FICTION - as there are too many discrepancies to be true ! It's quite a humorous and funny story, so should award the author with a master degree (MBA).
On a seriou note, it can be pretty offensive and insulting to the Yang family memebers. I suspect the person who wrote it must be suffering from some sort of emotional problems - the side effects of what we Chinese call " Depart Fire, Enter Demon " through not training under the guidance of a proper teacher for certain "nei gong" (chi kung) exercises in the martial side of tai chi.
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by TaiChi_Student:
<B>I do not know if this has been discussed before, but someone on a mailing list had given the link to this interview with Chang Yiu-Chun who said he trained with the Yangs. He says that the style that Yang Cheng Fu taught (85 Form) was not good for self-defense and was better for health. I was just wondering how valid this guys statements are?
Joe
http://www.art-of-energetics.com/frameset.htm</B></font><HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
[This message has been edited by Thong (edited 07-06-2005).]