Excerpts from Chinese Boxing by Robert W. Smith.

“The waist is the foundation of all bodily movement … To fight with arms or legs independently of the waist is the mark of the perpetual beginner.”

“Sound boxing is rooted in the feet, sprouts in the legs, is directed by the waist, and functions through the fingers.”

“In Tai Chi, according to Cheng Man Ch’ing, ‘mastery’ comes by ‘quiet minding’ and ‘investing in loss.’ And with time.”

“To achieve success, you must relax everything.”

Cheng Man Ch’ing said, when an outsider scoffed: “One must be kind to blind men.”


Robert W. Smith (December 27, 1926 – July 1, 2011) was an American martial artist and writer, most noted for his prodigious output of books and articles about the Asian martial arts and their masters. Smith’s writing was an important factor in the spread of Asian martial arts such as judo, karate, and taijiquan into the postwar United States.