Long Defeats Short
Dear all, I apologize for little updates on my blog.
I have been on DaQingShan for many days, the broadband in my room is faulty, I am a computer idiot, thinking it was because of my connection fault, stopping me from accessing internet. Master Chen gave me a new cable so I can successfully connect to the net. But I was busy and was unable to concentrate to write an article. Now back at BeiJing, I can again chat with you.
We have talked about before, during push hand, “long defeats short”. Let’s discuss more on this.
In this, “long, short” are referring to the distance between the point of original source of force to the application contact point. “Long defeats short” means, without using other technique, and when both opponents are using the same amount of force, the one with longer distance will push out the one with shorter distance.
For example, my execute force from my rear foot heel, front hands on the opponent’s chest, the distance between foot and hand is 1.5 metre; Opponent is also using force from rear foot, front hand is pushing on me, but the distance between the rear foot and front hand is 1 metre. When both contact, opponent will be pushed out.
Therefore, to gain victory, in the environment where no additional force is required, we can increase our distance. Example, when opponent pushes on me, once I feel I cannot withstand the force, I must move my rear foot back half step, opponent cannot move me, thus harmonize with him.
Long short is relative. The above suggest to increase your own distance. Even someone who does not train TaiJi will understand this method. Shorten your opponent’s distance will give you the same result. When opponent pushes on me, I don’t retreat my rear foot, instead I advance my front foot half step, not only you increase your distance, you shorten your opponent’s. He cannot move you, even being pushed out by me. When opponent pushes on my chest, I use one hand to slightly touch his arm. He usually does not think much about this, actually his distance is being shortened. In detail, the opponent’s force is diverted by my arm to my foot. His original direction of force is naturally reduced, in this way, I can control and maintain balance. If both force level are similar, this move, opponent will be defeated.
Of course, we often uses the concept of “long defeats short”, but we cannot solely rely only this to defeat others. We always use this concept to harmonized with opponents, and combined with other techniques to gain victory.
I remember two years ago, Master Chen was pushing hand with a person, I saw him extend his arm behind his body, his opponent was bounced out. He laughed and said “I have grown longer”. He applied this concept very gracefully. I thought about his extending his arm backwards and fixing his rear hand at a spot. If it is not fixed, it cannot have the effect of extension. Therefore, the concept of “long defeats short” can be combined with other theories, to develop different applications, to defeat your opponent and make push hands more interesting.
