Tang Xianhu - The Thing (Is He The Greatest Ever?)

Discussion in 'China Professional Players' started by Oldhand, Sep 11, 2007.

  1. pcll99

    pcll99 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Nov 19, 2009
    Messages:
    8,730
    Likes Received:
    630
    Occupation:
    Cylon
    Location:
    N/A
    this proves people are desperate to know what TXH taught, even though it was 3 decades ago.

    I support you chris.
     
  2. axl886

    axl886 Regular Member

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2011
    Messages:
    310
    Likes Received:
    10
    Location:
    Singapore
    How come you sound so sure? Were you there? :p

    Frankly I dun think Chris is somebody who name-drops... (which is kinda lame if you ask me).
     
  3. chris-ccc

    chris-ccc Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 1, 2006
    Messages:
    26,902
    Likes Received:
    33
    Occupation:
    Professional Badminton Coach & Badminton Promoter
    Location:
    Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
    Most BCers here are players and not coaches

    .
    We need to let it go.

    Why? Because we coaches and players often think differently. :):):)

    Because most BCers here are players and not coaches, I have to admit that I am a minority. :crying::crying::crying:

    While I am talking about TXH as a coach, most others are talking about him as a player. Strange isn't it?

    Just look at another example: Whenever we talk about Li YongBo as a coach, we seldom find BCers talking about him as a player. Why? I wonder.

    Perhaps I am in the wrong thread again.

    This thread is probably more suitable to talk about TXH as a player, and not as a coach. :D:D:D
    .
     
    #83 chris-ccc, Jan 10, 2012
    Last edited: Jan 10, 2012
  4. OneToughBirdie

    OneToughBirdie Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2006
    Messages:
    4,049
    Likes Received:
    143
    Occupation:
    engineer
    Location:
    icy cold place

    Chris, take it with a grain of salt and laugh it off:D As for my teasing you in previous post is meant in a humour manner, maybe it may sound twisted and for that, I apologize.:)


    I agree with ya that I would have stopped too. As for the coaching part, I am a bit different from you, I love coaching good looking chicks and good at it too:p, err.. I mean those matured 'hens' (not chicks) that I play with:D
     
  5. cobalt

    cobalt Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2010
    Messages:
    8,906
    Likes Received:
    10
    Occupation:
    Yes
    Location:
    Arrakis
    With respect, I don't think we should let it go, Chris.

    This thread is about TXH, period. As a person, and as a man who has brought his considerable knowledge, insights, instincts and beliefs to bear on the very future of the game that we all love so much.

    While I would hesitate to name him as the greatest ever (that's just too definitive for me! :D) there is no question about his influence on players, and the course of the game.

    I am sure that like me, there are many more here who would be interested in knowing what it was that you learned from your meeting with TXH. Frankly, I wouldn't expect anything profound or spiritual; probably some basic truths that most of us discard or prefer not to recognise as we get too wrapped up in proving a point. I don't mind waiting a while, but please think back to your meeting with him, and what else you took away from it, and when you think the time is right, I hope you can share it with us.
     
  6. visor

    visor Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2009
    Messages:
    16,401
    Likes Received:
    2,001
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    You probably make them pick up birds as a drill and just stand there and watch them, you cad! :p :D
     
  7. visor

    visor Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2009
    Messages:
    16,401
    Likes Received:
    2,001
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Chris, there are many of us here who support you. :). Btw, did he ever mention or hint at the mental / psychological aspects of the game, player etc?
     
