The Man Who Shot Cheng Man Ching

Authored by Sifu Alan Ludmer

One of my favorite movies is the Man Who Shot Liberty Valence.  This 1962 classic American Western tells of an idealistic young lawyer who moves to a small wild western town.  The town is terrorized by a vicious outlaw named Liberty Valance.  After a series of conflicts, Valance challenges the lawyer to a gun fight in which the lawyer fatally shoots Liberty Valance.  The shooting’s notoriety propels the lawyer into a distinguished political career including the state governorship. At the movie’s conclusion, two newspaper men discover that the lawyer did not shoot Valance, the actual killing was done by another person.  The newspaper men discuss if they should make the truth public and potentially tarnish the lawyer’s reputation.  Instead, they decide, “This is the West, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.”

My friend Nasser Butt, publisher of the award winning UK Martial Arts publication, Lift Hands Internal Arts Magazine, recently sent me his excellent study, “Whose Line is It Anyway?  Part of this study presented a scholarly in-depth analysis regarding Cheng Man Ching’s (CMC) Tai Chi Chuan training and his relationship with the legendary Tai Chi Chuan Master Yang Cheng Fu. Regardless of one’s position regarding this controversial topic, I applaud Nasser’s courage in tacking topics sure to ruffle some Tai Chi feathers.  Kudos to him for providing more sorely needed academic investigation into important Tai Chi issues.

Nasser’s study triggered a reexamine of my own thoughts regarding Tai Chi teachers.  Why should we care about the veracity of a certain teacher’s pedigree?  Who cares if they are extraordinary people or mendacious jerks?  What if their ability is modest, or superlative, or if they were great fighters but couldn’t teach, or great teachers who couldn’t fight? We live in a post fact age where political leaders can’t tell the difference between the truth, an opinion, or a lie. Why should Tai Chi be any different?  So what if CMC or his students have inflated his pedigree?  CMC had significant Tai Chi skills and was willing to transmit them to both Chinese and Western senior students.  His books and teachings had an enormous impact upon the spread of Tai Chi in the Western World.  

Why do we inflate resumes?

The resume inflation issue raises a fundamental question.   As serious Tai Chi students, what do we want from our Tai Chi investment?  The answer provides critical insight regarding our need to deify our teachers. 

First, let’s review several factors that influence our goals and how they impact teacher resume enhancement. 

1. Different cultures have different perspectives.  Pre 1949 Chinese Culture had a long history of venerating age and ancestor worship.  The older an object, teaching, art, etc.  the great its’ worth.   This perspective creates the basis for many of Tai Chi Chuan’s origin legends but created a problem regarding historical accuracy.  For example, how many 200 year old nameless Taoist martial art master monks can there be?  

2.  Printing legends can help credentialize a teacher’s skills. Tai Chi ability is very difficult to quantify.  There are no real metrics nor actual accrediting organizations.  This makes validating an individual’s teachings or martial skills challenging.   Historically, the great masters were the most competent pugilists.  However, as much of the current Tai Chi community transitions from martial skill to something else, how do we evaluate teachers?   Of course, the presents or absence of fighting ability doesn’t begin to address the question wither someone can actually teach something. Fighting and teaching are very different skill sets. 

3.  We elevate our teachers to inflate our own value.  Psychologists call this external verification of your own self worth.  The greater your teacher, the greater you are.  The greater the teacher’s reputation, the more status for the student.   All this tends to motivate resume inflation.   For example, I found several attempts to inflate the resume of my initial Tai Chi teacher, Huo Chi Kwang.  Some had him a guerrilla leader in WWII and the nephew of Huo Yuan Jia.  Sorry, Professor Huo was a University President and journalist in WWII.  He was neither in the military nor in combat. The Huo Yuan Jia story is way off due to very different Huo families, widely different geographical locations, and conflicting time frames. Never the less, Professor Huo was a distinguished scholar with significant internal martial skills.  Why the need to make him something more?  

What makes successful students and teachers?

I believe that there are two essential components in developing successful Tai Chi students and teachers.

Students must have a destination and sufficient motivated to achieve it.  

If you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there. There is no right or wrong road, but every student needs a direction.  Potential students should begin with developing specific goals and time frames. What do you want to learn, why do you want to learn it, and how quickly do you need to learn it?  Are you willing to commit the serious time and effort necessary to achieve these goals?   When a student can answer these questions, they are ready to find a teacher.

Tai Chi teachers must have the knowledge and teaching ability to help students achieve their goals.

Tai Chi Teachers are human beings with all the good and bad that being human entails. Teachers can come in all shapes, genders, ages and ethnicities.  They don’t have to be legendary fighters.  Angelo Dundee was Mohammad Ali’s life long boxing coach.  I doubt that he could have beaten up Ali, but he had the ability to help Ali become a legend.  Teachers do not necessarily have to be long term students of traditional masters. Knowledge can be acquired in numerous ways.

Tai Chi teachers do need to have a solid understanding of Tai Chi Chuan,  its principles, applications, a commitment to teaching, and the ability to communicate effectively. A teachers’ purpose should be to help students achieve their goals, not inflate their own egos.  Teachers do not give answers; they help students find their own answers.

Conclusion: Focus on Tai Chi Teachings, not Teacher Veneration

Back to our initial question, when Tai Chi facts and legend meet, why do we print the legend?  Our human frailties tell us that sometimes we need the legend.  We want to belong to something bigger than ourselves and we want and need good role models.  

Ultimately Tai Chi should be liberating, not encapsulating.  Serious students are not puppets. They don’t need to be governed by a particular style, form, or teacher. Tai Chi Chuan study is like a scaffold used to construct a building. When the scaffolding comes down, the building has to stand on its own. Like the building, Tai Chi students must stand on their own regardless of who were their teachers.  I could spend my life studying piano with Beethoven, but if I’m still a mediocre piano player, then its on me. 

Confucius’ Doctrine of the Mean states that the superior person finds in themselves what lesser people seek in others.  This means that the answers we seek are within ourselves.  Hopefully, by diligent study and arduous training we can learn to believe in our own abilities and ultimately find our own answers.  We will then transcend from the need for legends and attain the ability to accept our teachers and ourselves for who we are.  

About the Author

Alan Ludmer is a St. Louis, Missouri Tai Chi Chuan and Ba Gua Chuan teacher, author, and student.  He has over 50 years of experience in the internal and external martial arts. His initial training was in western boxing.  He then studied Shotokan Karate and attained a Ni Dan rank. In 1969, he began Tai Chi Chuan study with Professor Huo Chi Kwang. Alan was a private student and primarily studied the Yang Family Form with the Professor through 1978. After moving to St. Louis, Alan began study with Master Tuey Staples. He has been with Tuey for over 40 years, studying Tai Chi Chuan and Ba Gua Chuan.  He can be reached at alanludmer@gmail.com.

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