I had a chat with Alan Wycherley from the In Defence of the Traditional Martial Arts YouTube channel for my podcast and the episode is now live. We talk about how Tai Chi can be used as a realistic self-defence system and Alan’s encounters with traditional martial artists from different kung fu systems.
The Tai Chi Notebook 
Hi Graham, I always appreciate questions and skepticism. I wrote a long explanation of terms, which took me much longer to write than it would have to just show you in person, which also would have been more fun. My explanation had URLs to Chinese character definitions, which I think the WP filters caught.
What I’ve said is nothing particularly new. I’ve just used different terminology. I’ll explain as briefly as I can, but it will leave gaps and questions.
Taijiquan has been taught in two or more phases, each with its own training method, First Phase, Push hands; Second Phase, Cut hand. “Cut hand” also describes a percussive strike movement, Zhǎn shǒu (斬手), in the Cannon Pounding form. As a training method, cut hand creates a bridge from push hands and a basis for san shou. A difference between early cut hand and push hands is that you are trying to preempt attacks before they start. Alex Faulds, in Alan’s video previously referenced, demonstrated a rudimentary push hands variant of this at 5:40 when he “cuts off” Alan’s ability to push and credits it to structure.
Since the 1990s, because there is little recognizable a martial art in the First Phase, Chen teachers have drawn from the Second Phase to teach fighting applications to students who expect it. Even my own teacher, Chen Zhonghua, who taught me about the separation between phases, blurs the lines between phases. This is so pervasive that the phase names, Yilu and Erlu, now simply refer to forms, and cut hands is often advanced push hands training.
Where is cut hand today? I initially thought Cut Hand might be unique to Chen Style, but I mentioned the term years ago on the Empty Flower forum. I was surprised when three forum members, IIRC, Michael Phillips, a Wu stylist, and an EF member from Taiwan, all said that “Cut Hand” was a term used in their training, and in fairly similar ways when we compared meanings.
I guess we can pass off the separation of phases and training methods as obsolete, but I think it is important to understand what push hands actually is and where it fits into an overall training plan.
For videos, there are scores of videos of Chen Zhonghua instructing and demonstrating. I suppose I could point out what phase and training method he is using in one or two. There have been challenges, but these are generally not posted publicly, if recorded. There are videos of his student, Sun Yang, a Muay Thai fighter, during bouts, but you really have to know what you are looking for to understand his application of taijiquan, otherwise, it just looks like Thai boxing. I’ve commented on this fight elsewhere. I can reference it, if you’d like.
Beyond that, what are you looking for?
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Thanks Steffan for the mention in your very interesting write-up of the legend.
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Thanks Graham and Alan. I did not, to my shame, know anything about Dan Docherty.
This episode sent me down a rabbit hole and I bought his autobiography and another of his books.
Book review is here https://www.blackwatertaichi.com/blog/wild-colonial-boy-tales-of-a-kung-fu-cop
Ends up mostly being a summary of his Full Contact fights, but I think is OK for that.
Cheers,
Steffan
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Hi Richard,
Excuse me for being a skeptical, but I think I must be when it comes to unverified claims about fighting prowess… Where is the evidence this “cut hand” training existed in Chen style? Photos? Videos? Is there anybody training in it in Chen style nowadays? You talk about it in the past tense as if not: “The training was…” So, if this “cut hand” doesn’t exist any more, did it ever? Or is it just a story?
Of course, there are plenty of people in modern times who practice Tai Chi and spar, but that is usually “not tai chi” according to a lot of people heavily invested in the subject and the lineage of styles.
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Graham and Alan, it was a really nice interview well worth the 44 min investment. I visited Alan’s YouTube channel after listening to the podcast. I watched a couple of the videos. The MMA clips were interesting. There was also a nice push hands “interview” with Alex Faulds.
I agree that one of the biggest problems in taijiquan is not knowing what push hands is and how it fits into overall training. A historical look requires examination of the Chen Family curriculum. This was divided into two phases. The training method of the first phase was push hands. It focused on establishing one’s structure and controlling oneself, then learning how to disrupt the partner’s structure and control him. This followed Sunzi’s admonition to know oneself and one’s enemy.
With this foundation, the second phase could begin. This phase taught how to fight barehanded and with weapons. Many of the techniques relied on having learned the first phase in order to work. The barehand training method was called “cut hand”. The training was purely designed for self-defense.
What’s the difference between self defense and sport fighting? Targets and intent. In self-defense, the intent is to maim or kill to incapacitate an attacker as quickly as possible, so the targets are eyes, throat, vulnerable organs, knees, etc. Breaks and dislocations are used instead of locks. This is not to say that sport fighting does not cause pain or injury, but injuries are considered a tragic accident not the goal of the encounter.
Since the second phase is built upon and relies on the first phase, a confident, experienced practitioner should be able to tone down, change targets, or only use first phase training for sport fighting. Better yet, a modern fighter could go directly into sport fighting from first phase training.
The second problem with taijiquan is the structure used by most people doing push hands. It’s a good structure to get to know oneself, but this structure is primarily defensive and mostly relies on the opponent making a mistake. However, Alex Faulds, at 5:31, changes his structure including his hand position. This opens a whole new horizon for controlling the opponent and can even lead to preempting his attacks before they start.
As for how taijiquan should look in a fight, if one is following the principle of not anticipating the opponent, it should, to some degree, reflect the art of the opponent. If the Taiji adept is playing her game rather than the opponent’s, she should end the bout in close proximity, crowding and controlling the opponent.
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