Someone posted a link on another forum about a new book on Chinese martial arts literature (wuxia), which focuses on the acclaimed author Jin Yong. The author of the book is John Christopher Hamm, an assistant professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature, University of Washington. Anyway, the first chapter is available as a PDF. What is interesting is a detailed section on the Taiji vs. White Crane "fight" that took place in Macau, 1954. This event serves as the backdrop to a piece of writing in the "New School" of MA fiction. I don't know what he used as references, you'll need to buy the book for that I guess. But he has all the names, dates, places, lead up, the event itself, and the aftermath. A short and diverting read. I've only ever heard the gossip about the fight, never actually any detail, so this is really a good read. EDIT: the event is described from page 3 onwards.
The fight happened when my dad was still in his young teenage years. So yes it did happen. It was significant because at that time the HK government did not let anyone practice martial arts in a professional sense. Rings fights were also discouraged/outlawed. Therefore, the two masters decided to do it in Macau, which was not under British law. According to my dad the fight itself wasn't much...as in not much happened and it was over quite quickly. But the fact that this was kind like the first "open" fight in the HK area it was memorable.
Dude, I really don't want to shatter your ideas. awakened_nature is right - there's a video of the fight in MAP and you'll find it if you look through this kung fu forum, but be warned, you'll probably be very disappointed.
Yeah, I'm aware of the video and how under-whelming it is supposed to be. I just thought people would be interested in a verbal account of the event and the surrounding background, to supplement a disembodied net clip.
I heard it was brought on by some over-zealous charity work which got out of hand? From watching the fight, it seems that one of the guys thought it to be a friendly, and then promptly got his nose smashed in Thats when the fisticuffs at dawn were let loose and mayhem ensued. Did it look like TJ or White Crane? No, but extremely funny to watch
