For many The ultimate goal in Taijiquan is to be able to perform feats that are described in modern physics as actions at a distance. The reason I use the modern physics term is that it is a clearly defined term with a clearly defined meaning that cannot be misinterpreted or mirepresented.

To put it in Tai Chi parlance it means that a Taiji Master possessing great Qi power can push somebody over without even touching them. Lesser mortals have to actually make contact to perform similar feats. For some reason these Tai Chi Masters have chosen to call this power "Empty Force".

Of course this magic force is not the sole province of Tai Chi , I was recently shown a video of a Russian Krav Maga Master demonstrating equivalent "skills".

The use of the term magic, is not pejorative merely descriptive. The term Magic is used when the supposed cause of an action lies outside the realms of natural physical laws, that can be described by our knowledge of the world , and can be reproduced by people of similar training using the same methods and is not dependent upon the people performing the action in question.

This mysterious "Empty Force" has certain identifiable qualities.

1. It does not work on inaminate objects
2. It only works on people who believe in it.
3. It only works on people who believe the other person can do it.
4. There is no independent method of ascertaining whether people possess this power, only another person who has it can tell.

There are two explanations that can explain this behaviour

1. That there is another force that has not been discovered by modern science that can be manipulated in some unspecifiable manner by Tai Chi Masters who have gained this skill by practising specific physical movements (Qi Gong) and meditative exercises.
2. That the students of such masters have been taught to behave in certain manners dependent upon some sort of cue, i.e when performing pushing hands with master and he moves in a certain way they are expected to fall over or run backwards while shaking their bodies. In other words the nature of their beleif system causes the people themselves to make themselves perform these actions. This is apparent from the fact that they fall over very easily when pushing with the Master, not even attempting to either push him or defend themselves against his attacks but become very active and competitive when pushing with anybody else.

If the first explanation were true then these demonstrations would work on anybody at all, but for some reason this is never attempted. The reason being that it would be shown not to work. There would of course be an appropriate explanation such as "It was the 3rd Day of the Vernal Equinox and the Universal Meridians were misaligned" or the other person's Qi power was too strong. Alternatively they could adopt the Yellow Bamboo Association Method of having an accomplice in the crowd with a Taser to knock down the non-compliant target.

The second explanation is more reasonable as it is a reasonable explanation of the observed behaviour and does not require the introduction of any factors outside our current knowledge.

In my many years of pushing hands I have also made what looked to the observer as a small movement for my student run backwards unable to control their movement as they could not regain their balance. This is more to do with the other person's lack of self-awareness and lack of basic skills rather than some mysterious inexplicable power that I possessed. The fact was that I detected their weakness and exploited it in a rather gentle manner, their own overcompensation compounded the movements and caused them to react in the manner they did. Pushing Hands has always been about drawing the opponent to overextend, overcompensate and create weaknesses in themselves that can be exploited. This is a straightforward objective and there exist simple rules to make this happen that can be followed by any reasonably experienced individual.

Similarly anybody with any decent teaching would be aware of their own balance and be able to absorb and redirect the majority of attacks, even from their own teacher. If they cannot then either the teacher is no good, does not teach them anything or the student is so poor they are unable to learn how to remain on their feet.

Observing a Google video of the reknowned Master Ma Yue Liang , I could help but notice that however skilled he may have been (It is impossible to tell this from a video clip) the people whom he pushed hands with seemed to lack the most basic of these skills. The arms moved independently from the body, the waist and legs were not coordinatedand they seemed incapable of standing up. Perhaps they have a different interpretation of the classics than I , but I know that my method works, and their method obviously did not. Any practinioner of a moderate level should be able to regain their balance with a single step and not be running backwards or somersaulting without even being touched. Sensitivity combined with Intelligent use of muscle would have allowed the student to remain on their feet and in their stance. The obvious rebuttal to this is that Master Ma was so good that he made these people behave as if thery were beginners. To which I say, if they look like beginners and act like beginners they must be beginners, even if they have purportedly studied for a long time.

I cannot push around my senior students with ease but have to spend time and intelligence drawing out weaknesses. This is because I have made them aware of their shortcomings and corrected them, given them programmes to eliminate their weaknesses so that I am unable to exploit them so easily. This is correct teaching. If after 10 years I could still push them around as if they were beginners I would be very embarrassed, but for most of the Tai Chi world this would be a cause for the celebration of superlative skill.

In the final event Push Hands is a training method to develop the skills required to use the Taijiquan fighting method. As long as this is remembered and the training is focussed in this manner then students can learn useful skills. When the practise is circumvented to show the existence of a mysterious force that cannot be demonstrated in any other way, i.e nobody can demonstrate its use in a fighting or self-defence scenario against a non-compliant opponent then it is just a device to separate people from their money by convincing them they have skills and abilities that they really do not possess.

But of course, I had forgotten, Tai Chi is not about fighting .....

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