Originally published in "Beijing Sports" 1982 Issue 6 Translated by Joshua Hehr
Taijiquan requires not using force, with slow and gentle movements, without obvious combat imagery. Therefore, some people believe that Taijiquan only has health benefits and no combat applications. We will introduce the combat applications of Taijiquan by analyzing several forms (this article follows the Wu Jianquan style throughout).
- Opening Form The opponent intends to grab my wrist. When their palm contacts the back of my wrist but their fingers have not yet gripped, I curl my five fingers back and move the back of my wrist toward the opponent's palm. The opponent will be struck backward, that is, issued by me. If the opponent's five fingers grip my wrist, I use the mental intent of making the back of my wrist leave the opponent's palm; in reality, my arm sinks down, opposing the curling force of the opponent's fingertips, creating a momentum that mobilizes the entire body. The opponent's upper body will lean forward and be lifted by me.
- Parting the Wild Horse's Mane
- Cloud Hands
The opponent strikes my left cheek with their right palm. I bend my knees and squat down to make their striking palm miss, while simultaneously raising my left arm, placing my palm against the outside of the opponent's right elbow. Then I step forward with my right foot and shift my body weight to my right leg, using my right shoulder to strike and lean, issuing the opponent.
The opponent strikes my left cheek with their right palm. I use the outside of my left palm to intercept the opponent's right palm, shifting my body weight toward the area above my left foot's small toe, pulling the opponent's center of gravity forward. I then shift my center of gravity toward the area above my left foot's big toe. At the same time, I raise my right arm in a circular motion, making the inside of my right elbow contact the outside of the opponent's right elbow, then shift my body weight toward the area above my right foot's small toe. As I shift my body weight left and right, my upper body naturally moves left and right accordingly, creating a momentum of following the opponent's back, issuing the opponent.
From analyzing the combat applications of these three forms, we can see that the combat function of Taijiquan is stored in the moment when a posture is about to be completed. Practicing Taijiquan requires hands to move like floating clouds and steps to flow like water, without obvious points of force emission, making it difficult for people to perceive its combat applications.
Practicing the form requires mutual support of yin and yang. Combat application is no exception; one must achieve mutual support of one's own yin and yang while making the opponent become isolated yin or isolated yang. In the first movement of the Opening Form discussed earlier, using the back of my wrist to strike the opponent's palm makes the opponent's five fingers, which are about to curl back, lose their foundation—yin and yang cannot support each other, resulting in a losing position. Viewed locally, this is a question of whether yin and yang can achieve balance; viewed from the whole body, it is also a question of whether yin and yang can achieve balance. For example, the combat application of "Parting the Wild Horse's Mane": the opponent strikes me, but due to my squatting down, the opponent's lone palm cannot clap—it takes two hands to clap. The opponent's right palm misses, already creating an extreme yin state. Extreme yin should generate yang to achieve balance, but I have also controlled the outside of their right elbow, preventing their yin from transforming into yang, causing the opponent's center of gravity to shift. When the opponent tries to adjust the yin and yang of their entire body by shifting their body weight backward, I use my right shoulder to strike and lean before the opponent has finished adjusting. The opponent is defeated by me due to losing the balance of yin and yang.
The above is only a superficial analysis of Taijiquan's combat applications using the principle of mutual support of yin and yang. Our purpose is not to emphasize its combat applications, but rather to hope that when practicing the form, by thinking about the combat application of each form and each movement, we can promote the mutual support of yin and yang throughout the body, complete integration of qi, and achieve better health benefits.