Tung Yingchieh (1898-1961)
Here, this is a good one. Dong Yingjie, as I learned the name. As far as I can see, the Dongs took the pure YCF form and amplified its elements, to ensure a strong continued transmission. What do I mean by this? I’m not certain myself, but I want to find out as time unfolds.
September 30, 2007
October 13, 2007 at 3:17 am
I might know a little on this subject. TYJ didn’t think YCF style was enough so he combined his training in Hao and Yang styles and created his Fast Taiji and a fast & slow form called the Dong Family Fast Taiji. He was real big on emphasizing fundamentals and expressing chi so that it could be seen and felt by students. He is known to be a very good fighter. His form was not very subtle. A lot could be seen and learned from watching him. He helped write some of YCF works as well as his own which has been translated and some of it is wandering around the internet. Good stuff. What specifically did you want to know?
October 13, 2007 at 11:23 pm
Well, the only thing that interests me in the end, is training methods. Because without that, we arrive nowhere. So I’m curious about what’s special about Dong Style training, what makes it different and special. If that can be discussed without revealing any family secrets. Or maybe you could point me toward some good public resources, if such exists. Thanks for your comment Toni.
October 14, 2007 at 9:09 pm
ahh, training methods. I have trained with two of the Dong masters and see similarities between the training of both so I am thinking that the training style was similar to TYJ and THL.
There has been an emphisis of doing the Yang long form slowly. 45 minutes to more than an hour. Try doing that without breaking the silk thread, while keeping the energy alive and moving. This is a good training technique.
Another thing that comes to mind is that they were both inventive in creating drills to emphasize fundamentals they were teaching at the time. Repetitive two movement sequences, like brush knee and repulse monkey in a stationary horse stance, were done many times at different speeds and some with fa-jing.
Hold postures until you burn, but keep the energy moving and alive.
They always had the group line up in a grid to emphasize the group energy.
Applications were taught on every move and we would do repetitive partner practice with these applications.
TKY always had push hands practice and training at the end of each class. I have only had workshops with Alex Dong, not regular classes.
In push hands, we might do certain applications over and over again, then over and over again some more.
Training meant we were exhausted at the end of the class. (but energized because that is what taiji does to us).