Posted by Lee W. on December 31, 1998 at 13:41:36:
In Reply to: Excuses, excuses posted by S. on December 31, 1998 at 10:29:53:
My abstinence is not on the historical question but on the negative tone and name calling that seems to be the vein this thread is taking.
History is one thing. Claiming that this style or that style is deficient due to the way they do things is a different story. There are a number of variations on Yang style that I personally find distasteful. I would not choose to pursue those branches of the art and personally feel they are deficient. That is a far cry from saying it in a public forum. If someone else feels that those branches have value, that is their choice. I personally do not have a great affinity for the slow Wu routine. I do, however, find the fast routine quite appealing. That is a personal choice and I would never say that Wu style is done badly because it differs from Yang. That seems to be a large part of what is going on here in many of the posts.
Now, if someone wants to openly discuss history and ideas in a thread devoid of rancor, I am all for it. I am just not going to jump into a negative thread and try to make it a positive. Windmills are NOT for jousting. (so I have learned over the past year)
: Heidi Hi Lee,
: I meant to write 'Heidi Ho Stranger', but as you may well imagine part
: of the fun of the board is to guess the identity of the poster.
: The Stranger sounded quite familiar so I took a shot in the dark.
: Still made the connection it seems. Isn't Tai Chi wonderful.
: If you wish to abstain that is fine, but let's not claim that the issue
: of Chen/Yang has been beaten to death. The matter is in fact quite alive.
: The reason the stranger made me think of you was that you have this view
: that just because Yang Luchan was taught by a Chen master in Chen village
: that Yang learnt Cannon Pounding, or what is now called Chen Style Tai Chi.
: You appear to dismiss Jiang Fa, seem to hold to the Chen Wanting story, and
: seem to dismiss Lim's work.
: Basically, the history bit doesn't matter. Except when someone like yourself
: claims to have a great interest in history but seems to have settled on a
: version that is very much at odds with other published versions, eg. Lim's,
: as well as well publicized controversy in the Chen Fake days when the political
: fighting was going on to get Chen back into Tai Chi.
: You dismiss Lim's accounts as deficient in giving the whole story. He doesn't
: claim to do that, but he gives many clues, references, for a reader
: to draw conclusions.
: Anyways, abstention is Ok,though then there should be no further complaints
: about lack of intelligent discussion on this 'board'.
: S.