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Translated by Wu Ta-yeh and Wu Teng Shu-hsien

The Taichichuan Classic says, "be extremely soft and pliable in order to be extremely hard and strong." The internal strength of Taichichuan, which is hard and strong, is nurtured from pliability, softness, relaxation, and looseness. The more one is pliable, soft, relaxed, and loose, the faster is the growth of his internal strength. Any tightness or stiffness delays the nurturing of internal energy. When you are loose and relaxed, your arms become heavy."

People who believe that the practice of Taichichuan requires external strength are usually those who have some inborn muscular strength and inclined to use force, or those who have learned the hard style martial arts. They are not willing or able to change. They do not believe the principle of being extremely pliable in order to become hard and strong. Even when these people practice Taichichuan, they cannot get the real essence.

Learning from the same teacher, the postures of some students are good and some are poor. People with poor postures must be those who are stiff and forcing. People with good postures must be those who are pliable and not forcing. In forging metals, you must heat the metal until it is soft before you can shape it into a square or a sphere, according to your wish. If you try to hit the hard metal into square or round shapes, you will have to use a lot of effort and make slow progress. In learning Taichichuan, if you use lots of strength and harden your muscles, you will not be able to move flexibly and cannot have good postures.

Your inborn muscular strength is like a piece of raw iron. You must soften it and hammer it repeatedly in order to gradually turn it into refined steel. It is pliable, but hard and strong. This is the internal strength of Taichichuan.

Translators’ Note: This is an abstract translated from Chen Wei-ming (d. 1956), Answers to Questions on Taichichuan, 1929. Chen is the first student of Yang Cheng-fu to publish books. His accomplishment and writings are highly respected. His Tzuyou Taichichuan Association in Shanghai was the first establishment openly recruiting students for teaching Taichichuan. Tzuyou means conversion into softness. The association also had a branch in Soochow City and one in Canton City.

His book, Methods of Taichichuan, 1925, published the first set of Yang Cheng-fu’s photographs together with Yang’s teaching. His third book was Taichi Sword and Taichi Changchuan, 1935. All these books were published in Shanghai.

"When you loosen the joints at your shoulders, elbows, and wrists and let your circling arms passively follow your shoulders, you feel the heaviness of the arms from the inertia in the arms being drawn or pushed by the shoulders. Moreover, when you loosen all joints, the strength which is "rooted in your feet and developed through your legs" is fully transmitted to your arms so your opponent feels that your arms are heavy.