Let me clarify a point or so. Tony Yang had been teaching since 1980 but on a very informal basis. It was in 1998 that he began to formally teach public.
It was not until GM Liu died in 1992 did many of us become aware of what Tony Yang had to offer. As his long time students, we are trying to make sure that some of the traditional training and systems remain viable and relatively public. Its an experiment and I am not sure it will work.
Yes I studied in the UK. They did and still do teach sil lim tao as part of the syllabus. I should say my comments are based on my limited personal experiences. I hesitated to voice that criticism because overall my experience was positive and I left because of practical difficulties rather than anything to do with the training.
Popsider:
I didn’t take your comments as criticism just as observations and I am sorry to hear of your experience. There really is no unified curriculum among Wu Tang schools other than baji/pigua and bagua. Some schools under the Wu Tang name teach Yoga and stretch and others seldom, if ever, teach baji or the bagua while others may start you right into baji.
In response to Stumblefist, I just wanted to share some of my experiences in the Wu Tang(or Wu Tan). When I first went to Tony Yang in 1988, I had studied Jou Tsung Hwa’s version of the Heng, Haaa breathing (qi gong form) and tried to show and engage Tony in a conversation about, actually trying to impress him with the form. He told me he never heard of it even though there stood, in front of me, two pieces of caligraphy by GM Liu describing these breathes as found in the baji system. About 5 years later, when he felt comfortable, he told me about the breaths and the translation of the caligraphy.
Many Wu Tang schools do not teach the 3 abstractions of Chen’s taiji taught by GM Liu. They start with a linking form and then go into lao jia nnd pao tui. I spent many years in the first level of the abstracted form and thought it was bogus (it is played with no fajing and as slow in tempo as the Yang’s form). Few people paid attention to GM Liu’s knowledge of Yang style of taiji (other than his abstrcted form), yet his sword with its two man exercises and A & B fighting sides is outstanding. One teacher went as far as to deny GM Liu knew any Yang’s taiji but most people never came to Wu Tang for Yang’s taiji so it was never shown or discussed. Actually I didn’t know about it until 1997 when I read a Taiwan magazine article (written in 1978) which described in a sentence or two GM Liu Yang shadow boxing along with his knife and sword.
Other teachers, like that of Count’s and Guo Bao Lo’s, are much more open, partly because of philosophy and partly because of command of the English language (my teacher initially was unable to speak English but does a pretty good job now and is much more open and comfortable explaining material).
In a closing note, there is a wide variety of arts sold under the Wu Tang banner and the buyer must beware. Even among GM Liu’s 1st and 2nd generations disciples, a wide variety of teaching philosophies and forms exist. For example, my teacher knows over 12 xiao baji forms alone(regardless, learning the training principle overrides which form you get). A lot of older masters had spent considerable time in other systems before they entered into their final system (you find this among the old bagua masters), My teacher’s old philosophy was you could spend a good 4 or 5 years in mantis before moving on. He reasoned that the conditioning and fighting wouldn’t hurt you and also wanted to see how serious you were about the training. It would also prepare you for other Northern systems. Others do this with longfist. That only works well if you aren’t doing martial arts for a living.
Good luck in your search Popsider. 