100% organized by locals, but foreigners were always welcome.
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So maybe some push-hands people just need to show up there and start pushing people around. 
I’m disappointed that I seem to have been singularly unlucky in finding push hands being practiced in the wild, having visited the likely areas during unpopular times like weekdays or a long vacation weekend, combined with possible dissipation of the previously-existing groups due to covid. I’m doing some web searches on the phrases 台北 太極拳 推手 公園 and there seem to be some relevant results, but nothing definitive yet.
An interesting anecdote, though from a long time ago, about taiji and other martial arts in Taipei parks can be read here: Donn Draeger & Robert Smith: Their Intersection Concerning Chinese Martial Arts - 古現武道 . There, Ellis Amdur says that when he was visiting martial artists in Taipei parks, he was warned about getting accidentally/intentionally hurt by ‘white crane’ groups in the parks, because their fighting method (using fingers as “beaks” to peck) was inherently dangerous and because their practice methods encouraged some kind of aggressive or unstable behavior.
I did notice that here on Forumosa there was a post last year from a white crane guy offering to teach: White Crane Fist.
Having seen mostly slow-moving taijiquan and qigong in Taipei parks, it’s hard for me to imagine seeing, in those same parks, more active, sparring-style practice. Does it still exist, post-covid? Inquiring minds want to know…
An update with some more information. I found this YouTube video from a guy in Taiwan doing push-hands.
I don’t recognize this location specifically, but I guess this must be 228 park in Taipei. According to the guy’s Facebook page, he/they seem to practice in 228 park from 10 AM to 12 PM Sundays.
My schedule wouldn’t have permitted me to visit the park at that time on Sunday, but at least this does seem to be an up-to-date piece of information about current push-hands practice in a Taipei park. Looks like authentic practice – in the above video, the guy who is pushed seems to do nothing, but the pusher “bounces” back against his opponent’s structure and flies backwards. I wish I could have experienced that myself! Maybe next time…
And, it seems that in Youth Park (青年公園) there is push-hands on Wednesday mornings from 8:30-10:30, where anybody interested can participate. https://www.facebook.com/suppletaichi/videos/青年公園鬆柔太極拳課程鬆柔推手的要訣在於推手訓練過程中教練必須具備輕靈的身手及身體之陰陽變化如太極拳論陰不離陽陽不離陰陰陽相濟方為懂勁陰陽之變在於雙手有動靜雙腳/985074592927784/
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This is a Wing Chun guy. He seems to be pretty good at that, but I wouldn’t look to him for Taiji. Unfortunately, in this clip, he’s over reacting. The other clip is fairly typical of what you’ll find in many places which is the “wet noodle” push hands. The days of really good people are over. Most of them have died out and few of their students are interested or capable of continuing their teachings. Add to this lots of traditional and magical thinking and you end up with a whole lot of nothing.
228 used to have lots of different groups practicing starting around 7/8/9 am but a lot of that has changed over the past few years due to Covid and the idiots who control the park. They basically destroyed the areas where for decades people used practice. It’s shameful.
The biggest problem you’ll run into with most groups is that they have no training method. On top of that many believe they have skill, but can’t demonstrate it…because it’s only for special students or you’re not ready for it etc etc.
The closest you’ll get to practicing internal Chinese martial arts and learning applications is with Luo De Xiou who teaches at Chiang Kaichek memorial park. Otherwise, if you want to fight, do mma, bjj, boxing, or muythai.
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Yeah, I realized after re-watching the video that the pusher appears to be a student and the guy who is pushed away seems to be the teacher, and the teacher may have some motivation to over-react in order to prove that the technique or structure being taught works, when in fact it may not work so overtly.
Nope, that’s not me.
That’s where my interest lies. I did a bit of taijiquan decades ago and didn’t really think about it too much, but recently I’ve finally realized that taijiquan, and other internal Chinese martial arts, involve some very interesting, non-intuitive, and physically real internal body mechanics like fascial biotensegrity, full-body connected coiling power, and unusual use of internal body mechanics that “deceives” the opponent’s sense of touch/balance, giving you an opportunity to issue power in a quick and unexpected way to unbalance the opponent.
Thanks for the pointer! I found his home page here: https://www.yizong.org/index.php/en/example-styles/taiwan-classes . Are his classes at CSK memorial hall (CSK memorial park) free for observers to drop in?
That page also says that the classes at CSK memorial hall are baguazhang and xingyiquan, but the taijiquan classes are held at the following locations:
Wednesday 19-21h Yilan
Saturday 10-13 Tienmu, Taipei
The Wednesday location is not in Taipei, but the Saturday location may refer to “Tianmu Sports Park” in Taipei.
Good to keep in mind – now I have some more ideas for times/places to visit next time I’m in town.
Could you explain more about what happened? Who are the people who control the park, and what did they do to destroy the practice areas?
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Sorry for the very late reply. I don’t remember seeing your question. Some city parks department had money left over at the end of the year and had to use it up or else risk receiving less money in the new year. So, some genius decided to dig up the area where all the taiji people used to practice, put trenches in and plant grass or other plants all around because they claimed that there was too much flooding in that area. I used to go there for years and there was never flooding. Anyhow, the idiots did it and now it looks like shit and quite a few groups have left the area. Perfect example of someone who knows nothing but is in a position of power who then goes and destroys something special.
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You sounds like you’re doing it right. There are a ton of nooances, but the main thing is to be understated and slip in from the corner. The instructors also don’t expect any talk of money for a few sessions, at least, if ever.
