I came across an interesting article on China’s “World
Taijiquan” website a couple of months ago that discussed a set of photos taken
at Long Beach, California in 1964 showing Bruce Lee training Taijiquan. Famous for films such as Enter the Dragon,
Fists of Fury and The Big Boss, the article asked why it was that while
everyone knew about the influence of Wing Chun master Ip Man on Lee’s martial
arts, the importance of Taijiquan on his development had been so overlooked.
Lee’s earliest introduction to Chinese martial arts was
through Taijiquan, his first teacher being his father Li Haiquan. Lee senior
was a famous Cantonese opera artist who had studied Taijiquan for many decades
and by all accounts had a decent level of skill. The general narrative goes
that Lee junior stopped doing Taijiquan when he was twelve or thirteen years
old and moved on to other things. The article on the other hand stated that “Li
Xiaolong (Bruce Lee) studied from his father from a young age, and without
break for the next twenty years”…and that “Taijiquan’s gongfu and philosophy
played a huge part in his martial arts development”. At the time these photos
were taken Lee would have been somewhere in his twenties. Some forty years
after his death, it seems that the role of Taijiquan in Lee’s formative years
is about to get the full Hollywood treatment.
Hollywood Director George Nolfi Meets
Chen Taiji Grandmaster Wang Xian
An intriguing piece of news just released on China’s Qiling
Film Industry’s website Entertainment News links famous Hollywood director
George Nolfi, Chen Taijiquan grandmaster Wang Xian and the little dragon
himself, Bruce Lee!
Nolfi is director of blockbuster movies including The Bourne
Ultimatum, The Adjustment Bureau, Ocean’s Twelve and The Sentinel. His latest
film project titled Birth of the Dragon tells the story of Bruce Lee’s rise to
international superstardom. While researching the movie Nolfi, was intrigued at how Taiji
principles seemed to underpin much of the philosophy within Lee’s own Jeet Kune
Do system. In the eyes of the American movie maker Taijiquan was a soft dance-like exercise of little practical use as a fighting art, yet Lee repeatedly
exhorted and promoted the principles of Taiji through concepts such as “using
stillness to overcome movement”, “the coexistence of hard and soft” and “the cultivation
of internal as well as external”… Nolfi
puzzled over this link to Taiji which, to his way of thinking, seemed completely
at odds with the dynamic portrayal of Lee on the silver screen.
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| Hollywood meets Taijiquan- George Nolfi and Wang Xian |
To satisfy his curiosity he decided to do some firsthand research
into Taijiquan in China. Entertainment News reported: “On 29th Oct
in preparation for the upcoming American-China collaboration, Birth of the
Dragon, Hollywood director George Nolfi flew into Shanghai and accompanied by the
CEO of the Qilin Film Industry travelled to Hangzhou to visit 19th
generation Chen style Taijiquan inheritor Wang Xian in order to fully
understand the essence of Taijiquan culture in preparation for the film”.
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| Chen Taijiquan's short power |
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| The famous one inch punch... |
The
report went on to say that Nolfi came to China with lots of questions about
Taijiquan. He was introduced to Wang Xian by billionaire entrepreneur Jack Ma of
Alibaba.com and kung fu stars Jet Li and Wu Jing all of whom are disciples of
Grandmaster Wang. Without further ado Nolfi was shown the effectiveness of
traditional Chen Taijiquan. First up Wang Xian’s disciple Wang JIngchen demonstrated
Taijiquan’s short power or cun jin by
smashing a pile of tiles. Cun jin can be translated literally as “inch power” - it might
surprise filmgoers familiar with Lee’s “one inch punch” to know that this has
been trained in Chen Taijiquan for centuries now. Nolfi expressed surprise that
Taijiquan could generate force like this. Next up he asked if he could try a
little with Wang Xian. Making contact with the seventy year old Wang, Nolfi was
instantly tossed to the floor. Afterwards he was reported to have said that it
is the first time he has experienced what Taijiquan gongfu is and he wants to
put it on the screen. It’s even been whispered that Wang Xian might play a
cameo in the film!
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| Nolfi just about to experience Chen Taijiquan gongfu |
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| Nolfi at the Chenjiagou Taijiquan Museuem |
Carrying on his desire to understand Taijiquan’s roots and place
in the pantheon of Chinese martial arts, Nolfi visited Chenjiagou, where he was
given a tour of the Chen Family Temple and the Chenjiagou Taijiquan Museum and
watched demonstrations of Chen Taijiquan forms. And the final word to Nolfi – “Through
the ages Bruce Lee is the most famous representative of the Chinese people. In
the West he is not just the first person to popularise Chinese Kung Fu, but so many
years after his death interest in him has not diminished. This time coming to China
I want to more closely understand Chinese culture, Chinese martial arts and
also the background of Bruce Lee’s life”.
I can’t wait for this movie!
Perhaps that is the tripping point to make Taijiquan really popular? Bruce Frantzis asked the question already some years ago:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chicagotaichi.org/2013/05/02/tai-chi-at-the-tipping-point-check-out-what-master-bruce-frantzis-says/
It would be really cool to have a movie focussing on Taijiquan!
Hi Angelika, yes looking forward to the film but from what I've read I think Taijiquan will be a peripheral part of the final film. But if it's a great film like Bourne that's cool:-)
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