A Last Interview with Fu ZhongwenThe following interview with Fu

Zhongwen took place two months be-fore his death Sept. 24, 1994, inShanghai at the age of 91. He was in-terviewed at the International Ku-oshu tournament, where he had beeninvited by Huang Chien Liang andHe Wei Qi. Present during the inter-view were his grandson, James QingQuan Fu, who helped translate andexplain his grandfather's ideas, andKenneth W. Knecht, who also as-sisted with the translation.

By Marvin Smalheiser

Fu said that in the practice of thefonn, the first couple of times is a wann-up. From the fourth or fifth repetition,you improve your kung-fu.

"When students were practicing inthis manner," he said, "Yang Cheng-fuwould sit there and watch them."

He also said that Yang Cheng-fu,while teaching a class, would take painsto correct them so that they could getmovements correct. "He would alwayswatch and would never just walk away.In watching, he might have them repeatthe posture over again until they learnedit correctly. He was a very good

When teaching Fu, Yang Cheng-futold him how he had to also practice byhimself as well as in class. And he em-phasized how important it is to followT'ai Chi Ch'uan principles of practice.

Fu said, "Lots of people can say theprinciples easily but they can't do themeasily. You have to practice with theprinciples to bring them together andcombine the internal and external to-gether.

His grandson, James, said that evennow. in Australia where he lives, stu-dents do it about five times in a row at asingle session.

Fu said the fastest youcan go with the 85 move-ments or the 108 would be18 minutes and the slowestwould be 22 minutes. "Youdon't want to go past that.The ideal is 20 minutes ex-actly. And you cannot do itwith some movements fastand some movements slow.It has to be continuous mo-tion. If you do it for 22 min-utes but some parts you dofast and some parts you doslow, that is not followingthe T'ai Chi principles. Itmust be continuously flow-ing without stopping.

James Fu said that somepeople think that slower isgood and some people tellhim they do the fonn in onehour or 40 minutes for aset. "This is useless. This isnot T'ai Chi anymore. Thisis just movements. The rea-son that we do T'ai Chislow is because we want todo it faster. This is the prin-ciple."

He said, "You get differ-ent pay trom differentwork. This is the same inthe martial arts. The T'ai

Chi idea is to practice slow but the ideais not to do the movements but to useyour mind to control your movements.It is not your movements doing themovements. It is using the inside to dothe movement so every movement canbe very final.

"If you are doing a movement fast,something can be wrong and not ob-served, he said. But if you are doing itslow, then you can see if you are doing

Fu Zhongwen, even atage 91, never tired of thepractice ofT'ai ChiCh'uan (Taijiquan) andnever tired of telling aboutthe feats of his famous

teacher, Yang Cheng-fu,who he became appren-ticed to at an early age.

The practice of T' ai ChiCh 'uan for Fu Zhongwenwas a practice ofloyalty tohis teacher and the fonn

that Yang cheng-fu taughtand the methods that heused.

Among the methodsYang emphasized was thatthe fonn should be done

six to eight times in a roweach day.

Only in this way, hesaid, can a student catchthe feeling of real kung-fuand be able to develop mar-tial skills. And he said this

is the way that YangCheng-fu taught and thatFu and his son and grand-son teach.

The fonn itself, he said,

s~ould take 20 ~inutes, Fu Zhongwen and his grandson, James Qing Quan Fu, doinggIve or take a mmute or push hands.two. Too fast, Fu said, and itbecomes sloppy and too slow it be-comes "stopped." Practicing six toeight times scattered throughout the dayis not the same thing and not as produc-tive, he said. It has to be in continuoussequence.

Practicing once in the morning andonce in the evening is good for health.he said, but it does not lead to martialskill.

PAGE 4

teacher."Fu liked to talk about his teacher and

how he was a "very nice-tempered per-son. All of his students in Beijing werevery nice people."

Fu had lived in the town of Yong-nian, just inside the gate and could walk10 minutes to the Yang homejust out-side the gate. Fu began studying T'aiChi when he was nine years old.

something wrong and other people cansee if you are doing something wrong."

