International Tung Tai Chi Day – November 8th

All around the globe, Tai Chi practitioners will take time to celebrate the Birthday of the late Grandmaster Tung Ying Chieh (Dong Yingjie). Students and teachers from the lineage of Tung Ying Chieh take time every year on November 8th at 6:00 pm (local time) to pay their respects to this famous Tai Chi master by performing the Tung Family Fast Set or the Yang Style Long Form. They will gather in groups from their schools or clubs, or take time on their own or with a friend to practice and share.

Tung Ying Chieh was one of the main disciples of Yang Cheng Fu. He often accompanied Yang on trips and assisted with the teaching of Yang style Tai Chi Chuan. When Japan invaded China during the War years, Tung Ying Chieh relocated to Macau and then Hong Kong. It was in Hong Kong that he established the Tung Ying Chieh Tai Chi Chuan Gymnasium. He was invited to teach abroad in places such as Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.

Enjoy this video of Tung Ying Chieh performing the traditional Yang style Tai Chi Chuan long form that he learned from Yang Cheng Fu. This was filmed in Malaysian in 1950.

Today there is a strong following of Tai Chi practitioners that trace their lineage back to Tung Ying Chieh. There are still some alive that had learned directly from Tung Ying Chieh, and many that have learned directly from his students.

The grandsons Tung Kai Ying and Dong Zeng Chen, and great grandsons Tung Chen Wei and Alex Dong have been greatly influential in carrying on the lineage and traditions of Tung Ying Chieh. They have students all around the globe who now teach and continue to study with them.