Demystifying Tai Chi Chuan

Paperback:  249 pages                                                                                        Authors: Tu-Ky Lam

Publisher: Self-Published (2007)

ISBN-13:  9781419657726                                                    Reviewer: Nick Gudge ( 2014)

This series of articles re-organised as a book book was written by a New Zealand based student of Ma Hong (who was a disciple of Chen Zhao Kui.) About half of the articles were previously publish in Tai Chi magasine between 1996 and 2005.

The author has collected the essays into six groups, namely History & Development, Foundation of Taijiquan, Applications of Taijiquan, Related Internal Systems and Appendicies.

The book is primarily about the author's ideas on how taijiquan works and how it should be trained. In my opinion the articles vary greatly in their accuracy and it is for this reason I cannot recommend it. It also suffers from the introduction of theoretical material that is yiquan based (an art the practitioner has trained in,) which is at odds with taijiquan theory.

There are two interesting appendicies at the back of the book, two articles translated from his teacher Ma Hong's writings, on on form as the foundation of taijiquan the other on relaxation which are in my mind the strongest elements of this book. Unfortunately the author seems to be at odds with his teacher's suggestions in these matters.

 Ratings:         Overall: 4.50 out of 10 

Content: 3 out of 10   Language: 7  out of 10   Accuracy: 4 out of 10    Helpfulness: 4 out of 10