September 1986

Miss Li characterised Tai Ji literature into various groupings:

1. Traditional literature, which devotes half its time to inaccurate histories of the origins of the art.

2. The systematising work of the late Empire generation, who were not scholars, so that books in their names were written by others. They could read and were highly intelligent, but had no mastery of formal writing style.

3. The official literature of the government, which focuses on describing the movements as a form of gymnastics.

4. Medical literature, in which doctors write about the experiences of others, usually highly developed practitioners with many years of practice behind them.

5. Secret writings on applications from the martial arts families.

So, there is no good comprehensive book at the moment. She would ideally like to see such a publication in two parts: a volume on how to practice the movements; another volume on history, theory and principles.

She also stressed the importance of the Tai Ji symbol:

- hand movements always relate to circles, either vertical circles, horizontal circles or spheres. She mentioned this particularly to me in the context of Forward Brush Knees.

- arm-pits alternate between open and closed.

- arms alternate between yin/soft and yang/firm, rather then being the same all the time.