Dan Docherty was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1954. He graduated with an LLB in 1974 and soon after moved to Hong Kong where he served as an inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force until 1984 .
Soon after he arrived in Hong Kong in 1975 he started training t'ai chi ch'uan under Cheng Tinhung and within a few years was elected to represent Hong Kong in Full-contact Fighting competitions. In 1980 he won the Open Weight Division at the 5th South East Asian Chinese Pugilistic Championships in Malaysia .
In 1985 he was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Chinese from Ealing College, London.
He is now based in London and travels extensively teaching and writing about t'ai chi ch'uan. Mr. Docherty is known for his strong views on the history of t'ai chi ch'uan and is seen as a polarizing figure within the world of t'ai chi. In articles and interviews he has spoken of confrontations with other t'ai chi teachers, including an infamous meeting with one Shen Hong-xun, a master who claimed to have and to teach "empty force", or the ability to move a person without physical contact. The meeting ended up with Mr. Docherty pouring water over the head of Shen Hong-Xun, not to prove that empty force does not exist but to suggest that Master Shen was unable to summon and use it at that time.
Read more about this topic: Wudang T'ai Chi Ch'uan
Famous quotes containing the word dan:
“For all the boredom the straight life brings, it’s not too bad.”
—Gus Van Sant, U.S. screenwriter and director, and Dan Yost. Bob Hughes (Matt Dillon)