Tai Chi Chuan's Little China Doll Comes to America, Part 4
by Sandy Wong
Commenting on the differences so often aired between men and women in the martial arts, Mark-Yen opines, “There’s no difference between men and women because in China they are all the same. So everybody does the same thing. It depends whether you want to learn or not,” she continues. “Only on football, they don’t like girls to play the ball. Outside that, they let you do anything.”
But whether they are male or female, good instructors are uncommon nowadays, especially in the United States, where the arts tend to become more commercialized. Mark-Yen is one of those few instructors—one who has spent many hard years of training to perfect the art so that it can be passed on to others.
Having been in the United States for such a short time, Mark-Yen concludes that the concept of martial arts in America, as far as she can tell, is not so different from that of China. And, in fact, she feels that the arts have been well adapted in America for self defense instruction.
But when it comes down to the traditional practice of tai chi chuan, Bow Sim Mark-Yen seems to be more qualified than most. And she just may have a thing or two to show us Westerners.
