Grandmaster
Tchoung, Ta Tchen
Aug 23,1911 - Feb 22, 2000
MEMORIAL
"The form is the
alphabet, push hands is practicing reading and writing.
The ability to read and write is what makes the alphabet useful."
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Grandmaster
Tchoung was the master and founder
of the Chinese Tai Chi Association of Canada and the
Northwest Tai Chi Chuan Association. Master Tchoung's
view was that in order to truly understand Tai Chi Chuan
one must practice push hands and understand the usage of
all movement within the Tai Chi form. |
In the late 1960's he
created the "Double Form Yang Tai Chi Chuan" a
symmetrical Yang Tai Chi form. Since the standard forms favor the
right side he considered this too unbalanced in training the body
for health and self-defense skill.
Sifu also created a set he calls section 9 which combines
elements of the Natural School, Tai Chi, Bagua and Hsin-I to
help students develop fa-jin and application skills.
Grandmaster Tchoung taught in Taiwan, South Africa, United
States and Vancouver, Canada. Students
completing his training were issued teaching certificates to
verify their credentials.
Sifu began his training in a style called ' Nature Boxing
School' (Tzu-jan p'ai/Zirenmen), a style said to be created by a
wushu master nicknamed Dwarf Xu of Szu-ch'uan province who
lived at the end of the Qing Dynasty. This style was
standardized by Tu Hsin-wu/Du Xinwu of Hunan province. The Nature
school is primarily practiced in Hunan and Fukien provinces. Du Xinwu's top
student was Wan Laisheng. One
of the principles of the Nature School is to make the hands as
soft as cotton and the trunk as hard as iron. The Nature School
emphasizes training in: jing, qi, and shen.
He studied intensively the Emei (Omei) Qi Gong method on Emei Mountain with
Abbot Hui Gong.
Grandmaster Tchoung's teachers included Shi Dao Mei, a student of Tian Zhao-Lin
who was a student of Yang Shao Hou, Yang Cheng Fu's older brother. Upon befriending Master Zhen Manqing
he studied push hands extensively with Master Cheng. In the late
1980's he studied Tai Chi broadsword techniques with the late Wu
Tunan. He learned Hsing I Chuan from the great Yuan Tao and Bagua Zhang from Master Wang Hsu Chin. His
colleagues and practice
partners included: Wang Hsu Chin, Kuo Lien Ying, Wang Yen Nien,
and T.T. Liang.
Grandmaster Tchoung's system includes:
 Applications Demonstration at the 1996 Tai Chi Conference |
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In 1995 sifu published a book containing his teachings and Double
Form Tai Chi Chuan.
This book is used as a guideline by
instructors teaching under Master Tchoung.
A listing of recognized instructors