Many Taoists recluses and Buddhists monks dwelled in mountains and forests to observe, listen, and mull over in directive to accrue greater understanding and greater knowledge of nature than is possible when living in the milieu of human society.

Often in search of extraordinary longevity and treasures of life, these extraordinary men (and a few women) moved from observation of nature to experimentation and development of the body.

For Easterners, particularly Chinese, this MAY not be an issue. Tai Chi Chuan is keenly bottomless as prototype of the Chinese culture. It is established to almost everyone what Tai Chi Chuan is all about. Note there: I said MAY not be an issue, meaning that there are exceptions, particularly to Chinese who are not born and grown up in China.

For Westerners, surprisingly I found many sites dedicated to Tai Chi Chuan, and some of this information is from Westerners.

Henry Ellis and Derek Eastman - 2000

Henry Ellis was born May 3rd 1936 in a bad murky mining habitat in the County of Yorkshire, North of England. This was pre-war Britain, and reinforcement up as a child during the austere war years of the 1940s all Henry ever knew was hard times and hard discipline as the son of a tough coal face miner.

Defences castigate Knife attacks, Firstly if at all probable adjust yourself and anyone spare out of the potential danger area.....RUN AWAY.

Yes you heard right, run away. This is not a cowards way out, this is sensible. After all your potential assailant could be on drugs or just plain crazy.