James Fu said his father, FuShengyuan, told him that doing T'aiChi exercises is different trom other ex-ercise in that you use large muscles andsmall muscles. All the muscles, largeand small, get exercised when the move-ments are done slowly, he said. Whenperformed fast, only a few muscles getexercised. "That's why beginners whohave strong, even big legs experienceshaking legs when they start T'ai Chi."

"Too slow is stopped,"James Fu said. "If it is tooslow, it is not T'ai Chi. T'aiChi is supposed to be con-tinuous. It is like water.Water has to be continu-ous."

"Grandfather used totell me regarding people do-ing T'ai Chi for one hourfor a single set, 'Your bodyis stopped. There is no jingany more. The jing is gone.If you do it for one hour, itis stopped.'"

When asked about bring-ing outjing in the form, Fusaid, "It is hard to explain.When you have it, youknow how to do it. Distin-guishing between substan-tial and insubstantial isvery important and so isbody balance." He said youhave to sink and relax theelbow and the waist. Thewaist must be the axis ofthe motion bringing it out.It is a function of body me-chanics."

James Fu said that it ishard to explain where itcomes trom because it is re- F Zh

.

ally trom T'ai Chi. Lots of U ongwen In Bend the Bow to Shoot the Tiger.

people, h~.said, do T'~~Chi but they do :a~g.fam~ly ~'ai Chi C?'uan, he call~dnot have JIng. But the JIng comes from It T al Chi Ch'uan. In his book, he saidT'ai Chi. that T'ai Chi Ch'uan is only one."

Fu Zhongwen said that a lot depends. James Fu said that Yang's sons alsoon how long people have practiced. did the same form. "In T'ai Chi form,"How long has a person done it? How you can't make everyone exactly themany times a day? They must do it at same. That's impossible. Every humanleast eight to 10 times a day continu- body is different. But it was not the pur-ously." pose to change the movements. Because

James Fu said that if someone does Yang Cheng~fuhad a big body, he did itthe form eight to 10times a day continu- a little bit bigger. Because Yang Shou-ously for one year, they can feel some- hou was a little bit smaller the move-thing. They can then feel the jino. ments were a little smaller. But it was

Fu said that Yang Lu-ch 'an l;arned not a small frame like the Wu style."for 18years practicing like that to de- He said, "You can do low move-velop his high skills. ments or with arms wider or with small

steps and arms smaller. It depends on

When asked if the style Yanglearned was the Chen style, James Fuquoted one of his grandfather's favoritesayings, "T'ai Chi is only one." JamesFu said that what Yang Lu-ch'anlearned in Chen Jiagou, the Chen familyvillage, trom Chen Changxing is thesame form that the Yang family stillpractices. He said it was not the Chenstyle that Yang Lu-ch' an learned.

"It is called the Yang style becausethe Yang family popularized it. In hisbook, Yang Cheng-fu did not refer to

what level you are at. But as long as theprinciples are followed, as long as theshoulder is relaxed, elbows dropped,body weight in front, and relaxed, Ican't say that you are wrong."

"Yang Lu-ch'an did this style butYang Cheng-fu organized it into an uni-form way. My grandfather said that be-fore the Communists took over thecountry, you never heard of the Chenstyle. It was only after 1949, when thegovernment wanted to dig out oldthings, they dug out the Pao Tui form

and combined it with T'aiChi. The Pao Tui camefrom Tumbei."

He said because theYang family has been pro-moting T'ai Chi Ch'uan,people call it the Yangstyle to differentiate ittrom the other styles thatwere derived from it. "Butoriginally, we are justcalled T'ai Chi Ch'uan.And this is what we are do-ing, the original one.There is not any other dif-ference. "Originally, therewas only one T'ai ChiCh'uan form and Yangstyle is the original form.And then afterwards camethe Wu style, Sun styleand Hao style.

"Yang Cheng-fu, YangLu-ch'an and Yang Ban-hou never changed any-thing. They just did what-ever they learned. Andthis is T' ai Chi."

Fu Zhongwen said thatmany people changed theform, but that the form heand his family practice is

exactly as it was taught byYang Cheng-fu. "Lots of

people changed the form. I am the onlyone that did not change the form. I stillhaven't studied everything. How can Ichange it? The ancients were so good,how can you change something thatthey developed with their high skills."

