Memories of Learning Tai Chi in Chinatown
Chinatown YMCA. Photo courtesy Bay Area News.
December 18, 2011
I grew up in the hills above the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, California, and attended a predominantly Jewish high school named Lowel High.
Later I lived in a little alley under Coit Tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. It was while living here that I first met Master Choy. My sister, Linda, first told me about Master Choy after learning some Tai Chi from him while studying at Berkeley in the 1960s. Students of the university, Linda and her boyfriend had been attending his classes. Since I lived near to his home in Chinatown, my sister asked if I would give him a ride to demonstrate in Berkley. He didn't speak much English at the time.
Master Choy telephoned me several days later and wanted to start a class with me. At the time, he had an established class of Chinese students who studied at the YMCA in Chinatown. This group was taught the individual postures but didn't connect them into a form.
The picture to the left shows lion dances and firecrackers celebrating the renovation of the YMCA in the 1990s, but it looks much like it did when I took private lessons at the facility from Master Choy Kam-Man in 1966.
I never met the Elder Master Choy, but Kam-Man's mother was still alive when I lived there. She was a stately woman with an upright, queenly carriage.
March 10, 2013
At one point I rented a room and would practice in the parks around North Beach. One day I was practicing when I was surprised by Master Choy as he appeared from behind a tree. He had been hiding in order to observe my technique. Favorably so, he suggested I learn Mandarin Chinese to add to my education. Years later I took his advise and studied for several years in his honor.
Another time I went to Portsmouth Square, the "Heart of Chinatown," to practice Tai Chi with the other practitioners. There was another master about 78 years old who had a studio off the square who came over to welcome me. He introduced his 23 year old wife and baby while proclaiming that his form was the most perfect. This is not an unusual practice as each master believes his form is the most original or effective.
I grew up in the hills above the Haight Ashbury neighborhood of San Francisco, California, and attended a predominantly Jewish high school named Lowel High.
Later I lived in a little alley under Coit Tower in the Telegraph Hill neighborhood. It was while living here that I first met Master Choy. My sister, Linda, first told me about Master Choy after learning some Tai Chi from him while studying at Berkeley in the 1960s. Students of the university, Linda and her boyfriend had been attending his classes. Since I lived near to his home in Chinatown, my sister asked if I would give him a ride to demonstrate in Berkley. He didn't speak much English at the time.
Master Choy telephoned me several days later and wanted to start a class with me. At the time, he had an established class of Chinese students who studied at the YMCA in Chinatown. This group was taught the individual postures but didn't connect them into a form.
The picture to the left shows lion dances and firecrackers celebrating the renovation of the YMCA in the 1990s, but it looks much like it did when I took private lessons at the facility from Master Choy Kam-Man in 1966.
I never met the Elder Master Choy, but Kam-Man's mother was still alive when I lived there. She was a stately woman with an upright, queenly carriage.
March 10, 2013
At one point I rented a room and would practice in the parks around North Beach. One day I was practicing when I was surprised by Master Choy as he appeared from behind a tree. He had been hiding in order to observe my technique. Favorably so, he suggested I learn Mandarin Chinese to add to my education. Years later I took his advise and studied for several years in his honor.
Another time I went to Portsmouth Square, the "Heart of Chinatown," to practice Tai Chi with the other practitioners. There was another master about 78 years old who had a studio off the square who came over to welcome me. He introduced his 23 year old wife and baby while proclaiming that his form was the most perfect. This is not an unusual practice as each master believes his form is the most original or effective.