A Last Interview with Fu Zhongwen
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A Last Interview with Fu Zhongwen The following interview with Fu Fu said that in the practice of the When teaching Fu, Yang Cheng-fu Zhongwen took place two months be- fonn, the first couple of times is a wann- told him how he had to also practice by fore his death Sept. 24, 1994, in up. From the fourth or fifth repetition, himself as well as in class. And he em- Shanghai at the age of 91. He was in- you improve your kung-fu. phasized how important it is to follow terviewed at the International Ku- "When students were practicing in T'ai Chi Ch'uan principles of practice. oshu tournament, where he had been this manner," he said, "Yang Cheng-fu Fu said, "Lots of people can say the would sit there and watch them." invited by Huang Chien Liang and principles easily but they can't do them He Wei Qi. Present during the inter- He also said that Yang Cheng-fu, easily. You have to practice with the view were his grandson, James Qing while teaching a class, would take pains principles to bring them together and combine the internal and external to- Quan Fu, who helped translate and to correct them so that they could get explain his grandfather's ideas, and movements correct. "He would always gether. Kenneth W. Knecht, who also as- watch and would never just walk away. His grandson, James, said that even sisted with the translation. In watching, he might have them repeat now. in Australia where he lives, stu- the posture over again until they learned dents do it about five times in a row at a By Marvin Smalheiser it correctly. He was a very good single session. Fu Zhongwen, even at Fu said the fastest you can go with the 85 move- age 91, never tired of the ments or the 108 would be practice ofT'ai Chi 18 minutes and the slowest Ch'uan (Taijiquan) and would be 22 minutes. "You never tired of telling about the feats of his famous don't want to go past that. The ideal is 20 minutes ex- teacher, Yang Cheng-fu, actly. And you cannot do it who he became appren- with some movements fast ticed to at an early age. and some movements slow. The practice of T' ai Chi It has to be continuous mo- Ch 'uan for Fu Zhongwen was a practice ofloyalty to tion. If you do it for 22 min- his teacher and the fonn utes but some parts you do fast and some parts you do that Yang cheng-fu taught and the methods that he slow, that is not following used. the T'ai Chi principles. It must be continuously flow- Among the methods ing without stopping. Yang emphasized was that James Fu said that some the fonn should be done people think that slower is six to eight times in a row each day. good and some people tell him they do the fonn in one Only in this way, he hour or 40 minutes for a said, can a student catch set. "This is useless. This is the feeling of real kung-fu not T'ai Chi anymore. This and be able to develop mar- tial skills. And he said this is just movements. The rea- son that we do T'ai Chi is the way that Yang slow is because we want to Cheng-fu taught and that do it faster. This is the prin- Fu and his son and grand- son teach. ciple." He said, "You get differ- The fonn itself, he said, ent pay trom different s~ould take 20 ~inutes, Fu Zhongwen and his grandson, James Qing Quan Fu, doing work. This is the same in gIve or take a mmute or push hands. the martial arts. The T'ai two. Too fast, Fu said, and it teacher." Chi idea is to practice slow but the idea becomes sloppy and too slow it be- Fu liked to talk about his teacher and is not to do the movements but to use comes "stopped." Practicing six to how he was a "very nice-tempered per- your mind to control your movements. eight times scattered throughout the day son. All of his students in Beijing were It is not your movements doing the is not the same thing and not as produc- very nice people." movements. It is using the inside to do tive, he said. It has to be in continuous Fu had lived in the town of Yong- the movement so every movement can sequence. nian, just inside the gate and could walk be very final. Practicing once in the morning and 10 minutes to the Yang homejust out- "If you are doing a movement fast, once in the evening is good for health. side the gate. Fu began studying T'ai he said, but it does not lead to martial something can be wrong and not ob- skill. Chi when he was nine years old. served, he said. But if you are doing it slow, then you can see if you are doing PAGE 4 something wrong and other people can When asked if the style Yang what level you are at. But as long as the see if you are doing something wrong." learned was the Chen style, James Fu principles are followed, as long as the James Fu said his father, Fu quoted one of his grandfather's favorite shoulder is relaxed, elbows dropped, Shengyuan, told him that doing T'ai sayings, "T'ai Chi is only one." James body weight in front, and relaxed, I Chi exercises is different trom other ex- Fu said that what Yang Lu-ch'an can't say that you are wrong." ercise in that you use large muscles and learned in Chen Jiagou, the Chen family "Yang Lu-ch'an did this style but small muscles. All the muscles, large village, trom Chen Changxing is the Yang Cheng-fu organized it into an uni- and small, get exercised when the move- same form that the Yang family still form way. My grandfather said that be- ments are done slowly, he said. When practices. He said it was not the Chen fore the Communists took over the performed fast, only a few muscles get style that Yang Lu-ch' an learned. country, you never heard of the Chen exercised. "That's why beginners who "It is called the Yang style because style. It was only after 1949, when the have strong, even big legs experience the Yang family popularized it. In his government wanted to dig out old shaking legs when they start T'ai Chi." book, Yang Cheng-fu did not refer to things, they dug out the Pao Tui form "Too slow is stopped," and combined it with T'ai James Fu said. "If it is too Chi. The Pao Tui came slow, it is not T'ai Chi. T'ai from Tumbei." Chi is supposed to be con- He said because the tinuous. It is like water. Yang family has been pro- Water has to be continu- moting T'ai Chi Ch'uan, ous." people call it the Yang "Grandfather used to style to differentiate it tell me regarding people do- trom the other styles that ing T'ai Chi for one hour were derived from it. "But for a single set, 'Your body originally, we are just is stopped. There is no jing called T'ai Chi Ch'uan. any more. Thejing is gone. And this is what we are do- If you do it for one hour, it ing, the original one. is stopped.'" There is not any other dif- When asked about bring- ference. "Originally, there ing outjing in the form, Fu was only one T'ai Chi said, "It is hard to explain. Ch'uan form and Yang When you have it, you style is the original form. know how to do it. Distin- And then afterwards came guishing between substan- the Wu style, Sun style tial and insubstantial is and Hao style. very important and so is "Yang Cheng-fu, Yang body balance." He said you Lu-ch'an and Yang Ban- have to sink and relax the hou never changed any- elbow and the waist. The thing. They just did what- waist must be the axis of ever they learned. And the motion bringing it out. this is T' ai Chi." It is a function of body me- Fu Zhongwen said that chanics." many people changed the James Fu said that it is form, but that the form he hard to explain where it and his family practice is . comes trom because it is re- F Zh exactly as it was taught by ally trom T'ai Chi. Lots of U ongwen In Bend the Bow to Shoot the Tiger. Yang Cheng-fu. "Lots of people, h~.said, do T'~~Chi but they do :a~g.fam~ly ~'ai Chi C?'uan, he call~d people changed the form. I am the only not haveJIng. But the JIng comes from It T al Chi Ch'uan. In his book, he said one that did not change the form. I still T'ai Chi. that T'ai Chi Ch'uan is only one." haven't studied everything. How can I Fu Zhongwen said that a lot depends. James Fu said that Yang's sons also change it? The ancients were so good, on how long people have practiced. did the same form. "In T'ai Chi form, how can you change something that "How long has a person done it? How you can't make everyone exactly the they developed with their high skills." many times a day? They must do it at same.