Tu-Ky Lam's Taijiquan and Yiquan site

A comparison between Taijiquan and Yiquan

By Tu-Ky Lam

Taijiquan, well-known for its benefits for health, is practiced all over the world. It has beautiful forms and can be useful in self-defense if you have been trained properly and long enough under the tutelage of a master. Yiquan is a relatively new style of Chinese martial art, founded by Wang Xiang-zhai in the 1920s by combining the main training techniques and principles of Xingyi quan, Taijiquan, Bagua Zhang, and other styles of martial arts. Taijiquan and Yiquan have differences but they also have similarities. I will try to make a comparison of the two systems and find out how they complement each other.
SIMILARITIES

What Yiquan takes from Taijiquan is Taiji's training principle: use mind and not force and so we see that practitioners of both disciplines practice gently, slowly and with great concentration. This practice helps to nourish our life energy and improve our health and fitness. In this respect, Yiquan is very similar to Taijiquan and Qigong. They suit people of all ages. Then both Taijiquan and Yiquan have power discharge, which is done in a relaxed manner with power released only at the point of contact instead of using brute force. Both systems are good not only for health but also for self-defense. Another thing Yiquan borrows from Taijiquan is push-hands practise, though Yiquan push-hands is done differently with its own flavour and more emphasis on self-defense, which is epitomyzed by its strong internal power. Finally, they both belong to the internal systems of Chinese martial arts and require that students and practitioners have correct postures to make qi flow and develop internal strength. Such requirements as lifting up the top of the head, dropping shoulders and elbows, bending knees, flexing hip joints and sitting properly on top of our legs apply to both Taijiquian and Yiquan.
DIFFERENCES Curriculum

The major differences are in the contents or components of the two systems. Taijiquan has beautiful forms or routines, on which students and practitioners spend most of their time when they train. In fact, they spend so much time in the routines that they almost forget there are other areas of Taijiquan they need to work on. For most students or practitioners, learning Taijiquan is only doing the Taiji routines and push-hands.

Yiquan does not have routines, which give practitioners many opportunities to work on other aspects of martial arts, rather than the forms. Yiquan students spend at least half of their training time doing Zhan-zhuang to develop their internal strength, which they can use in push-hands and fighting. Before they do push-hands, students will need to learn some unbalancing and controlling techniques, which are called Shi-li. If they skip this, they will not be able to use their internal strength developed from zhan-zhuang, and so will not do well in push-hands. Before students can take part in sparring, they will need to practice stepping which will help them attack and evade attacks of their enemy quickly and easily. Then they also practice a few punches (only 4 or 5) and kicks (only 3 kicks), which are useful in fighting. After training hard on the basics (zhan-zhuang, shi-li, zou-bu or stepping), students will have laid a good foundation for push-hands and sparring, which are two of the few major components of Yiquan training. Judging from the different curriculum of Taijiquan and Yiquan as described above, we can see that Taijiquan emphasizes on the artistic, and health aspects of Chinese martial arts while Yiquan on the practical and health aspects. Taijiquan is graceful and is loved by millions of people. Yiquan does not have the beautiful form but are very good to health and for self-defense.
Tactics

As Taijiquan is more oriented towards the perfection of their beautiful routines, it emphasizes less on internal strength, so it has a big gap in its teachings of this area. Taijiquan's main tactics in push-hands and sparring relies a lot on neutralization and make use of the opponent's strength and retaliate accordingly. The well-known saying, "To deflect one thousand pounds with four ounces of strength" describes the Taijiquan tactics quite well. Yiquan emphasizes on power, and states clearly power can only be developed through zhan-zhuang. Yiquan students and practitioners will not hesitate to use their power to attack and overpower their opponents. Neutralization, which is very popular in Taijiquan, is not used a lot. In stead, they tend to use their power to redirect the incoming force. For more details on this, see my article entitled "The Power of Yiquan Single Push-hands."
COMPLEMENTS

It can be easily understood that Taijiquan is more like an upper level of a construction while Yiquan the foundation. Each of them is strong in what the other lacks and so they can complement each other very nicely. It is very obvious that Taijiquan lacks internal strength. Although some teachers claim to have secret training methods to increase internal strength, they are not really effective. Taiji practitioners should borrow Yiquan's zhan-zhuang to fill the gap lack of internal strength in their training system. If they can learn Yiquan push-hands techniques, it will certainly raise their push-hands skill to a new high. Taiji teachers should take a good look at the Yiquan curriculum and redesign their one to make Taijiquan training system complete. Yiquan is simple and direct, but this can be boring and unconvincing to some people. Another

fact is that many laymen do not believe in Yiquan's training methods. In these cases, learning Taijiquan can help. After people have learned the Taiji routines and push-hands, they will be able to better appreciate the practical approach of Yiquan.
CONCLUSION

Taijiquan and Yiquan complement each very well. For people who have practiced Taijiquan for many years without much improvement, they should seriously look at Yiquan. For people who find Yiquan too simple, they can think about doing Taijiquan. We can say Taijiquan is a mansion and Yiquan the foundation. A mansion cannot exist without its foundation, and a foundation will be a waste if we do not build a mansion on it. The following translation, which shares the same conclusion, can help you understand the two systems better:

THE JING OF TAIJIQUAN AND Y IQUAN Touching hands

Taijiquan. When a Taiji master "plays" (practices) with you, you can only touch his clothes. He will make you feel good and have the hope that you can catch up with him. Yiquan. When a Yiquan master plays with you, he will "nail" you right down to the ground. (His internal strength will go straight down through your arms to the bottom of your feet.) You will have no idea where his jin comes from. He smiles and at the same time straightens up his fingers, one at a time, and you will fall into despair.
Power discharge

Taijiquian. When your arms get in touch with those of a master, his arms will turn a small circle. You can see the master stand in front of you, but cannot find a gap to attack. Keep looking, and suddenly you find that you have been thrown flying off, and your brain becomes blank. Thinking back on this moment, it is like sipping a cup of good tea. Yiquan. When your arms get in touch with those of a master, his forearms will move slightly. You can feel that time and space are compressed, but not sure what is happening. What follows is that you are thrown off balance. You are excited because you are thrown off by real strong internal force. The master beat you with his sheer power, not tricks.
Movements

Taijiquan. The movements of Taiji practitioners are very light, never too fast nor too slow. When they release power, their body moves slightly and then stop as if not wanting to hurt you. Yiquan. The movements of Yiquan practitioners are very simple, without any

deliberation. When they release power, their body does not even move. Only their arms move forward and then straighten up their fingers.
Combination

Taijiquan is Yin and Yiquan Yang. This is true and real. Hope they both can work well together, just as our lips and teeth which depend on each other.

Copyright T u-Ky Lam Email: tukylam@yahoo.co.nz Website: http://tukylam.freeoda.com/