Hot Off The Presses!!! 
Master Ting's new Essential Concepts of Tai Chi!
Ting, Kuo-Piao, or as many know him, MASTER WILLIAM TING, is originally from Shanghai, China.  Coming to the states for college over thirty years ago, Master Ting unintentionally began to share his knowledge of Tai Chi in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco where his unique style caught the eyes of local practitioners.  Soon, what had become a daily, but solitary, exercise ritual during his school day became an hour of instruction among new found friends, eager to learn a rare but beautiful style of Tai Chi.
Many students asked him why his Tai Chi looked so different from the styles they had been accustomed to seeing on the West Coast.  He explained that his background in the art was quite different from what he had come to know here in the United States.  His Tai Chi sprang from a classical education in its use primarily as a martial art.  Master Ting had studied for many years as a student of Grandmaster Lu, Ji-Tang.  This practice was secretive, as studying any martial arts at the time was highly frowned upon.  He was persistent, and impressed his Bagua Master and his Tai Chi Master with his perseverance, diligence, and skill.  Grandmaster Lu accepted him as his closed-door student, an honor, and a privilege in China, only awarded to those of great dedication and sincerity to learn the true art of Tai Chi.  This education included secrets that have been passed down through generations of Masters to their closed-door students, how to generate and deliver Qi so quickly, effectively and precisely as to make it one of the most effective martial arts in ancient China.
Learning Tai Chi in the manner that he did, Master Ting soon grasped that there was a dearth of knowledge in the Tai Chi world regarding basic principles and fundamental posture.  Knowing that there is no way to move energy through a structure that is not set up for its circulation, teaching students how to build that posture was one of his biggest challenges.  He was determined to show a student how to improve his or her own style of Tai Chi by stressing principles, rather than form.
In seminars, workshops, and the classroom, he found many students lacked correct body structure because they had never been taught basic principles.  Various interpretations of the Chinese classics explaining these concepts were poorly translated or misinterpreted by their readers.  Much of the information had never been shared with the general public outside the sacred spaces that belonged solely to the Master and his closed-door student.  What was shared was greatly watered down or totally misunderstood.  Yet he realized, that without good body posture and the knowledge of how to connect it all together, the circulation of Qi in the body would be weak or non-existent.  And the future of genuine Tai Chi would be in peril.
Time and again Master Ting discovered that these deficiencies did not depend on a person’s particular style of Tai Chi; in many cases it did not necessarily depend on the years of practice.  What it did depend on was whether someone’s teacher understood the use of proper body mechanics and internal connections in the production and circulation of Qi.  Equally important was how effectively this information was passed on to the student through consistent class instruction, good demonstration, and by answering their questions on how and why a movement is performed.   
Toward this end, Master Ting taught classes, workshops, and seminars, demonstrating how the basic principles applied to a student’s practice, as opposed to stressing any particular style.  He distributed worksheets which gave detailed instructions on how to establish connections, how to open energetic pathways, and how to circulate Qi.  He lectured around the country sharing all of his knowledge generously with any who came to listen.  He answered hundreds of questions from every kind of student.  And he established a website to reach out to those practitioners unable to meet with him in person.
Through his website, Master Ting began to collect questions from students all over the world, of all levels and styles, about Tai Chi, its practice, its benefits; from the very simple to the extremely complex.  He answered the questions as they came in, noting that, in many of the queries, the answer had to do with basic posture and fundamental principles.  Thus came the idea for his first book:   “Answers to Common Tai Chi and Qigong Questions”.  The book was intended as a primer for the study and practice of Tai Chi.  In it were suggestions and observations gleaned from many years of classroom and real life experience.  Master Ting did not want to restrict his teaching to a particular style or level of participation.  The basic principles, to him, are universal and should be applied uniformly in each style of Tai Chi from the very first day of class.  The Essential Concepts of Tai Chi, found in this book, should be taught to EVERY student in order to preserve the integrity and future of Tai Chi.  His classes, seminars, workshops, and his books reflect this personal conviction.
Students of all levels, styles, and ages have come from all over the world to experience the true meaning of Tai Chi through Master Ting’s excellent instruction.  And while he enjoys the experience of live teaching, he knows that he can reach more students through the written word.  This book is a worthy companion to his first book as both contain his hopes that the true, internal aspects of Tai Chi will be recognized and preserved by this next generation of practitioners.  With the world changing so quickly, he fears that without making witness to what he has learned and experienced, in writing, this art will be lost to the mists of ages.  This latest book is his gift to the next generation of Masters he hopes will continue to share this art with the world.
After spending years in Shanghai, China learning and perfecting his craft, Master Ting has spent the last 30 years in Southern New Jersey where he teaches class, holds seminars and workshops, and continues to travel, research, and lecture to students worldwide.  He shares his home with his wife, Lynn, his silver Maine Coon cat, and the students who occasionally drop by for his fabulous barbequed wings.  His schedule and information concerning upcoming events, classes, workshops, and seminars can be found at his website at www.Silvertigertaichi.com.  If you have a question you wish answered, you can contact him through the website or through his email at kuopting@comcast.net.