Review: Steal my Art

by Ronnie Robinson

Steal my Art
The Life and Times of a T'ai Chi Master
T.T. Liang
Stuart Alve Olson
North Atlantic Books
ISNB 1-55643-416-2 £12.99

Stuart Olson was a very close student of T.T. Liang, having worked closely with him for a number of years including a few in which he lived with the Master. The recollections here are amusing and illuminating, providing a fascinating insight to the life and work of what seems to me, a thoroughly stimulating and roguish character.

T.T. moved to the US in the late 1960s to act as a translator for Cheng Man-Ching having been a close student of his in Taiwan. Prior to this move he had already lived a fascinating life working for the British customs in Shanghai during which time he, according to the information we read here, had his share of wine, women and song whilst living on both sides of the law, also being in the pay of the Chinese Triads.

The book does include a number of aspects of his work as a tai chi teacher but the real meat, and pleasure, of this book is his views, opinions and general behaviour which has varied between being playful, troublesome and downright irritating to several people over the years. I'm unsure whether TT Liang is still around but in his comments on his late Master, Cheng Man-Ching he provides an amusing account of his feelings of longevity:

"Prof. Cheng claimed to have mastered what he called "The Five Excellences" - medicine, painting, poetry, music, and T'ai Chi. Laing thinks, however, that painting was his highest skill and T'ai chi was second. The others, he says, were not of a very high standard.
Liang claims to have also mastered "Five Excellences" - drinking, smoking, using drugs, gambling and womanizing. He often joked that Cheng's Five Excellences were virtuous, but he died young, and that his were unvirtuous yet he continues to outlive him.

Ronnie Robinson resides in Glasgow, Scotland and has studied taiji and internal arts since 1981. Aside from his professional teaching status, Ronnie is actively involved in the promotion of taijiquan and qigong throughout Europe, in his various roles. He is Secretary of the Tai Chi Union for Great Britain, Secretary of the Taijiquan & Qigong Federation for Europe, Editor of Tai Chi Chuan & Internal Arts (UK), Editor-in-Chief of the European Internal Arts Journal and organiser of one of Europe's biggest international internal arts gatherings, Tai Chi Caledonia, a week-long camp held in his native Scotland.