1-5-08 NOW AND CHEN : MEETING THE ‘TAI CHI MASTER’ (part two)

Team Dragon Dynasty staggers out from the Tai Chi Hotel into the pre-dawn darkness. A van arrives exactly at the appointed hour to drive us to the main Chen school. Throughout our stay, I’m impressed at the quiet way everyone does what we need, when we need it. They all seem to apply a ‘real world’ kung fu that’s often absent in the ‘modern’ city we’ve come from.

The paling sky reveals the open and empty stone courtyard of the main training hall. Its empty except for a ragged dog who eyes us quizzically. A student appears from nowhere, strikes a gong, and suddenly the courtyard is teaming with life. The resident Tai Chi disciples line up, ranging in age from early 20s down to 6 year olds. The senior students lead them out for their roadwork, which is accompanied by the Mandarin version of a US Marine cadence.

When they return, the students are divided into groups, and work their way through a warm-up routine which I recognize as sections of the traditional Chen form. Its Tai Chi performed with the aerobic intensity of Wu Shu. We shoot host Winnie Wong’s introductory comments with this as a background.

After the first session ends, the students break for breakfast. Chen Shrfu says he’s ready to shoot whenever we are. We take a circuitous route from the school, and around the to the back entrance of the neighbouring Tai Chi temple. This impressive structure was built relatively recently, and features tourist friendly exhibitions detailing the legends, history and development of Tai Chi.

The main courtyard boasts a black statue of Tai Chi founder Chen Wang-ting, and we ask Chen Shrfu to perform the ‘Old Frame’ Chen style in its shadow. Our camera ace Michele Orlando uses the Steadicam capabilities of his lightweight HD equipment to get a 360 degree view of Master Chen as he plays his form.

After this has been covered to Michele’s satisfaction, Winnie walks Chen Shrfu through the temple’s different halls, and he offers some fascinating insights on the development of the art. (I am aware that there are differing versions of the origins of Tai Chi, and it should be noted that we only had time within this documentary to focus on the ‘Chen version’.)

Having risen at 5am, mid-morning feels more like mid-afternoon. We break for a late breakfast, and find a roadside café selling pork dumplings. The owner is keen to know what brings us to Chen Village, and we tell him that we’re shooting a feature about Tai Chi. ‘Oh, everyone here know Tai Chi,’ he tells us proudly. Even you?, we ask. He immediately busts loose with a demonstration of the form. How about your son over there?, he ask. The son, rather sullenly, performs to order. How about grandma? We point to the old lady sitting in the corner. The owner shakes his head. You don’t want to mess with her, he tells us. Its reminds me of Pig Sty Alley in ‘Kung Fu Hustle’…

The afternoon session is held inside the main training hall. Students perform different empty hand and weapons forms, all simultaneously sharing the space while each staying in their own. Having recorded the Chen form, we ask Shrfu to show the applications of the style. Two students exchange moves in an aggressive form of ‘pushing hands’ that resembles an MMA bout. Chen Shrfu himself shows how some movements from the form are applied in actual combat. You’re lucky, observes our main translator, Jalal Afhim, they usually keep this stuff to themselves! We then ask for specific students to execute weapons forms, which we shoot from different angles.

The overall impression that I got from the day was the sheer dynamism of Tai Chi, compared to more slow motion form of the art that you usually see practiced. I remember the long-time Yang Tai Chi stylist Erle Montaigue’s response to an interview mentioning that, while in Hong Kong, he had seen everyone playing Tai Chi every morning in the park: ‘Yeah, everyone’s playing Tai Chi… badly!’

After shooting in the hall, we move to the Tai Chi version of Shaolin Temple’s pagoda forest, a walkway lined with memorial stones commemorating the legendary pioneers of the art. Winnie has evidently taken the time to tie her tongue in three knots, and seems to be playing pushing hands with the scrīpt. She digs deep, nails it on the fourth take and we move on to shoot the wrap up in front of the vast, currently empty pagoda that will eventually house a Tai Chi museum.

Somehow, Chen Shrfu has surmised where we are, and turns up, at exactly the right moment, to drive us back to the hotel. Perhaps it’s that he’s so in tune with our ‘chi’ by now. After a brief rest, we’re picked up by the same van (dubbed The Chenmobile), this time driven by Jalal, and we drive through the night to a countryside restaurant. Our fellow diners are all farm labourers. We get the table of honour, out in the courtyard, under the stars…

(My thanks to Chen Shrfu and his wife, and all the students and friends of the Chen Tai Chi village, for such a warm welcome and for sharing their profound history and art with us.)