The Real Tai Chi Deal
By
Sifu Nathan Fisher
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Over lunch one day, after training, I asked my teacher, Grandmaster
Doc-Fai Wong if he ever had to use his martial arts to protect himself.
After reminding me that martial arts should only be used as a last
resort he proceeded to tell me a story from early teaching days.
The incident occurred one morning, during the spring semester of 1978,
when Grandmaster Wong was teaching tai chi for San Francisco Community
College. He was informed that his usual classroom at the Cumberland
Church, on Jackson and Powell Street, was not available for his class.
So, he decided to bring his 60 students to a nearby courtyard at the
North Ping Yuan Housing Project, in Chinatown. On entering the
courtyard, Grandmaster noticed a well-known Chinatown martial artist, by
the name of Chan Keung, practicing tai chi at the other end of the
square. He was known as Guong Tau Keung, or Baldheaded Keung. He was
fond of talking about the fact that he witnessed one of Bruce Lee’s
fights in Oakland, in 1966.
After Mr. Chan finished his workout, he came over to talk to Grandmaster
during a break. He complimented my teacher’s tai chi form and invited
him to play push hands. Grandmaster was 30 years old at the time. And,
despite the fact that Mr. Chan was in his 50’s, he had over 30 years of
training, and was known for being one of the top push hands players in
Chinatown. Naturally, Grandmaster accepted the friendly invitation to do
push hands with such a well-known opponent. As the match began, many of
the students and a few residents of the center gathered around to watch
the match. After ten minutes of considerable effort, Mr. Chan could not
unbalance my teacher. Since my teacher respected his opponent as he
would a senior classmate, he did not even try to push Mr. Chan. Instead,
out of humility, he chose to redirect and neutralize every attack.
During a break in the action, one of the bystanders stepped forward to
express interest in this strange balance game. He asked if he could give
it a try. Intending to continue to his strategy of being unmovable, he
agreed to play a little longer. Since the man didn’t know tai chi push
hands, Grandmaster invited the stranger to push him whatever way he
liked. For at least ten minutes the man tried to push my teacher, and
for at least ten minutes the man fell to the right, and to the left, and
forward to the ground, and yes, you guessed it, straight backward. And,
after all that effort he could not budge Grandmaster Doc-Fai Wong.
Unsurprisingly, the man soon became frustrated with his lack of
progress, and began to wrestle with my teacher. After that approach
failed, the man pulled away and began bouncing around, jabbing and
kicking like a kick boxer. As the man closed in, he faked a right jab
and tried to connect with a roundhouse kick to the ribs. Grandmaster
instantly responded with a chin-ji to block the kick, while his left arm
hooked under the man’s leg to setup for a joint lock. One quick twist of
the foot later, and the opponent was laid out flat on the ground. By
this time, the students were all clapping and cheering, thinking perhaps
somehow this was part of the lesson plan for the day. The man got up
slowly, more embarrassed than hurt, and wandered out of the courtyard
apparently unwilling to push his luck any further. Grandmaster continued
his class as if nothing had happened.
Knowing that he was a local, Mr. Chan spoke to the man later and found
out that he was a black belt in Taekwando. Mr. Chan was so impressed
with this fact, and with the outcome of the confrontation, that he told
the story throughout Chinatown for years to come.
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