The heart ofT'ai Chi, James Fu said,is keeping the weight forward whentransitioning to step forward with theother foot. He said you should not shiftthe weight back before stepping.

"A lot of people have nice move-ment but lose a lot of important pointswhen doing the transitions and thatweakens their kung-fu."

Fu Zhongwen said that in followingthe COITectform you always have tohave the feet substantial and insubstan-tial, never double-weighted. "Whenyou do the Brush Knee posture, it is notthe arm that blocks or pushes. You usethe waist.

"The waist is the main thing. If youuse the waist, then you can relax. Youincorporate the entire body and the en-tire body will relax naturally. The waistis the controller. Relax the shoulder andthe elbows. This comes from practice,not from talking."

In terms of self-defense, Fu and hisgrandson said that fa-jing is important,but should be practiced outside of theform. James Fu said: "When doing theform, you practice the forms. Lots offorms teach you how to use the move-ments and at the same time show youhow to do self-defense techniques.

"The main thing in doing forms is tomake your legs strong like a tree withroots. Push hands is more to relax andto develop relaxation of the upper body.Where the power comes from is from fa-jing (explosive force)."

When asked about practicing fa-jing,James Fu said that "Every movementcan be used to practice fa-jingoAndwhile fa-jing is hard, it is still relaxedand the elbow has to be unlocked."

For fa-jing practice, a person cantake single movements outside of form

.practice to develop explosive strength.Fu made a movement with his rightarm, to show his own explosive

strength. He said that practicewith the spear also helps de-velop fa-jingo

Fu said that when YangCheng-fu did push hands withpeople, you couldo't see themovement come out. He justsent people flying away. "Thisis because he had a lot of jingin his dantian."

Fu Zhongwen told of atime when Yang Cheng-fuwas in Shanghai sitting on abed. He touched one hand ofYang Cheng-fu, who turnedhis wrist and threw Fu two me-ters back with his peng en-ergy, bringing it up from thedantian. "He just used his in-ternal energy without movingwhile sitting on the edge of thebed."

James Fu said that duringpractice a person should notthink of their dantian, the areajust below the navel. "If you thinkthere, you can never get there. But youhave to control your bodybalance. It isvery important when doing the move-ments."

Fu Zhongwen' s own push skillswere considerable, especially when hewas between 50 and 60 years old.

When in 1980 there was a meetingof Chinese wushu masters everyonewas talking about how good they were,James Fu said. "Grandfather said,'Stop,' and took a stance. 'I am nowhere. Anyone can use any martial art,

you do not have to use pushhands. Just push me over one stepand I will be your student.' Noone could do it.

"Later they invited him to dopush hands with his student inShanghai. Then people saw howgood he could really push. Hethrew people out two or three me-ters. They dido't just stumbleback. When he pushes, they go upand down for a distance of two or

J threemeters."Another time, he said, about

1960he had a student whose fa-ther also learned from Fu. "Hecame every morning for practice,but then for a long time he didn'tcome to class. One day he re-turned after studying other mar-tial arts and wanted to beat mygrandfather. At this time, mygrandfather still smoked and hada cigarette in one hand whilepushing.Single Whip

PAGE6

Parting the Wild Horse's Mane.

"He twice tried very hard to pushhim while people were standing aroundin a circle watching. The third time hetried, grandfather used his one hand topush him straight up two meters high,more than six feet. When he camedown, grandfather caught him and theyboth had a cigarette together."

James Fu said his grandfather had abrother much taller who was also verygood at push hands. The brother learnedfIrst from Yang Cheng-fu's olderbrother. "When grandfather practiced

White Crane Spreads Its Wings.

,~

push hands with his brother, he canpush him out two meters, but becausehis brother had a kind for springjing, hecan jump right back."

Yang Cheng-fu, he said, had his en-ergy so integrated in his body that peo-ple trying to push hands with himjustpushed themselves out.

When Yang Cheng-fu was inWuhan, a student in the class wanted topush hands with him and came on verystrong. Yang didn't do anything andjust placed his hand a little bit on theman's stomach. The man vomited andwas fmished.

James Fu said, "Some people cometo learn and really want to learn. Somepeople want to challenge and pick up abone uom an egg."

