Tung Hu Ling
Tung Hu Ling (Dong Huling) | |
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Born | Renze (then known as Renxian), Xingtai, Hebei, China | October 25, 1917
Died | November 29, 1992 Honolulu, Hawaii, United States | (aged 75)
Other names | Tung Fu Ling, Tung Huling, Tung Hu-ling |
Style | Yang-style tai chi Wu (Hao)-style tai chi Tung-style tai chi |
Notable relatives | Tung Ying-chieh, father |
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Tung Hu Ling (Chinese:
Early life
[edit]Tung trained under his father Tung Ying-chieh, Yang-style Grandmaster Yang Chengfu, and several other well-known teachers, practicing the slow set for eight years, learning the sword after ten years, and the saber after fourteen, then moving on to advanced study. As an adult he taught tai chi in Hebei, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and other locations in mainland China.[1]
Highly skilled by the age of twenty, during the Japanese occupation of China he was frequently challenged by Judo masters from Japan. He would politely decline but then accept once the challenge was repeated, and won every match while being careful not to use his full ability even when in a difficult position. This earned him much admiration and respect from his challengers as well as the Chinese martial arts community.[2]
Hong Kong, Macau, and Southeast Asia
[edit]In 1947 he moved to Hong Kong with two of his brothers, to help his father run the Tung Ying Kit Tai Chi Chuan Gymnasiums in Hong Kong and Macau. The words "Ying Kit" were based on the Cantonese pronunciation of his father's name, in which "chieh" (
Beginning in 1953, he established branches of the Tung Ying Kit school in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia,[4] and in 1956 he published a book,
Creativity and challenges
[edit]Tung family tai chi includes training in traditional Yang style, and advanced students may also train in a Wu (Hao) form and Tung style forms as well. Tung Hu Ling contributed to this curriculum in many ways, including the Yang-style saber (
Tung Hu Ling further contributed advanced weapons forms he created — modestly stating he based them on the teachings of Yang Chengfu's elder brother, Yang Shaohou — including vigorous routines for single and double saber with long leaps, high kicks, reverse spins, and challenging circles. For a time he taught those forms using sticks rather than swords, as sticks were easier to carry and practice with under the laws of British Hong Kong. He and his family further developed the stick forms after moving abroad.[7]
He also developed a unique series of seven two-person push hands sets in Thailand, because many students there have a very martial orientation. In fact when Tung Hu Ling arrived to introduce tai chi in 1953, many were skeptical that the slow and gentle moves of tai chi could translate into a useful defense. During one of his first demonstrations in the country, two martial arts instructors suddenly decided to mount the stage and test him. The audience only saw that as the young men approached he turned left and right, and in the blink of an eye both were flying off the platform.[8]
The next year when his famous father arrived for a tour, the 56 year-old Tung Ying-chieh also easily fended off a challenger proficient in Muay Thai, Shaolin, Iron Palm, and other arts. And so to this day, Tung family tai chi is respected throughout Southeast Asia.[9]
North America
[edit]After his father's death in 1961, he at first continued leading classes at the Tung Ying Kit schools, with his sister Jasmine Mood-lay Tung (
Lasting into 1967, the trip was sponsored by Wen-shan Huang and organized by Marshall Ho'o and others, and included a term teaching at the National Tai Chi Chuan Institute in Los Angeles assisted by Ho'o, who had regularly traveled to San Francisco's Chinatown to seek out tai chi masters and remarked that Tung's visit was "the first time a tai chi master came to us".[11]
