BAO TAK FAI TAI CHI INSTITUTE
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Interview With Grandmaster Ip  
 

Grandmaster Ip Tai Tak is the first Disciple of the late Great Grandmaster Yeung Sau Chung – fourth generation head of the Yeung family and heir to legendary Great Great Grandmaster Yeung Chen Fu.

Retired from Government service, Grandmaster Ip resides in the Western District of Hong Kong where he continues his life-long passion of practicing tai chi. Grandmaster Ip is one of the few who has learned the martial system of Yeung Family Tai Chi known as the Snake Style.

Although Great Great Grandmaster Yeung Chen Fu had over twenty Disciples, he only passed on the Snake Style to his family members. In turn, Great Grandmaster Yeung Sau Chung transmitted this martial system of tai chi to his daughters as well as his disciples. For the past 30 some years up until now, Grandmaster Ip Tai Tak has been practicing the Snake Style intensely.

In March 2001 I was accepted as the Second Disciple of Grandmaster Ip, and have been receiving the Snake Style transmission for the past three years. I feel it is important that practitioners of Yeung style tai chi acquaint themselves with this very old aspect of their art and with the fourth and fifth generation men who preserved its tradition – Great Grandmaster Yeung Sau Chung, and Grandmaster Ip Tai Tak.

During a recent trip to Hong Kong, Grandmaster Ip granted me this interview. In the first part, he speaks of his training with Great Grandmaster Yeung Sau Chung. In the second part, he talks about the Snake Style system and its components.

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BTF – What motivated you to study tai chi chuan?

GMI – I studied kung fu in elementary school before World War II, it was required of young men. However, my first interest in physical culture was weight training. Then after becoming injured from weight lifting, my doctor recommended swimming, table tennis or tai chi.

BTF – And you chose tai chi?

GMI – No I thought it was too slow and boring. So I took up swimming. Once, when I was at the pool, I noticed some people doing tai chi on a hillside not far away. I went over and watched them doing push hands. After talking to the instructor, I decided to join.

BTF – Who was the teacher?

GMI – It was Great Grandmaster Tung Yin Kit, a Disciple of Yeung Chen Fu. The year was 1950, and I was twenty-one years old. I studied with him for four years, eventually becoming an assistant instructor. Then I met Great Grandmaster Yeung Sau Chung.

BTF – How did you meet him?

GMI – I went to a kung fu demonstration in Wanchai, Hong Kong. Great Grandmaster Yeung demonstrated the Broadsword. I was so impressed by his performance, that I knew I wanted to become his student.

BTF – How did you go about doing that?

GMI – I heard he lived in Yuen Long in the New Territories so I traveled there and searched the area for him. After much frustration, I found Great Grandmaster Yeung teaching a handful of students in an open area. His students were very impressive, although some of them had only been studying for three months. I asked if he would accept me, and he did. It was a long trip to Yeun Long, so I found a warehouse in Kennedy Town in Hong Kong and invited Great Grandmaster Yeung to teach there. He accepted and soon he had his maximum of 13 students studying with him two or three days after work weekly. Later, he moved his family to Hong Kong.

BTF – Tell us about your early training.

GMI – I’ll tell you a story. Once after class in Yuen Long, we went to a student’s house. Grandmaster Yeung set up mattresses at one end of a room. He pushed us and we would fly and tumble through the air and onto the mattresses ten feet away. I had never seen anything like that before. Later we went out to dinner with Great Grandmaster Yeung, but none of us were able to eat, we were too jumbled up inside.

BFT – When did you become his First Disciple?

GMI – In November of 1958. It is a very old and traditional custom called Bai Shi. I put on a banquet and invited all of the students and family of Great Grandmaster Yeung. I gave him a red pocket, bolts of silk for making clothes and an offering of tea – all customary for becoming a Disciple.

BTF – How did your training differ after becoming a Disciple?

GMI – I was taught the Snake Style of the Yeung Family which included the Long Form, chi kung, and a very tough style of push hands. I pushed hands with my Master this way for twenty-four years.

BTF – Did Great Grandmaster Yeung talk about his training with his famous father, Great Great Grandmaster Yeung Chen Fu?

