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Sat, 27 Sep 2008

/xLife/Vietnam: Taijiquan in Hanoi

There is actually a quite a bit. But like everywhere else in the world, it seems, the vast majority is of the limp-wristed hobbyist, "is taiji a martial art?" variety.

I might have found an interesting teacher in Hanoi. (Warning: my comments are informed by observing one class, I did not have time to do more.) His name is "Nguyen Hoang Quan", and I am told this Vietnamese-only website[1] belongs to his group.

What they do is obviously mostly standard Yang-style Taijiquan, and I would call their approach to training a mix of contemporary and ultra-conservative / old school. There were 20-30 students divided into two groups, following an almost Japanese routine of everyone in each group doing the same thing together for the whole two hours. But not once did I see anyone doing anything resembling a form. The whole class was basically super-repetitive single practice. Very Old School.

There was also no traditional push hands going on, but towards the end I saw pairs doing a variety of connect-and-strike drills, some of it using footwork faintly resembling that of Xingyiquan (without Xingyi structure, and without the follow-step, ie. very simplified). Strikes were often full speed and had some sauce to them. These guys are seeking to train real fighting skills. Not having followed their method, nor crossed-hands with anyone, I cannot testify to their efficacy. Looked interesting though.

They are well worth having a look at if you are in town. Current location is behind the International School at 50 Lieu Giai in Ba Dinh District. This address is also at the bottom of their website, along with an e-mail address and phone numbers. Like the rest of Hanoi, a fair number of people in the class speak some English.

[1] http://www.thaicucquyen.com/

posted at: 12:59 | path: /xLife/Vietnam | permanent link to this entry

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Sat, 27 Sep 2008