Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 238

Qínná 擒拿, Die 跌, Dǎ 打, Zhì 擲 – Part 8

Tàijíquán 太極拳 fighting skill is defined by Qínná 擒拿, Die 跌, Dǎ 打 and Zhì 擲. We grasp and lock to make the opponent lose their balance, fall down or strike them. For all of these skills we need to practise a lot to get them to a good standard. Zhì is the hardest, it means we throw them away in a distance. To control opponent, locking someone’s arm or punching them is not too difficult, but to throw them across the room, to throw someone upside down so their head is down and their leg legs are up, which requires a lot of skill and power. You can see some images of Taiji masters throwing someone across the room and fall down with a very light touch. I have never seen anyone do this in front of me, but is can happen in certain situations in Tui Shou. I was once pushing hands with one of my students, Adrian, in Hawaii and I did throw him about three meters across the room, there were a lot of students gathered around at the time who saw this. I was surprised myself. This power is based on the situation you and your opponent. The energy has to be right and the power strong, then it can happen. Since then I can use Qínná, Die and  Dǎ 打, but it has not been easy to do Zhì 擲 again.