contact was with one of Dan Docherty’s students, Kie Brooks. He has been training and teaching out there for four years, is now fluent in Cantonese and a true martial arts devotee. We spent quite a bit of time having interesting conversations about the martial arts scene in the UK and Hong Kong and engaging in a varity of conditioning exercises and training methods, including sword sparring and cutting water bottles with a live straight sword, which are good ways of testing technique. Kie put me in contact with one of Cheng Tin Hung’s students Sifu Au Pui Wa (Lisa Au), who started studying with Cheng 35 years ago. She now runs the Tsing Wah Tai Chi Institute and has a list of other official roles the length of my arm. Lisa speaks very little English so she put me in touch with one of her students and good friend Allen Chueng a retired police officer who translated throughout the rest of my stay.

Lisa is a highly respected tai chi teacher in Hong Kong, especially for her forms and understanding of body mechanices and posture. I first went to an early morning Tuesday health based class at a community centre near the Cheung Sha Wan metro where she taught square, round, straight sword forms of the Wu-Cheng style and a short Yang style hand and sword form. Afterwards I was invited to lunch with Lisa, Allen and two other students, a regular pre and post class ritual. Lisa spoke very highly of Ian’s tai chi ability and character, describing him as a humble man. She recalled practising moving step pushing hands with him around twenty years ago, saying how she found it difficult to keep up with his steps because she was much smaller than him. She wondered if he would remember her and so I took a photo and said I would show him when I returned. 

As the conversation went on I was asked if I practised weapons, to which I replied yes. I was then asked if I would mind doing a demonstration on the Saturday. Now I knew Sifu Au ran a Saturday morning class, and I thought to myself that she must have wanted me to demonstrate my weapons to her class. With this thought in mind I agreed. A couple of phone calls were immediately made and I was then told I would be performing at the Shau Kei Wan district martial arts show and I should get some weapons from somewhere…typically Hong Kong! Lisa phoned Kie who kindly agreed to lend me his, and a few days later I found myself plundering through the crowded metro system with a 7ft spear in hand and a sabre hanging from my back making my way to the far Eastern side of Hong Kong Island where I performed both weapon forms in front of three hundred Chinese martial arts enthusiasts. Not what I had expected, however, the event went well and I even managed to pair up with some of the other performers to do some pushing hands practice before the compulsary feed up afterwards.

I met up with Lisa once more for another morning class on my final day in Hong Kong. This time I managed to receive some advice from her regarding tai chi and standing postures. She said that it was important to connect the arms into the shoulder blades in order to stregthen the whole body link and to be careful not to break the elbow joint. She added that many Westerners have the problem of holding their centre up in the chest and that it was important to develop sung in order to centre themselves in the lower dantien. Lisa said it was also important to naturally round the shoulders and back. In single whip posture she emphasised relaxing the psoas muscle and dropping the tail bone with gravity as if it was a tail hanging down. It was rewarding experience meeting Lisa and, of course, reliable Allen, who always came and met me at metro station to take me to Lisa’s classes. I was made to feel very welcome by everyone at the classes and social gatherings and left with the feeling that I would see them again.

I am a great believer that you can learn something from everyone and so besides training with Yan, Lisa and Kie, I took the opportunity of checking in on some other classes, including a sabre class at Eddie Wu’s Tai Chi Academy on Jordan Road, some wing chun with Leung Ting on Nathan Road and a week with Grandmaster Ip Chun and his students on Nullah Road, during which he celebrated his 86th birthday. I was particularly impressed by Ip Chun’s emphasis on softness, mental focus and attitude towards personal development through daily training. One of his students said how Ip described the only difference between Buddhist meditation and wing chun was movement; the mental focus and awareness remains the same. It was a credit to him that some of his senior students who continued to practice daily with him at Nullah Road had studied with him for over forty years. Martial arts are certainly a lifetime study!

As always I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to travel to Asia once again to meet and train with some wonderful people. I am sure I will return again in the not too distant future. Meanwhile I have the pleasure of meeting and training with some wonderful people back in Scotland. In conclusion, I would like to thank Malcolm for the asking me to share my experiences with the readers of the five winds website and for giving me a verbal kick up the backside to get it done…cheers!