Why Zhao Bao Taiji
Why should I study taiji instead of any other martial art or fighting form?
“Continuously learning, continuously improving“
Taiji isn’t a fixed or finalized martial art. Master Yazi Liu 刘亚孜 believes that practitioners should always continue to research, to learn and to improve their art. If something doesn’t quite work for you, improve it. If you learn a particular method that you think works better than what you’re already doing, incorporate it.
This particular trait is not itself unique to Azi School of Taiji – it’s actually visible across the taiji world, albeit not always acknowledged. Though multiple schools around the world will teach Yang style, or Chen style, or Wu style, when students from different schools of the same style come together, their forms will often show as many small differences as similarities. Those differences reflect the different choices and teaching styles chosen by their respective schools and teachers.
Master Yazi Liu, however, not only acknowledges this but emphasizes it.
The trait that makes Azi School of Taiji stand apart from other practitioners of Zhao Bao taiji around the world is it’s focus on the martial.
If you look online for examples of Zhao Bao taiji elsewhere in the world, what you will see is something very different from what Master Liu teaches. The reason is simple – the incorporation of fajin 發勁.
So far as we can tell, the version of Zhao Bao Taiji taught at Azi School of Taiji is the most martial version in the world. It comes from the Zhao Bao line called San He Yi Shi, to which short fajin was introduced by Master Yazi Liu’s Master, Pei Guo Qing. In turn Master Yazi Liu has incorporated more and more fajin into the form/tao lu.
What is fajin?
Fajin is the explosive releasing of power in a strike. If you research around the internet you will find a lot of sites explaining this like on Wikipedia: here is another,
Bruce Lee once said that the difference between a Karate punch and a Gongfu (Kung Fu) punch was that a Karate punch is like being hit with a crowbar, while a Gongfu punch is like being hit by a metal ball on the end of a chain.
Martial Tai Chi
Master Yazi Liu likes this alternative analogy:
A punch from an external kung fu form is like being hit by a boxer… the more developed your muscles are, the more effective the punch. However, if you prepare for the punch, you can withstand it as it is primarily a large force on the surface of the target. As a result, you normally see a visual effect of the punch on the target, like a punch smashing glass into pieces.
Fajin on the other hand requires “no muscles”, you “borrow” force from the ground, and magnify it in your dantien, and then you send it through your body into your target like a bullet. The result is internal damage of your target, the bullet makes a hole through glass without smashing it into pieces.
The 10 Different Training Steps in Taijiquan also gives you an idea what to expect and when fajin is incorporated in our training.
Adding fajin to Zhao Bao
For each contact that you make with your opponent, there is the ability to attack with fajin. It is the ability to be sensitive (ting li 听力) and to be able to strike with fajin that we at Azi School of Taiji aim to achieve.
Both long and short fajin can be applied in the form – the long fajin is one of the main and notable features in the Chen style.
Master Yazi Liu himself went on to learn Chen style (which he also teaches). Impressed by the longer strikes and more frequent occurrence of fajin in Chen, he began to adapt his Zhao Bao tao lu style, starting with the obvious strikes to incorporate fajin. As the fajin strikes became more ‘habitual’, Master Liu increases and includes new fajin strikes in tao lu.
Master Yazi Liu teaches Chen style after students have learnt the Zhao Bao style in detail and when they can distinguish the subtle differences between the two styles. In this order, students generally find learning Chen style straightforward; the main areas of concentration are the lower and wider stances, and the long fajin. As students have attained the short fajin well, they are equally capable of long fajin. The key is being relaxed and – to coin one of Master Yazi Liu’s common sayings – “don’t use muscle!”
The Zhao Bao of Master Yazi Liu’s grand shifu Hou Chun Xiu 侯春秀 did not feature the whiplash fast strikes of fajin at all. You could now possibly say that the version of Zhao Bao learnt at Azi School of Taiji is the style of Master Yazi Liu.
For this reason, we can say – Azitaiji style of Zhao Bao is a unique martial form, incorporating the strengths of other styles and continuing to improve.