Grandmaster of the Old Form of Yang Style Symmetrical T'ai-chi ch'uan aka taijiquan and ch'i kung.
His goal in teaching was to raise the level of t'ai-chi ch'uan. He wanted to have his students have greater skill than himself. Several did.
Sifu Tchoung did not believe in the old Chinese custom of "Holding back a little" as he said that was the reason that there were so many poorly skilled t'ai-chi teachers in modern times. He wanted to reverse that trend. He enjoyed seeing his students gain excellent t'ai-chi ch'uan skills. And he was not threatened when they exceeded his level as some teachers are.
He was a great t'ai-chi ch'uan coach, a True Teacher.
He was held in awe and great respect by the Kungfu teachers in Seattle and Vancouver. Most all the Kungfu Masters called him Sifu and many trained with him in ch'i kung and t'ai-chi.
Tchoung Ta-tchen was a Grandmaster of T'ai-chi ch'uan and Ch'i kung. He taught his unique method of Symmetrical Old Form of Yang Style T'ai-chi ch'uan (taijiquan), O'mei Ch'i Kung (Emei qigong), pa-kua chang (baguazhang) and Hsin-I ch'uan (Xin yi quan). He wrote the textbook entitled, Annotated Theoretical and Practical Tai Chi Chuan.
From the early 1970's Grandmaster Tchoung was a popular teacher in the Pacific Northwest, primarily Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA. He previously taught the Old Form of Yang Style t'ai-chi ch'uan in Taiwan, and Africa. He also taught students in Europe in special workshops.
Tchoung Ta-tchen was a professional soldier and Army Calvary officer. He traveled in China seeking out the top masters to study with in the 1940's.
In 1943, Tchoung Ta-tchen studied ch'i kung (qi gong) and t'ai-chi ch'uan with the Senior Taoist, Abbott Hui Kung, at the O'mei Shan (Emei Shan) Monastery in Sichuan province.
Later, Tchoung studied the Old Form of Yang Family Style primarily based on two lineages.
First Lineage is the method of Tian Shaolin (Tian Zhaolin, T'ien Chao-lin) of Hangzhou. Tian Shaolin was a famous student of Yang Chien-hou, though some say he also studied with Yang Shou-hou and he is listed on the official list of Yang Cheng-fu's group. He is also pictured in Yang Cheng-fu's 1931 book. Tian was called the Number One student. Tian is shown in Yang Cheng-fu's book performing the T'ai-chi Staff exercises with Tung Ying Chieh. The very famous Tung Ying Chieh is called the Number Three student of Yang Cheng-fu in that same book.
In 1959 Tchoung studied with Shi Tiao-mei. Shi was a student of T'ian Shaolin and at the time was the head of the Taiwan Police Academy.
Tchoung became Friends with Cheng Man-ch'ing and worked intensively with Grandmaster Cheng and his group in pushing hands. Cheng was a student of Yang Cheng-fu and was famous on Taiwan for his pushing hands. Grandmaster Liang Tsung Tsai was Cheng's top student in Taiwan at that time. TT Liang and TT Tchoung were friends and workout partners.
Tchoung's Second Old Yang Lineage: TT Tchoung also studied with Hsiung Yang-ho. Hsiung was famous for his San Shou and fighting ablility.
Hsiung Yang-ho was a disciple of The great Yang Shao-hou. Tchoung studied the San Shou Form with Hsiung. Another student of Hsiung was Tchoung's friend and workout partner, TT Liang. Grandmaster Liang taught the san shou form in Boston; Tchoung taught it in Taipei, Gabon, Johanesberg, South Africa, then in Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA.
A third Older Yang style that influenced Tchoung was the Kuang P'ing Style (Guang Ping). This form was taught by Grandmaster Kuo Lien Ying and the style comes from Yang Pan-hou. Another friend and practice partner of TT Tchoung and TT Liang's was the Legendary Kuo Lien Ying. Kuo taught another Older Version of Yang style which many people now call the Kuang P'ing style. They all worked out together, which helped them all progress. Not unlike how multiple MMA fighters work together in modern times. Kuo was a fighter, not a paper tiger or wushu dancer.
Kuo taught the Kuang P'ing, aka Guang Ping, style that is traced back to Yang Pan-hou. It is thought that this Yang Pan-hou lineage also influenced both Tchoung and Liang as they were all friends and trained with each other. Kuang P'ing style movements can be found in the 9th of the Tchoung System forms.
Other arts influenced TT Tchoung.