He said another time when YangCheng-fu initially went to the city ofWuhan, a large landlord named Uu in-vited him to his house. When Yang ar-rived, there was a line of people half akilometer long waiting for him to comein. Some were beating drums in hishonor.

Inside there was a kung-fu man whochallenged Yang three times. Each timeYang declined, saying, "It is not worthit. We should have uiendship. There isno reason we should have to fight." Butafter the third time, the man told thelandlord that Yang Cheng-fu was use-less and afraid of him.

So Yang said he wouldfight him with a straightsword. The next day, the twowent out to the courtyard forthe challenge in front of thepeople. The challenger used areal sword, while Yang used awooden sword. The man triedto pierce Yang and Yang withthe flick of the wrist cut theman's wrist, knocking hissword away and disablinghim.

Yang said, "I told you notto do this and now you lose."The man couldn't say any-thing and could not use hisarm any more. The internal en-ergy uom the wooden swordwent through the arm like a la-ser.

Fu Zhongwen said thatwhen Yang Lu-ch'an went toBeijing, the brother of the Em-peror heard about him and in-vited him to teach at the palace becausehe knew he was very good.

The Emperor's brother very muchliked martial arts, he said. There weremany challengers but none could defeatYang. "With just a touch, he could de-feat them and became known as Yangthe Invincible."

Fu said that one time, Yang Lu-. ch'an was invited to a rich man's house,

a man called Zhang, for a ban-quet. Zhang had within hishousehold three burly martialartists that taught his childrenand served as guards. "Beforethe banquet, one of the martialartists asked Yang, 'MasterYang, what martial art are youdoing?' Yang responded, 'I dosoft, sticky fist.' At that time,it was not called T'ai ChiCh'uan.

"Yang Lu-ch'an was asmall, skinny man uom thecountry and didn't look likemuch. The martial artist con-tinued to ask, 'Can you fightwith this martial art,' Yangsaid, 'Of course.' The dia-logue continued and Yang fi-nally asked, 'Do you lookdown upon me? There areonly three kinds of people Ican't defeat: the brass man,the rock man, and the ironman. Anyone with a humanbody I can defeat.'

"After they had tea andtalked, Yang Lu-ch'an invited

Brush Knee, Push.them into the yard to do something. Thethree men saw he was a small guy and afarmer. They made comments such as,'I don't think you can do anything. If!make one punch I will throw you awayor one kick and you are fmished.'

"Everyone went out and the mencontinued talking to each other sayingthat Yang was 'useless.' But when thefirst man went over to him, when he hitYang, the man flew away for three me-ters and no one saw Yang do any move-ment.

"The man didn't know what hap-pened. The second man said, 'I'm going

PAGE 7

to get this guy,' and told the fITstmanhe was no good.

"But he did the same thing and Yangjust threw him out straight away. Afterthe second challenge, Yang became an-gry and turned his back to walk out. Hethought the people there just lookeddown on him and had not really invitedhim for the banquet. When he tried togo, some government people theremade Zhang apologize to Yang and thegovernment officials for trying to havefun at Yang's expense."

Fu and his grandson described someof the essentials for practicing the Yangstyle and emphasized, for instance, thatthe wrist has to be slightly cockedrather than kept straight.

James Fu said, "It is like the gardenwater hose. My grandfather told meabout this in Shanghai 10 years agowhile talking with a group visiting theJade Buddha Temple during lunch.

"He said it is like a garden hosewhen you are watering the garden. 'Ifyou don't press the hose in any way, thewater flows normally. If you press thehose or bend it slightly, the water willgo farther. And if you press the hose toohard, the water will stop.'

So what we are doing in T'ai Chi isto flex the wrist a little bit to increasethe pressure. If you flex the wrist toomuch, then the blood will stop circulat-ing. Bend it a little big but still keep thewrist and hand relaxed."

He said to push with a flexed wristthe side of the hand must be used, other-

wise the hand can be injured."You want to have a little bitof pressure on the wrist andpalm to feel the blood circula-tion."

Fu said that developingroot is like building a house."You can't just pound thefoundation a few times. Youhave to do it until the founda-tion is deep and firm. Youalso have to sink the kua andrelax the hips and sink themdown. You have to feel youare sinking down. You wantto lift the groin up. The groincan't be lowered."

