How can I "Grasp the bird's tail if I do not speak Chinese" is the name of a book that is presumably on Caligraphy as it relates to the names of Tai Chi movements. I have studied spoken, written Chinese language and Chinese calligraphic brushwork. There are no “ancient Chinese” deep dark secrets to the names of the movements in Tai Chi. Wu Chien Chuan was an officer in the Imperial Palace guard and taught a martial art, not the DaVinci Code. Martial arts have “Yi” or in English “martial intent” There is the very unpoetic “ Step Back, Deflect, Punch” then there is the “Step Up Grasp the Peacock’s Tail” and seemingly appealing to all Astrologer’s...the “Step Back Seven Stars”. To say that the names of movements are vague is an understatement whether in Chinese or English. The names and “meanings” are also different between Yang, Wu, Sun, and Chen styles to further complicate, even so far as to use different written characters. I can’t imagine a great deal of literacy to begin with for many of the early martial artists so what they wanted to convey is anyone’s guess. One thing is understated nowadays and that is how much new age aficionados muddy the water about Tai Chi to begin with... much less their flights of fancy about deep, dark meanings. I have found this type of thinking over the Tai Chi Classics as well which very often uses “prehistoric mystic terminology from Taoist philosophy and Chinese medicine”. So in either case the use of such terminology is anathema for any beginner to understand concepts…I don’t use them when teaching, nor does Master Hwa. In any event, he feels the Classics are treated as “holy writ, but unfortunately filled with glaring errors in how to do the Tai Chi”. The most glaring of course is the admonition to "...move everything when one part moves..." which if followed could benefit Orthopedic surgeons more than Tai Chi students.
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