During that Los Angeles visit, Tung was interviewed by the editor of Black Belt Magazine, resulting in an extensive cover story that introduced his tai chi to a wider American audience. The writer marveled at Tung's ability to neutralize an attack by a larger man, who was "stopped suddenly in his tracks, bounced back into the air, and sent crashing into a wall", while Tung "seemed hardly to have exerted himself".[12]
Over the next year, after trips to Europe, Thailand, and back to Hong Kong, Tung immigrated to the USA at the invitation of external-style martial arts masters and enthusiastic new disciples who implored him to become the first master of tai chi to reside in Hawaii. With their help he quickly established a new school and home base in Honolulu. His son Tung Kai Ying (
In 1972 Tung Hu Ling produced a new edition of his father's 1948 book,
Tung Hu Ling continued to travel and teach, including visits to China where he helped train his younger son Dong Zeng Chen (
Alex Dong established a school in New York in 2003, and Tung Kai Ying's son Chen-Wei David Tung (
Legacy
[edit]Tung Hu Ling died in Honolulu on November 29, 1992. A T'ai Chi magazine cover story paid tribute early the following year with articles on the man, his art, and his life, in which his disciple Wu Ta-yeh noted, "Despite Master Tung's superb accomplishment, he was very modest and never talked about his own achievements. Because of this attitude of his, his students also did not publicize him or create an image for him. This is the reason why he has been little known in the United States as compared to other tai chi teachers. He never criticized other styles or other teachers. In fact, he never said, 'Wrong,' to his students, but just made the correction. This attitude perhaps reflects his mature training in Taijiquan."[17]
References
[edit]- ^ Wu & Ellis, p. 7, paragraphs 6-8
- ^ Tung, Hu-ling (1956), preface by Lin Boyan
- ^ Tung, Kai Ying, p. 52-53; Dong, Zeng Chen, pp. 50-51
- ^ Dong, Zeng Chen, p. 52; Yu, pp. 163-166 includes a photo of an October 12, 1953 article in a Thailand Chinese-language newspaper, announcing Tung Hu Ling's arrival.
- ^ Tung, Hu-ling (1956)
- ^ Wu & Ellis, p. 7, paragraph 7
- ^ Yang Shaohou saber form: Wu, Ta-yeh (1993). "Taiji Falchion". Internal Training of Taijiquan. p. 1, paragraph 8.; double saber form: Yu, DVD (see bibliography): 2005 21bowu.com (
博 武 国 际武术网) interview with Jasmine Tung; stick forms: Ellis, Chip. "Tung Fu Ling". Writings., and interview with Alex Dong - ^ Ellis, Chip. "Tung Fu Ling". Writings. p. paragraph 10.; Yu, pp. 163-165
- ^ Yu, pp. 165
- ^ Dong, Zeng Chen, p. 52-53; DeLeonardis
- ^ Kroll, p. 56
- ^ DeLeonardis, p. 19
- ^ Yu, pp. 168; Shirota, pp. 16-18
- ^ Tung, Ying-chieh (1948, beginning with the 1972 edition)
- ^ Shirota, pp. 16-18; Yu, pp. 168-169; pp. 201-203; Dong, Zeng Chen, p. 58
- ^ Yu, pp. 204-205; Dong, Zeng Chen, p. 60; see also lists of affiliated schools at Dong Yingjie: External Links
- ^ Wu Ta-yeh, p. 6, (7) Postscript
Bibliography
[edit]DeLeonardis, Anthony (July 1967). "The 'Grand Ultimate Fist' of Tai Chi Chuan". Black Belt Magazine. ISSN 0277-3066.
Dong, Zeng Chen (2016). Dong Style Tai Ji Quan. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform. ISBN 978-1535460774.
Kroll, Paul William (November 1976). "The World's Most Popular Martial Art Comes to America". Black Belt Magazine. Vol. 14, no. 11. ISSN 0277-3066.
Shirota, Jon (August 1972). "Tai Chi Chuan -- Art of Passive Resistance". Black Belt Magazine. ISSN 0277-3066.
Tung, Hu Ling (1956).
Tung, Kai Ying (2012). Learning Tai Chi Chuan. Common Ground Publications. ISBN 978-0-9849582-0-7.
Tung, Ying-chieh (1948).
Wu, Ta-yeh (February 1993). "The T'ai Chi Ch'uan Of Tung Huling". T'ai Chi. Vol. 17, no. 1. Wayfarer Publications. ISSN 0730-1049.
Wu, Ta-yeh; Ellis, Chip (February 1993). "Tung Huling Dies in Hawaii". T'ai Chi. Vol. 17, no. 1. Wayfarer Publications. ISSN 0730-1049.
Yu, Gongbao;
External links
[edit]See also the comprehensive list maintained at this page: