Introduction
In 1981 I learned the tai chi form of Chang Lao Tze (meaning "old teacher Chang") in the town of Tainan in Taiwan. Chang had fled from Shanghai to Taiwan when the Communists came to power on the mainland in 1949.
He had been a teacher of martial arts for the air force in Taiwan. He manufactured his own swords and had presented one of them to President Eisenhower when he visited Taiwan. He was now 81, retired and teaching a few students.
I was traveling around Taiwan to find a tai chi teacher. Every morning I went to parks to see people practicing, dancing, listening to their caged birds and reading poetry. After watching a good tai chi master leading the practice I would usually approach him and try to establish a contact. When they found out that my Chinese vocabulary was extremely limited, and that I expected to have a conversation in English they would smile politely and leave.
Chang Lao Tze I met by accident when I had found a place to stay in Tainan. The usual method to communicate that I wanted lodging was to hold my two hands together and lean my cheek on them as if sleeping.
In the afternoon I found master Chang teaching some students in the yard at my lodging. I watched, greeted Chang and showed the Peking style that I had learned in Denmark. He politely applauded me along with his students and said something like "Ha!".
Later I realised he said "hao", meaning "good".
He did not try one word in English, but he was clearly prepared to teach me. Luckily there was a Chinese student from California with him to translate, and a Taiwanese student helped me a lot by silently showing me movements.
The next morning I joined a group performing the form in the KungFutse-temple and from now on I practiced about 4 hours a day. Pretty hard on my knees as the ground was covered with concrete where we were. On top of the physical exercise I spent time trying to memorize the movements and giving them names which proved to be a very efficient way of learning.
After 10 days I was able to perform the whole sequence, the form, by myself, but that was just the beginning of a year-long learning process.
In 1983 I returned to Taiwan to learn more. People remembered me in the temple park and brought me into contact with Chang who had moved to relatives when his wife died. A young Chinese businessman took up the task of translating and training with me.
Chang told me to teach when I came back home, and I have done so for many years now - along with a regular job and looking after my family. I have met a number of good tai chi fighters in Taiwan, but in my own practice I concentrated on the form as a way to experience harmony of body and soul.
The Chinese generally respect and value the knowledge and wisdom of old people. A student of tai chi will try to follow the directions of the teacher as closely as possible. We bowed to the teacher whenever we completed the form. We came to his home to carry his tea to the practicing are
On the other hand in my experience advanced students had absolutely no qualms about doing things their own way when teaching was over. In this way an incredible variety of forms has developed in China, much more so than in the West - where I suppose we feel in deep debt to the Chinese tradition and Chinese masters.
One student claimed that Chang Lao Tzes form was Sun style, but to me it rather seems to be a variety of the Yang style. Anyway through the years my performance of Chang's form has improved a lot, details have developed, and the movements have become "second nature" through practice and personal experience.
In my experience you can also be your own teacher, being aware and trying things out. Moving slowly makes it possible to feel if you are good and becoming better. Sometimes you feel a little unbalanced and in bad shape, but without fail the practice will bring you forward.
Today inspiration and a repetition of the old, fundamental principles can be found on the internet - a quite different situation from the time when I started out on the path of tai chi.