A Personal Memory

by Wang Yanji

I heard of Master Li Tianji for the first time when I was practising Xingyiquan. His father was the best pupil of Sun Lutang. I had a wish to meet him. In 1980 while I was studying at the Academy of Music in Beijing I learned that one of his students was training students there. My sports teacher from the academy introduced me to this student, Niu Shengxian. He was later to become my teacher and through him I was to be introduced to Li Tianji at his home.

He lived with his family in a two room apartment and my first impression was how incredibly slim he was, but alert, kind and very determined. He was a very warm person with whom it was easy to make contact and become acquainted. I had a lot of respect for him but was worried that he would suspect me of being lazy. I had heard that he got angry with his students because they sometimes talked for long periods and neglected their taining. I went down to the courtyard to train, two hours later he came down with his students. When he saw me he came over but said nothing. After this first meeting I used to train twice a week. However there was no conversation and we only greeted each other quickly before training started.

A couple of months later, one rainy evening and in spite of the weather I continued to train. I was called upstairs to visit Master Li who had asked my trainer if I was still there. We engaged in a conversation and he discovered I practiced Xingyi Piquan more than a thousand times every morning. He was very pleased to hear this and remarked: "nowadays there are not many who train as hard as in the old days, but to become good it is necessary to do so."

The first time I received a gold medal for push hands was in the 1984 Chinese Championships. Master Li invited me to his home for dinner. He remarked: "You have earned your gold medal by training harder than the others. You must continue to do so and also learn more techniques."

For my third gold medal, which I won in 1987, the championships were held in Haerbin. This was the city where Master Li and his father had set up the first Taiji academy in northern China. Master Li was very angry with my teacher for allowing me to lose too much weight too quickly to qualify (11 kilos in 23 days). I lost one match but still managed to qualify for the final. While the match was taking place some of his old students came up to him wishing to greet him. However his concentration was focused solely on my match and he heard nothing of what was said to him.

In 1986 the Japanese invited some Taiji teachers to visit from China. Master Li recommended me. Before my trip we met many times and he gave me much advice. In 1995 I visited him in China. His health was poor and his wife said he usually only talked to visitors for a half hour or so. Our conversation lasted for more than two hours. He was very pleased to see me and told me he had many memories of our previous meetings.

When I returned from a holiday in January 1996 I learned that Master Li had passed away on the 8th January.