James Fu said that whenpeople do a movement it iseasy for them to rise up dur-ing transitions because theydo not sink down enough.The body should never lift upbetween movements. Themingmen, he said, shouldnever be too straight, nor too far in orout.

Fu said that the chest should not behollowed too much and the back shouldnot lean too much. "The neck should belevel, flat and upright with the eyeslooking straight. Don't look down at thefeet but forward in the direction of themovement." .

James Fu said that when he was be-ing taught by his grandfather, "Henever asked me to go very low. He hadme do it high fITstand then slowly,

slowly I went lower. If you doit this way, you knees will notgo over your toes and there isless danger of injury to theknees. "

He said it can be okay togo over the toes when doing aconnecting movement butwhen you stop your move-ment, you should never havethe knee over the toes.

James Fu said that histeaching in Australia, wherehe now lives with his father,includes the Yang style ba-sics, which is doing the form."It is not like the long fistwhere you do a lot of kickingroutines.

"We do a little bit ofstretching but that is not thepurpose. There are somebreathing exercises but it ismore like meditation.

"You use your mind to re-lax using your intent. This is

PAGE 8

Fan Through the Back.

done before T' ai Chi and after T' ai Chi,standing or sitting. This is the old way.And when we practice you still have touse the mind."

He said natural breathing is used dur-ing practice. "When we talk about qi(ch'i), it is not the breath that webreathe, it is the internal qi that is beingmoved. The breath is not concentratedon during the form, he said. The breathis just natural.

"If you concentrate on the qi, youcan't concentrate on the movements.You have to concentrate on your energyand your spirit.".

A Memorable Encounter with Fu ZhongwenBy Ted W. Knecht

This article has been written to com-memorate late grandmaster Fu Zhong-wen, who past away on September 24,1994, in Shanghai, China. I only knewgrandmaster Fu for a very short time,but his impression will stay with me formy entire life. I had the rare opportunityto meet Fu on the fIrst day of arrival atHuang Chien Liang's 1994 annual Ku-oshu Tournament held this year in nearBaltimore, MD.

I was in the main lobby when Fu andhis grandson, Fu Qing Quan, walked introm taking a strol1outside. Fu was ful1of spirit and greeted everyone very cor-dial1y,shaking their hand. I introducedmyself fIrst to his grandson.

After Qing Quan heard that I couldspeak the Chinese language, he immedi-ately took me over to his grandfather.Fu was very gracious and invited me tohis room for further talk and instructionin the Yang style.

As we walked up to his room, I toldhim I was a student of Dr. Mei Ying

Ted W. Knecht teaches Yangand Wu styles and qigong in

the Cleveland, OH, area. He isa translator and frequentcontributor to T'AI CHI

Magazine

He told me that with thestrict practice of the

Taijiquan routine, onecan obtain optimal

health and longevity.He said longevity is nothow long one lives buthow well one lives. He

used himself as anexample of how Taijican benefit health. He

said his hearing,eyesight, mental

functions and physicalbody were that of a

much younger person:

Sheng. He was very pleased and be-came even more friendly towards me.While in his room, Qing Quan made teafor us to drink. Even though Fu was 91years of age, he was extremely ener-getic and fIl1edwith spirit (shen).

. He openly admitted that his true agewas 91, not in the late 80's as some pub-lications seem to indicate. Without hesi-tation, he began talking about the his-tory of Yang style Taijiquan (T'ai Chi

Ch'uan) and his teacher, YangCheng-fu. He spoke in greatdetail of the Yang family anddemonstrated movements ashe spoke.

Even at his age, he wasstill able to fa-jing with a

, .1 sound of a cracking whip. Just~:.:Jby watching his movements, I

had chills running up myback. Just two years ago, Fuinjured his spine and was para-lyzed on the right side of hisbody. He told me he neversaw a doctor in his entire lifeand was able to treat his pa-ralysis through the practice ofTaijiquan. After only one year

~

~---c

of the paralysis, he traveled :;f~'\1'fI'r.by himself throughoutEurope, teaching Taijiquan.

He told me that with thestrict practice of the Taijiquanroutine, one can obtain opti-mal health and longevity. HeStrike the Tiger, left.

said longevity is not how long one livesbut how wel1one lives. He used himselfas an example of how Taiji can benefIthealth. He said his hearing, eyesight,mentalfunctionsand physicalbodywere that of a much younger person.Qing Quan told me that his grandfatherpracticed the form every day withoutstop.

