User:Notaot/Master Henry Wang

Master Henry Wang (Wang Hui-Juin)
As a young man Master Wang studied several external martial arts and taught self defense in the Taiwanese army. Later he began the study of t'ai chi with several masters in Taiwan. His primary influence was Grandmaster Huang Sheng Shyan of Malaysia. Master Wang competed regularly in push hands events in Taiwan, with both national and international participants. He was push hands champion for several years winning international competitions. However, he felt discouraged because so much physical force and technique was required to defeat an opponent. Master Wang teaches that tai chi must have a philosophical basis and that originates from Daoist (Taoist) concepts of softness and letting go. The softness must be practiced through regular t'ai chi form which also cultivates internal chi energy. His form is a modified thirty-seven posture Yang form condensed by Grandmaster Ch'eng Man-Ch'ing. He teaches both left and right sides. Finally he believes that the philosophy and practice must be integrated with useful applications which he calls search center. The three aspects are inter-related. If one wants to successfully learn search center, then one’s form must be correct and vice versa. He is one of very few t'ai chi masters who actually use chi and not li (physical force). His form and search center are based on seven fundamental principles. Relaxation, Concentration, Center, Balance, Proportion, Circle, and Coordination. He feels these principles are applicable to all t'ai chi styles and indeed all martial arts. His principles have some fundamental differences to t'ai chi as taught in most schools. He espouses three possible weight distributions: 100%, 0%, and 50%. This is in contrast to the concept of 70-30% distribution. His ideas require a center which has very minimal movement and no leaning of the body. He also teaches one to turn the center first and then shift weight as opposed to shifting weight and then turning. Without maintaining a center there can be no balance and without balance there can be no power. His extraordinary martial skills attest to the validity of his t'ai chi principles.