"太极里面的推手可能还带上心理学的暗示，这推手这么厉害，也只能推自己的徒弟，推
圈子外的人或者动物就不成了。"
You are right for the people in that funny vedio. 推手 is a training step of
太极. Usually, traditional 太极 pratitioners are less willing to do 推手
with strangers -- 推手 could cause harms. 太极 emphasizes the change of
strenghs. Abrupt attacks can easily hurt people.
The art of 太极 stresses change. When an attack is strong in some
perspectives, it must be weak from other perspectives. 太极 does not
encourage a direct fight back -- it emphasizes efficiency. If you ever watch
Ziqiang Chen's fight, you can tell that -- he changes fast.
Of course, this is not an exclusive strategy of 太极. Please check Cung Le's
recent fights in UFC. When his opponent launched a heavy punch, he spin-
kicked his opponent's rib. Generally speaking, it is hard to KO your
opponent by hitting ribs -- they are well protected. However, when that guy
punched, his right side was exposed. Then, Cung Le's spin made him well
avoid that punch and the kick right hit the target. A perfect KO.
Unlike other fighting styles, 太极 always utilizes movements and walks to
find out the weakness to attack, while avoiding giving the opponent's
distance and angel to attack. Find a real 太极 master and fight. You will
understand. I tried. The feeling is like hitting a moving basket ball.
Somehow, I can hit him, but I cannot fully apply my force on him. But when
he got me, it hurts, A LOT.
There is no point of saying 太极 is the best though. Every martial art has
its own merits. 太极 is simply one of them.