Fu spoke of a story about a Japanesemartial artist who wanted grandmasterFu to teach him Taijiquan. The martialartist stated that he wanted to only usetwo or three months of study to masterthe movements of the routine. After Fuheard this, he could only shake hishead. He felt that the Japanese martialartist was lacking the true knowledge ofwhat Taijiquan real1yis.

Moreover, this type of thinking, inwhich Taijiquan can be hurried, is verycommon both in China and abroad. Fuconsidered that the practice and study ofTaijiquan must proceed over time witha set process of learning. GrandmasterFu stated that he has been learning Tai-jiquan since he was only nine years old.

Fu said that learning Taijiquan is notan easy matter because it is an art formof high standards. He went on to saythat there are several important keys tolearning proper Taijiquan.

The fIrst would be that the practitio-ner truly likes the art; second is to havea good teacher who understands and can

Double Punch

PAGE9

teach the essence of Taijiquan; third isto have sufficient space to practice;fourth is to have enough time for prac-tice; fifth is to be able to endure and en-joy the pain of training; and sixth is tohave patience.

These conditions are aimed at im-proving the level in one's martial artsability in Taijiquan. In general, how-ever, if one only practices for health andfitness, then some of these conditionsare not as important.

Fu Zhongwen repeatedly stated thatlearning Taijiquan is not an easy task.There are many requirements and essen-tials of Taijiquan that cannot be learnednor put into practice right after hearingit from the teacher.

There is no way to master a principlein a short period oftime; however, onemust know the correct training proce-dures. If one does not know the correctprocedures for training, this will conse-quently hurt one's training.

He stated that if the method is incor-rect, the more one practices, the fartherone moves away from real Taijiquan.To explain the practice of Taijiquan inorder to reach a firm foundation in thestyle is a very difficult problem.

He again used himself as an exampleby saying that ifhe performed fiverounds ofTaijiquan and was able to con-form to all of the principles of Taiji twoout of the five times, he felt happy. Topractice Taijiquan and apply the princi-ples is extremely difficult. Fu said hestill has this feeling even after practic-

ing for more than 80 years.Fu often told his students that

when one practices Taijiquan,one must not be afraid to workhard. If one is afraid to workhard, then Taijiquan should nothave been selected as their sub-ject of study. For example, whenhe saw students training withoutlow enough stances, he would tellthem that the masters in the pastwould perform Taijiquan withtheir upper and lower legs at 90degree angles. When one trains inthis manner, much energy is usedand one must work hard to obtainthis level.

Fu stated that most of the mas-ters in the past were illiterate.However, they received the truetransmissions of the art and prac-ticed without fear of pain andtiredness.

They did not need to write any-thing down because they werewilling to train. There were otherswho talked or wrote about Taijiquan,but never practiced true kung-fu. Eventhough these people obtained the cor-rect methods, it was of no use withoutpractice and hardship.

Fu spoke of those who were not will-ing to spend time training but who wereonly willing to speak and write aboutthe art. He said that some of these peo-ple adversely affected the growth of Tai-jiquan. Some of these people actuallychanged the movements of the original

style. In fact, he said, some ofthe changed movements do notconform to Taiji principles.

Fu said that he could havecreated his own style ofTai-jiquan called Fu style Taijiquan,but he considered that his abili-ties in the art was in no compari-son to the masters of the past.The frame work of Yang styleTaijiquan conforms to scientificprinciples, therefore to changethe style would have been un-thinkable to him. GrandmasterFu explained that he neverchanged any of the movementsthat were taught to him by YangCheng-fu.

I;u said that he hopes thatpractitioners here in the US willbegin to see what authentic Tai-jiquan truly is. He stated that ifone has doubts to the authentic-ity of a so-called Yang style, oneonly needs to look at the photo-graphs of Yang Cheng-fu taken

Huang Chien Liang, left, with Fu Zhongwen.

PAGE 10

A saber technique.

in 1927. These photographs representthe true postures of Yang style Tai-jiquan. These photographs have beenmade public and are available in variouspublications.

