2002 Cheng Man-ching Forum/Championship in Perigueux, France
Part 1---Tournament
By David Chen
Dear friends,
The Cheng Man-ch'ing family gathering in France was a wonderful experience. I'll try to make this report a two part series---the tournament, and the forum/workshop.
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The Tournament
Perigueux is a little town in southern France with lots of history. It's about 4-1/2 hours by train from Paris in a beautiful valley with friendly residents, great food, and good wine, too.
The tournament organizer had only expected around 100 to 150 participants, but in the last few weeks he was flooded with late arrivals, about 350 people in all. The check-in process was very slow due to the limited number of staff and the availability of only a single computer, but the coordinators were very friendly and eager to help meet our needs. We were all housed in a modern dormitory with comfortable facilities and clean sheets. Although they didn't have eggs & sausages for breakfast, they did serve the best croissant I've ever had.
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Day 1.
We had no time to recover from jetlag. At the opening ceremony, Mr. Ben Lo from San Francisco, Mr. William C.C. Chen from New York City, Mr. Ju Hong-bin from Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and Mr. Hsu Yi-jung from Taipei, Taiwan, sat with Professor's two daughters, Katy and Ellen Cheng There were also a few other special guests from Taiwan who joined the dignitaries at the head table.
There were teams and individuals from Taiwan (50 players), Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Australia, the USA, England, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Austria, and the Netherlands. At least, that's all I can remember.
There were about 70 competitors in the 37-posture form division and 20 plus in the sword division The push-hands division consisted of both fixed step and moving step t'ui shou for both men and women. There were so many players that I lost count.
The official rules said 5 minutes would be allowed for the 37-posture routine, with an additional 20 seconds provided after a warning "gong" to conclude the form. The judging criteria for the form competition was as follows: correctness of posture; clearly distinguishing Yin & Yang in the stance; coordination of the movement; smoothness in the transitions; clear intent and focus; balanced turning and stepping; relaxation and softness; aesthetic appearance; and martial spirit.
There was a little confusion between judges and officials concerning whether the 37-posture routine could be tailored to fit the 5-minute restriction (which I did) or whether the standard sequence should be followed with competitors simply closing when the time was up. I explained to the head judge from Taiwan that, due to the time restriction, I intended to exhibit the high-lights of the routine, which include the turns and sweeps towards the end of the form. I suggested that, if I stopped the sequence in the middle, it would be like cutting off a song mid-stream and omitting the marvelous ending.
Most of the contestants learned a lesson from my case and performed for the judges. Many went ahead and did the entire routine, disregarding the 5-minute warning "gong." Competitors did not receive any deductions in this case for going over the prescribed time limit.
I very much enjoyed watching the many different interpretations of the Cheng Man-ch'ing form. You'd be surprised at the diversity represented by the various lineages and at how participants showed their individual understanding and faithfulness to the true transmission. Despite some opinions whispered around regarding the differences, I enjoyed and appreciated everyone's dedication to the art.
The original idea for the pushing-hands rules represented a great attempt on the part of the organizer to allow the players to play continuously without stopping. Under this concept, the judges would have evaluated each competitor based on the use of the principles as well as the quality of discharging and neutralizing displayed. The idea was to give an overall score for the performance of each pair of competitors. However, the judges had not been trained to use the standards of this new concept, so they decided instead to continue with the international rules with which they were already acquainted. Of course, these rules are more "result" oriented.
Katy Cheng did a beautiful sword demonstration and really opened our eyes. Other masters from Taiwan demonstrated their special forms. My teacher Dr. Arnold Lee was invited to do a San-shou combat form with a classmate of mine, and the two performers received an enthusiastic response: the audience went wild!
In the evenings, several of us would seek out the French cafes in the old town to enjoy the gourmet food and the wine. The cool breeze and shared laughs marked some of the most wonderful moments we had in France.
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Day 2.
Too much French duck and rose the night before took its toll; I had a terrible time getting up for my morning practice.
I borrowed a sword and performed my sword routine. The past month's diligent practice paid off. I then coached my wife in her pushing-hands matches. For a first timer, she did well, winning two matches out of three, and I promised her a romantic reward in Paris later.
More demonstrations were given in the afternoon: sword, saber, and staff forms and solo and group form performances from various masters and groups.
Only Mr. Hsu from Taipei persevered through most of the two days, sitting at the head table paying respect to the activities in the rings. Other masters were either socializing or walking around observing the proceedings. Indeed, it must have been torture for those elders to sit there for two whole days, watching those child-like performances!
In the end, the tournament official decided to announce the three finalists from each division (form and sword), and they were asked to perform one more time in order for the officials to decide the final ranking. I had thought that the scores had already been finalized after the first round, but the official explained that, due to the enormous number of contestants and the differences in various judging groups, they had decided to select the top three from each division and to have them compete one more time under one group of judges.
The three finalists the form division were: Mr. Liu Ping Chu, a 72 year "young" practitioner from Taiwan; Tana Farnsworth, and Garret Chinn, both of whom have been Mr. Ben Lo's students for over 25 years.
The three finalists in the sword division were: Hearn Carolyn, from the USA; Cointrel Bruno of France; and me.
Garret was not prepared for the additional performance and had left his outfit at the dorm. At the last minute, he borrowed someone's oversized jacket and a pair of small Tai Chi slippers, which wouldn't fit onto his left foot. So there he was in front of all the grandmasters and 350 peers in the audience. He flip-flopped into the center ring and started his silver medal performance. It took the mumbling audience a few minutes to quiet down, as everyone admired his courage.
There was a team from Austria which came for the pushing-hands competition only and took 5 gold medals in t'ui shou. The only silver they got was due to a loss to Avi--the little Giant-- from New York City. The Big-bad-Lee Scheelee from LA stole a gold medal from me. William C.C. Chen's daughter, Tiffany, won a gold, and Jesse Hersch, from New York, also earned a gold in the toughest division.
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The organizer and the tournament officials did their best to keep this huge event running smoothly. Considering the fact that this was the first time the event has ever been held, it's not surprising that there were a few errors and miscommunications. I thought they did a wonderful job keeping everything running and keeping everyone well fed. In particular, all the staff were very patient and helpful, always keeping a smile on their faces. They have my highest respect.
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David Chen