Taking a pen and paper, and asking basic vocab might get you even more accepted. But you sound like you’re on an adventure.
It only takes 50-100 words of vocab to have solid Tai Chi learner Chinese, if they know how to grade their language.
PS, Danshui MRT park is full of life both at dawn and dusk. Not quite as focused as The City, but Ive seen dancers, Tai Chi sword forms, Ba Gua and other arts. It recovered totally from COVID. Xinbeitou, around the wooden library park, also has some helpful and friendly practitioners. Guandu is full of mystery.
The 5 stops North of Beitou are an entire Kingdom in themselves.
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That’s really a shame. Though as I said I did see some taijiquan groups doing solo form practice in 228 park, I was never able to find (during my admittedly brief tourist trips to Taipei) any push hands groups doing paired partner practice.
Thanks! I’ll keep those in mind for my next trip. I think I may have visited those areas in the distant past, but not recently. If you get a chance, would you care to upload some photos of the practice groups that you can see in the area? Did you ever see any paired partner practice – the so-called “push hands” or “tuishou” practice where you people practice in pairs?
Doing a bit of web searching, I found this English-language group that does taijiquan in Taipei parks. It seems to be a paid class though (200 NT per lesson according to the Facebook page).
Tai Chi in Taipei’s goal is to make accessible to the foreign community in Taipei and to the locals the wisdom and beauty of this martial art as well as the physical and mental benefits that derive from its practice. We do this by teaching both the physical as well as the philosophical part to small groups of people through our Tai Chi classes. Anyone who is interested in Tai Chi is welcome to join us. Beginners or experts, locals or foreigners, youngsters or elders, everyone is welcome.
Welcome to join our hiking in Taiwan meetup group,and we do taichi on the mountain every Sunday.
Best Regards
Peter Wu
And this group does seem to offer some kind of push hands or similar paired-partner practice. From the Facebook page:
I have no photos as I rarely carry a smartphone… A lot of finding a teacher is about your luck, and simple manners… you should be fine.
I rarely saw push hands, though I used to practice that in London. I read both Wolfe Lowenthal books on Cheng Man Ching, and enjoyed them.
All around Xinbeitou library there are people practising in the evening, and on weekends. Maybe in the morning too.
There are older solo practitioners who tend to be knowledgeable and generous with their time.
I was watching a Taiwanese (religious?) TV station on YouTube here:
From 14:00-15:00 (not sure on which weekdays), they seem to broadcast a walking tour program, and in today’s broadcast, they walked through 228 park in Taipei. I managed to catch a few glimpses of what appeared to be taijiquan push-hands practice during this broadcast.
I assume the broadcast was recorded recently. Near the end of the broadcast, a clock was visible, indicating 10:05 AM, as shown below:
The taijiquan push-hands segments appeared earlier in the broadcast, suggesting that before 10:00 AM, perhaps starting at 9:00 AM, push hands practice groups might be found in 228 park. I couldn’t see any indication of on what weekday the broadcast was recorded.
I was watching the broadcast on my TV and managed to get some screenshots with my smartphone, so the image quality is blurry. But here are some images that pretty clearly indicate push-hands or similar practice being conducted in 228 park.
By any chance, would anyone here, living in Taipei, care to walk around 228 park around 9:00 AM on various weekdays (edit: in particular on Sundays), and to report if and where push-hands groups might be found?
EDIT: It turns out that right now, for a couple of hours at least, it is still possible to rewind the YouTube live stream, and by rewinding the stream, I could catch that the tour guide said that, since 2010, the tour group conducts tours on “每個月的第一個禮拜天”, on the first Sunday of every month, so we can likely conclude that this video – where the push-hands groups were seen – was recorded on a Sunday between about 9:00 AM and 10:00 AM.
After re-watching the video, and doing a lot of cross-referencing on Google Maps, I determined that the push-hands practice group in the video is located here:
The location is the small clearing in the park, west of the National Taiwan Museum, and northwest of the small pond, near the circular-arrangement of benches around the tree. “SUNNY HOSTEL” is visible to the west on the street.
Looking at that same location from another angle, the Google Street View camera actually captured push-hands in-progress at 228 park. However, this image seems to have been taken pre-COVID, in August 2019.
I found some specific information on Taipei push-hands practice in 228 park. This video from March 2024 shows push hands taking place at what seems to be the same location in 228 park (near a circular arrangement of benches around a tree):
The related Facebook page is here:
And the latest Facebook post from that page says:
If anyone goes to meet this group, please report on your experience!
Here’s a different push-hands group, " 新板推手聯誼會 (Xinban Tai Chi push hands Club)", apparently located in “Xinban”, an area of Taipei that I haven’t visited.
It sounds like drop-in practice might be allowed.
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Not familiar with Du, but I pushed hands with some of the Xinban people before and they’re pretty good. I haven’t been to the Banqiao location, but I know that drop-ins are accepted, even encouraged. They’re always looking for fresh meat.
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If you’ve seen tai chi practice groups, you may have seen some use of fans. Due to the question in the other thread about if tai chi would be useful against a knife attacker, I was doing a bit of research about martial arts use of fans, and found out that apart from taijiquan practitioners, Japanese martial artists apparently also used fans, sometimes to great effect (Tessenjutsu - Wikipedia). That led me to check the Japanese amazon.co.jp shopping site to see if there were any interesting martial arts fans for sale, and indeed there are. Talk about a scary looking weapon!
