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His teachers include Master Wong Eog (1968), Master Chu King Hung (1973) London, Grand-master Chang Yiu-Chun one of only two disciples of Yang Shou-hou. Erle became the first student of Master Chu in London in 1973. Chu was one of three disciples of Yang Sau-chung, (1909-1985) the eldest son of the great master Yang Cheng-Fu....
In 1985, Erle and eight of his students became the first Westerners to be asked to perform at the all China National Wushu Tournament in Yinchuan China. There, Erle was tested by four of the world's greatest Chinese masters and was awarded the degree of "MASTER", the only Westerner to be given this honor. Erle now regards Chang Yiu-Chun as his main teacher from whom he learnt the "Old Yang Style" & The Dim-Mak....
In 1995 May, Erle Montaigue became the first westerner to go to China to learn from the Original Wudang Shan group, namely one Liang Shiah-kan, the keeper of the original Dim-Mak Qi Disruptive Forms.
Just to start out they are claiming that Chang Yiu-Chun, a person lacking birth and death records and not recorded as a student of Shao-hou, is one of only two students of Shao-Hou, Wu-Tunan, a real student of Shao-hou who is legitimate and has very clear records of his existence, unlike Yiu-Chun, including video, demonstrates forms that are nothing like that of the WTBA, I believe that the Chang Yiu-Chun may be someone Erle invented.
don't think popularity can amount to authenticity or reliability
Josh Young wrote:
The Fa-jing (explosive energy) movements of the Old Yang System provide outlets for Yang Qi that builds up during practice. This is very important as building up too much Yang Qi (by doing all slow movements) then goes in to its opposite of Yin, thus causing 'Yin Dullness' which is what many of the old Chinese masters who only ever did the all slow form died of!
Another interesting claim. Note that the people who stress the slow forms have been living to about 100 while the people who stress the fast stuff tend to die about 40 years earlier than this. This can be very simply examined by looking at the lifespan of dead taijiplayers.
I believe that Erle will likely be dead in less than 10 years.
Josh Young wrote:I don't think popularity can amount to authenticity or reliability.
For example the Nazis were very popular in America before WW2, they even based their pograms against the jewish people on US policies towards native americans.
My point being that popularity is meaningless. A billion people can believe in a bad idea and it is still a bad idea. Testimonials mean nothing.
Josh Young wrote:I like Erle. He is a nice guy and his system is good.
I view it as something that can only come from him.
I have given up the issue of questioning what cannot be answered in regard to him. All I can offer is my opinion and that changes with time. I am not unfamiliar with his WTBA material, so while I question his lineage and many other claims, I have been doing so while giving his material, not his words, a chance. I am far more impressed by the content of his system, than by his words or claims of lineage.
Carl Rutherford wrote:With reference to money, he is not in the game for $$$$$$$ as he could of made a lot of money by playing the taichi game. If you new him you would know that this is not in his heart
Josh Young wrote:I don't know Erle, but I do know several people who know his son Eli and one person who trained with Erle.
However Erle and i did speak via email a number of times, including a couple of months before he passed away.
It was clear that he did the WTBA as a career, for money, and was deeply passionate about it.
It was also clear he was not greedy and he cared about the arts, he offered to send me free videos, and though i declined his offer because i have no interest in his system it was my impression that he was in it for the right reasons.
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