In the following days of the tourna-ment, Fu was kind enough to be inter-viewed by T' AI CHI Magazine and todemonstrate various open-hand andweapon postures frorp the Yang rou-tines. He also offered a special work-shop in which he and his grandsontaught push hands and forms correc-tions. He also demonstrated some appli-cations with his grandson with the en-ergy of a person half his age. This trulywas a precious moment for those whowitnessed the event.

The last time I had a chance to visitwith Fu was during and after eating din-ner with him, Cai Hong Xiang, He WeiQi, Nick Gracenin, and some students.Before retiring to his room, Fu cameover to me to invite my teacher, mywife, and myselfto next year's Yong-nian Friendship Conference to be heldduring the first week of May in HebeiProvince. We shook hands and madeour farewells by saying we would meetnext year in Yongnian.

Little did I know this would be ourlast visit. Without a doubt, Fu will beone of the most important and influen-tial people I will meet in my life. I feelvery fortunate to have had a chance tovisit and study with him for that shorttime in Baltimore.-

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Trip to u.s. Fulfilled a Dream for Fu ZhongwenFu Zhongwen's visit to the United

States last summer fulfilled a dream hehad for long time and was very excitingfor him.

Fu was brought to the U.S. for the1994 International Kuoshu tournamentby Huang Chien Liang, sponsor of thetournament, and He Wei Qi, one ofFu'sfavorite students.

It was the first time in decades that

Fu was able to experience true fightingat the tournament. It was reported thathe was so excited by the full contactbouts that, even though he was 91 yearsold, he roamed the hotel halls until 2a.m., searching for a push hands oppo-nent.

Fu had fought often during hisyouth, accepting challenges for YangCheng-fu and was his favorite studentand disciple. Fu had begun his studieswith Yang Cheng-fu at the age of ninein Yongnian.

His home was only a 10-minutewalk from the Yang family home. Hemoved to Shanghai when he was 17 andwhen his teacher moved to Shanghai, hehelped him fmd a home and arrange-ments were made for Fu to live with histeacher, which greatly accelerated hisT'ai Chi Ch'uan skills.

Fu learned his push hands skills un-der the guidance of Yang Cheng-fu, andbecame Yang's chief instructor, travel-ing with him to Nanjing, Wuhan, and

This story was based oninformation supplied by

Jonathan Pett Miller.

Guangzhou. Martial challenges toYang were delegated to Fu, whodefeated all opponents.

Later Fu married one of YangCheng-fu's nieces and whenYang died in 1936, Fu was re-sponsible for transporting Yang'sbody back to Yongnian countyand conducting the burial.

A staunch traditionalist, Fu re-fused to alter the original Yangstyle and he was recognized forthe authenticity of his T'ai Chi.

On Oct. 1, 1944, Fu foundedI

r:',;the Yongnian T'ai Chi Ch'uan So- q;~ciety with the stated goal of fur-thering the practice of Yang style.It's mission was to make T'ai Chiinstruction available to the gen-eral public. ~

The goal was the strengthen- ~~1~ing of the Chinese people through ~1practice ofT'ai Chi. .~~<

The association promoted thespread of authentic Yang styleand Fu continued his teacher's legacy.Through the association, instructorshave spread out across China to teachthe authentic Yang style.

There were three reasons that FuZhongwen chose the name "Yongnian"for his association.

The first was that Yongnian was thename of the county where Yang Lu-ch'an, founder of the Yang style, lived.Three generations of Yang style practi-tioners, including Fu, came from Yong-nian county.

From left, He Wei Qi, Fu Zhongwen, and Huang Chien Liang.

A sword posture.There is a Chinese saying that one

should "never forget where your firstdrink of water came ITom."

The second reason was that Yong-nian means, "always developing,never stopping." This phrase was'inaccordance with always strengtheningyour health and developing yourself.During the time of the Yongnian asso-ciation's formation, the morale of theChinese people was very low becauseof the civil war and occupation by Ja-pan. Fu hoped to strengthen the indi-vidual, and so the country.

The third reason was that the char-acters for Yongnian can also be readas "long life."

First fomed in Shanghai, the asso-ciation grew to 6,000 people in 10years and today, the number ofpracti-tioners is uncountable.