Tchoung also studied other arts including "The Natural School of Boxing", which is also called the "Nature Style" of kung-fu, with Grandmaster Hsiung Chien-yuan. This is another Taoist style. Hsiung was a famous teacher of Nature School Boxing and had the nickname the "Great Old Man of Hangchow". Nature Boxing significantly influenced what is called section 9 in the Tchoung forms, the Fast Form, as well as some of the basic training methods he taught.
He was also influenced by Wu Tu Nan who taught his own version of Wu style. He also practiced pa-kua chang, also called bagua zhang, and Ta Ch'eng Ch'uan, aka Dachengquan, with his friend Wang Shu-chin and Hsin-I ch'uan with his friend Yuan Tao.
Tchoung published his masterwork, a 328-page book, The Annotated Theoretical and Practical Tai Chi Chuan, in 1995. The book is written in English and Chinese and shows his "Short" 120 movement form, ch'i kung, san shou, and pushing hands. It also contains some of the t'ai chi ch'uan classics not usually seen in translations. At the end of his book, he pictures his official students. In the USA he had only 5 official students who were certified to teach his system.
Tchoung Ta-tchen developed what is called "The Dual Method of the Old Form of Yang Style". This system is based on what is called the Old Form of Yang style because his lineage is directly traced to Yang Chien-hou and Yang Shao-hou.
See History article.
Tchoung Ta-tchen taught his system on Taiwan, Africa, Canada and the USA.
Group URL: http://groups.myspace.com/nwtaichichuanassociation
*********** ***********
OFFICIAL TEACHERS OF THE TCHOUNG METHOD
In the USA (NWTCCA)
Andrew Dale, Seattle, WA, is a bagua master, chi kung master as well as taiji master.
www.wuji.com,
Andrew Dale and his students teach the Tchoung System in Seattle and Ashland. His fully trained student Gene Burnett teaches in Ashland Oregon. Go to www.wuji.com for a complete list of Dale's students who he certified as teachers. Dale also teaches Chen style of Feng Zhiqiang, Chi kung, Yueng Ch'uan and several versions of baguazhang.
David Harris, Seattle, WA, The most advanced applications man around.
www.dotaichi.com
David Harris is also Certified to teach Tchoung's system. Harris teaches Applications and Yueng Ch'uan in Seattle, WA.
Master Harris's student Steve Smith teaches in Walla Walla, WA.
Harvey Kurland, the "Professor" of T'ai-chi ch'uan teaches for University and has done research into the effects of tai chi chuan. Riverside, CA
www.myspace.com/hkurland,
Harvey Kurland teaches the Tchoung Yang System and Kuo Lien Ying's Kuang P'ing (Guang Ping) Style, baguazhang and ch'i kugn in Riverside, Redlands and Loma Linda CA. Kurland's students teach in Riverside, Corona, Cerritos, San Bernardino, and Perris, CA and Spokane WA. He has taught several champions.
Sifu Dale, Harris and Kurland are Certified (see 1986 photo) by Grandmaster Tchoung to Teach his system and are currently teaching the Tchoung system in the USA.
The two other Directly trained and certified teachers are not currently teaching the form in the USA. There are several Canadian instructors of the Tchoung system as well.
CANADA
Canadian Certified Instructors include, Masters: Peter Dickson, Tim Glasheen, John Camp, Laurens Lee, Eddie Fong. See the photos of all official students in Tchoung's book.
or go to
www.dotaichi.com for a complete listing.
Other NWTCCA and the CTCCA Canadian teachers are also listed at the NWTCCA group at:
http://groups.myspace.com/nwtaichichuanassociation
CANADA
In Canada there are several teachers, most of their bios are listed under the NWTCCA group at www.dotaichi.com
Tim Glasheen, Laurens Lee and several others teach in Chinatown of Vancouver BC, Canada at the Studio in Chinatown.
John Camp teaches in White Rock, BC, Canada,
Peter & Jane Dickson teach in Terrace and Kittimat, BC Canada.
Peter Dickson's students Barry and Judy Freeman teach in Creston and Brigeport.
Eric Eastman taught in Nelson, BC, Canada. Now is teaching in Chile.
Most of the Tchoung system instructors are listed at the NWTCCA Group URL:
http://groups.myspace.com/nwtaichichuanassociation
A complete list of his certified instructors is also found at: Instructors at www.dotaichi.com and under the NWTCCA groups. http://groups.myspace.com/nwtaichichuanassociation
When Grandmaster Tchoung was in his late 80's he still practiced his art and worked with his advanced students. He is one of the lesser known greats of the t'ai-chi ch'uan world.
See articles on Tchoung under the blog section. Also additional articles can be found at http://www.dotaichi.com
"It isn't the things that happen to us in our lives that cause us to suffer, it's how we relate to the things that happen to us that causes us to suffer."
--Pema Chödrön
