Which is better Chen Tai Chi or wing chun?

Answer 1

With 2 years practice in addition to heavy meditation, assumign both equally talented, built, and birthday practitioners fight, the Wing Chuner will probably win. I don't think I was clear so I'll try again; you assume they are identical in every way, evenly matched to the point where its ridiculous. You also assume that in addition to the training requirements of their respective martial arts, that they also do a lot of meditation. With 2 years of training, the Wing Chun guy wins, and he will keep on winning, until 10 years have passed, after which point, the Wing Chun guy will never win again against his Tai Chi rival unless, he himself learns Tai Chi. It is the same story with all internal martial arts; they are in fact, more powerful, effective, and efficient than the external ones, however to use them effectively requires more time, largely because being peaceful, being benign, and applying "peace" in a fight, is counterintuitive to most people. When someone attacks you your instinct is not to sidestep and throw, or sidestep and redirect the attack, your instinct is to either run, or if cornered, smack the crap out of them. The internal schools, and their Japanese cousin Aikido, consider this a "mind that is still stuck on a primitive level." Again, the external Martial Arts, are more effective than the internal ones but only for the short term; with long term practice like I said, the Wing Chuner will never again defeat his Tai Chi rival no matter how hard he trains and meditates. Unless, like I said, he takes up Tai Chi Chuan, or some other internal martial art himself. Getting more esoteric, the reason the external schools, internal martial arts masters of days past have said, will give you a temporary edge over the internal ones, is because it is easier to build up the muscles quickly, than it is to build up the chi flow, and later the spirit. Think for a second; what do you use when you fight? Obviously your muscles; martial arts are very physical. No one in the west has heard, certainly "he smacked the crap out of me with his soul." It just does not happen. See, to effectively use the internal styles, according to the beliefs of internal practitioners who hold Daoist teaching to be true, your very soul has to be "muscular." External martial arts, make your muscles muscular, internal martial arts make your soul "muscular." Internal martial artists argue, because the soul is the only thing that does not deteriorate with age assuming you follow a "good path" or "path nourishing for you," it makes more sense, to cultivate the soul in martial arts, than the body, because the health of the body is dependent on the health of the soul anyway. So why bother with physical training? Those are not my thoughts; that is how most internal schools feel about the matter. Of course external martial artists may counter "but huffing and puffing, sweating it out IS good for the soul!" Myself personally, pick whatever is available without neglecting meditation; to meditate, be sure to count the breaths, and to do 1,000 deep breaths. If you are not properly fed, or rested, you'll collapse from exhaustion; breathing may seem easy, but consciously breathing in deep, is a lot of hard work, it is deceptively hard in fact.

Answer 2

I believe that wing chun or any martial art is most effective when the practioner trains constantly and believe in the art. The skill of a martial artist is within himself, no gender or class determines your ability, it's only you that makes it effective.

Wing chin is the number one self defensive art... as they said a good offense is a better defence

Answer 3

Depends on what you are looking for; if you live in a really bad neighborhood, or are being frequently attacked by bullies at school and unsurprisingly the school authorities are irresponsible or, the parents of the bullies are irresponsible, if Wing Chun is all that is available to you, that is the style to study, as it is simple, direct, proven effective and, well, you've seen Bruce Lee's hand speed. In the end the best protection from bullies is having friends, preferably a "three musketeers" setup. If you are part of a foursome, whoa that came out wrong, I mean, a group of four, it is incredibly effective protection, especially if your "leader" has punches that cut to the bone, and all the girls want him because he's the "school bad boy." Of course outcasts naturally gravitate towards each other, usually in the first year; the American high school though can be very dangerous, you DO NOT want to be friendless. I was lucky in that it was all benign and laughable compared to other places, however I am assuming you are not so lucky, and you are living in a nightmarish hell. If that is the case then you need something quick, preferably Wing Chun.

Chen Tai Chi is effective, but because as with all styles of Tai Chi Chuan there is so much "leverage" stuff, its much more difficult to learn. Also Wing Chun, if you train hard at it you will be ready to use with only 3 months practice, if you train at it for hours, with a sharply focused mind your hands could get so fast, people may leave you alone. Ultimately though, you do need friends, friends watch out for each other.

Word of advice though don't be an S.E. Hinton punk like I was.