There are associations throughoutthe world. In the U.S., Fu's senior dis-ciple, He Wei Qi, Richmond, VA, ispresident of both the U.S. and Pan-American Yongnian T'ai Chi Ch'uanassociation.

The 50th anniversary of the asso-ciation was held in Shanghai, May 2of this year and martial arts teachersand officials ITomthroughout Chinaand the U.S. were present. Fu re-ceived many gifts and was widelypraised ~orhis role as founder of theoriginal Yongnian association..

PAGE II

FU ~HBN~ G}LUAN. G}(AN~~<][G}lLB C£AIJISunday the 12th of Oc.tober OnslowCollege Recreation Centre, Electionday, and the winds of Political changeare blowing as is the elemental wind.So hard in fact as to threaten to takethe roof off the building: Inside, 70 .

people were not caring about theweather as they watched spellbound aperformance by Master Fu ShengYuan and listen as he explains some ofthe intricaciesof Yang Style Tai Ji. FuSheng Yuan is the grand nephew fromthe third generation of the founder ofYang Style Taiji, a descendant ofYang Lu Chan, brought to Wellingtonby the area.branch of the New ZealandChinese Martial Arts and InternationalWushu Council (NZ CMA-IWA).Together with his New Zealandstudent MarcusZhao, Master Fu spentover 2 hours with students andteachers of Chinese Martial Arts fromorganisations both local and as farawayas Wanganui. .

Master Fu has travelled in the last yearstarting in Shanghai in May with aWushu Festival then through Germany,USA, France, England, Thailand,Singapore and Australia. He nowresides in Perth Australia where heheads the Yongnian TaijiquanAssociation teaching authentic YangFamilyTaiji. .

Yongnian Taiji is named after the<;ountIyin China where the Yang familyoriginate. Yongnian translated means'Ionglife' and is the birth place of Fu

by Warwick Hill

Master Fu demonstrating the Sabre Set

Sheng Yuan, Yang Lu Chan andall the family members inbetween.When he was nine years old FuSheng Yuan was taken by hisfather, Fu Zhong Wen, toShanghai and began his trainingin Taiji. Fu Zhong Wen was 'acousin of Yang Sheng Fu andreceived his training directlyfrom him.

AfteI: a brief introduction Marcus Zhaocommenced the programme w~th ademonstration of a segment of the YangForm. This was followed by Master Fuwith the first part of the Yang FamilyForm. Master Fu then treated thosepresent with a rarely seen Chinese sabreform. The Chinese sabre looksremarkably like the Japanese Katana.Master Fu commented that the Japanesecopied their sword from the Chineseweapon and he has now inherited YangCheng Fu's sabre.After these demonstrations Master Fubegan teaching Push Hands.. Everybodywas encouraged to join in, even thosefrom arts that do not have Push Hands intheir curriculum. Using two types, singlePush Hands and a version of doublehands, Master Fu manages even with hislimited English, to impart much withthese two simple e.xercises. Most peoplespoken to afterwards were veryimpressed with Master Fu's teaching and

. obvious skills and the way both he andMarcus Zhao were available to discuss,demonstrate and join in with students 011

the exercises.Another exercise where two people stand facingeach other in an upright straddle stance and placetheir palms against each other then try with asudden push to upset the others balance hadlaughter drowning out the raging wind and rain.This apparently simple exercise taught muchabout the centre of balance.As the day drew all too soon to an end, Master Fushowed some interesting applications for some ofthe moves in Taiji. it is not often expressed as atrue fighting Martial Art, but in the hands of aMaster the seemingly simple movements of Taij ihave a wealth of technical application.For most the day ended with. a round ofThankyous and some photo opportunities. 'PeterYu introduced the crowd to some of theInstructors and organisations represented and itwas indeed good to see so many different stylesand clubs coming together to share in training.Master Fu, Marcus Zhao, NZ CMA-IWC, thestudents and teachers of the area I would like tothank the Yongnian Taijiquan Association of NewZealand for the opportunity to train with MasterFu Sheng Yuan.Tile NZ CMA-IWC is newly formed and IIopesto bring more cllances for tile people toexperience Cilinese Martial Arts in tile future.Stay tuned.Master Fu and Marclls Zhao

NZMAM - 45