GMI – Sometimes. I know he began his training at age eight and was considered a Master by age nineteen. He said his father pushed them all out of the house (his son and his students) at six in the morning. It was very cold in the north, and he and his father’s students would have to train outside continuously just to keep warm – doing as many as twelve forms in two hours at a faster pace to keep their inner heat up. Then his father would open the door at 8 am and invite them in for breakfast. They also trained at mid-day and in the evening. He said his father had so much chi in his hands that they weighed ten times that of an ordinary man.

BTF – I have heard you studied and researched many forms of martial arts.

GMI – As I said, I studied some kung fu and judo as a schoolboy. There were also many great masters in Hong Kong during that time. I became familiar with their styles. Great Grandmaster Yeung taught at his home in Wanchai on Saturdays and Sundays. I would bring in a technique from another system on Saturday, and on Sunday he would show me how to counter it with his family’s tai chi.

BTF – How would you describe Great Grandmaster Yeung’s push hands?

GMI – In twenty-four years I never won a match. His hands were very powerful and magic. When he caught you the pain was unbearable. In the early days, before we became stronger, every time he grabbed us we would be bruised, as if our arms and bodies were made of tofu.

BTF – Great Grandmaster Yeung passed away in 1985 if I’m not mistaken.

GMI – Yes, he left three daughters, Amy, Mary¹ and Agnes. He also took two Disciples after me, Chu Gin Soon² in 1977 and Chu King Hung³ in 1983. He also has three half brothers⁴ still living in China.

Interview with Grandmaster Ip (Part Two)

BTF – Back to the subject of your martial training in the Yeung Family System. How was it different from ordinary Yeung tai chi?

GMI – There are three Yeung Family forms -- the crane, the tiger and the snake. Mostly the elderly or those with physical limitations practice the crane style. It uses a high posture. The tiger style is the most common. It uses a medium posture and has martial implications. The snake style has a low posture, normally four feet* from the ground and it is designed for combat use.

(*Master Ip said that four feet was based on a five foot person and that I should practice no lower than five feet because I am six feet tall. As a general rule, you should practice snake style no lower than one foot below your height.)

BTF – But there are differences other than posture height?

GMI – Yes. The tiger style’s defensive system using a more straightforward method, like the tiger itself. The snake style moves from side to side, just like the snake, and attacks the opponent from an angle. The angular hand positions are more powerful and are supported by the waist and legs more effectively. Also, the weight is one hundred percent on the standing leg. But neither form is useful as a martial art without chi Kung and push hands.

BTF – How so?

GMI – Tai chi is like a tree. If you nurture it, it will grow. But it is only a potted tree without chi kung. It can be knocked over. If you plant the tree in the ground, it will take root and cannot be pushed over. That is what chi kung training does for your tai chi. Chi kung training brings your chi down to your feet. Tai chi brings the chi up and circulates it around. Push hands teaches you how to release it through your hands.

BTF -- And that is the combination that brings tai chi from health exercise to martial art?

GMI – It will allow the tiger style practitioner to apply some of the moves. But it is not the true tai chi combat way unless you practice the Long Form.

BTF – The Long Form you speak about is different from the tai chi form. (Westerners often refer to the long form as the complete Yeung tai chi form).

GMI – Yes, the Yeung Family Long Form is a martial form different from tai chi. It can be done at different speeds and can be modified to meet a Master’s individual martial standards. My form differs somewhat from Great Grandmaster Yeung’s form. You can be creative with the Long Form, but not with the classical form.

BTF - So the three components of martial Yeung style tai chi are…?

GMI – Chi kung, the Long Form and push hands. Without this combination you cannot use tai chi for self-defense.

BTF – What about fa jing?

GMI – Fa jing is often misunderstood for hard force. It is purely chi expressed in the hands from the back by hollowing the chest and using intention. My fa jing style is a very old concept that predates the Yeung family. You discharge by moving the hip in one direction and the hands in the other – like drawing a bow. But you must have a strong root from chi kung practice.

BTF – You talk of the separation of tai chi for health and tai chi for fighting. Isn’t martial tai chi even better for your health?

GMI – Yes, it will make you stronger and more powerful, but you must be careful to practice correctly. Otherwise, one should not practice this method.

BTF – Thank you Grandmaster Ip.

¹   Master Mary Yeung teaches privately in Hong Kong
²   Master Chu Gin Soon teaches in Boston, Massachusetts
³   Master Chu King Hung teaches throughout Europe
⁴   Grandmaster Yeung Zhendao (second half-brother) teaches in China and throughout the world