  8. OneToughBirdie

    OneToughBirdie Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jun 28, 2006
    Messages:
    4,049
    Likes Received:
    143
    Occupation:
    engineer
    Location:
    icy cold place
    My wifey said I am mean to do netty, making the other sides running bonkers and laughing like a hyena (sometimes I cannot help it but LOL)...but what can I do, since I cannot smash, cannot hit towards their body, and now cannot even do netty, drops and playing the corners, might as well play with my left hand and look stupid myself...hahaha!:D
     
  9. cobalt

    cobalt Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2010
    Messages:
    8,906
    Likes Received:
    10
    Occupation:
    Yes
    Location:
    Arrakis
  10. cobalt

    cobalt Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2010
    Messages:
    8,906
    Likes Received:
    10
    Occupation:
    Yes
    Location:
    Arrakis
    "Billy Ng Downs Thing in 2 Straight Sets"

    Evidently, THX wasn't born a winner! :D Although he had a classy game (by all accounts even back when he was a junior player, he was indentified as the most talented Indonesian coming up) he had to do the hard yards before he matured. This may have had some effect in shaping his work ethic and philosophy later on.

    From the archives of Singapore Free Press, 12 August 1959, Page 9...
    http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Article/freepress19590812.2.107.aspx
     
  11. visor

    visor Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2009
    Messages:
    16,401
    Likes Received:
    2,001
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Forgive my ignorance but why's he called The Thing?
     
  12. kwun

    kwun Administrator

    Joined:
    Apr 24, 2002
    Messages:
    41,041
    Likes Received:
    2,065
    Occupation:
    BC Janitor
    Location:
    Santa Clara, CA, USA
    click on cobalt's link.

    back then, his name was written "Thing Hian Houw".

    the Thing, he was.

    and incredible find by cobalt, given that it requires searching through news archive way back to the 50's...
     
  13. cobalt

    cobalt Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2010
    Messages:
    8,906
    Likes Received:
    10
    Occupation:
    Yes
    Location:
    Arrakis
    For all BCers and other lurkers out there who are interested in TXH's origins and the times that moulded him into what he later became; and for a fascinating and in-depth understanding of the genesis of Indonesian badminton, and the unfortunate events (the "troubles" or "disturbances") that led to the eventual slide in that country's fortunes, please follow this link. It is a paper written by Colin Brown of the Curtin University of Technology, Australia, and is titled:

    SPORT, POLITICS AND ETHNICITY: PLAYING BADMINTON FOR INDONESIA

    http://coombs.anu.edu.au/SpecialProj/ASAA/biennial-conference/2004/Brown-C-ASAA2004.pdf


    This paper makes absolutely compulsive reading. I would suggest the link also be posted on the Indinesia Badminton thread. The paper also goes on to tell how the issues were finally cleared up post-June 2002.

    Some excerpts:

    One commentator wrote recently in The Jakarta Post that internationally, Indonesia was known for few things – plantation crops, corruption and badminton.
    ...
    Yet while there are many studies of plantation crops, and many more of corruption, badminton is virtually invisible in scholarly writing on Indonesia.

    ...
    I suspect that the key to the introduction of badminton to the archipelago lies in Medan, and the cross-Straits connections it had with Pinang and to a lesser extent Singapore. ...Ethnic Chinese clubs, by the early 1930s, seem to have been inviting badminton players from Pinang to Medan, initially to play exhibition games, but subsequently for competitions. Yan Eng Hoo, for instance, is cited as a particularly influential Pinang player who frequently visited Indonesia.

    ...
    In the 1930s badminton also spread to various regions including Bandung (West Java), Semarang, Solo (Central Java), and Surabaya (East Java). In 1934, Central Java held a championship tournament. This speedy development of badminton was primarily the result of visits undertaken by a player from Jakarta, Oei Kok Tjoan.

    ...The game was apparently popularised through being played as entertainment at night markets ([FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman]pasar malam[/FONT][/FONT]
    [FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][FONT=Times New Roman,Times New Roman][/FONT][/FONT]) in major towns and cities: by the late 1930s, as one observer puts it: ‘there was no pasar malam [in Java] which did not stage a badminton tournament’.

    ...
    Until 1961 the headquarters of PBSI Jakarta was in the Tjandra Naja building, at Jl Gajah Mada no. 188 – which was also the headquarters of the Sin Ming Hui, the ethnic Chinese social and educational association.

    ...
    But perhaps the biggest test is when players leave Indonesia to play for other nations. Indonesia has gone through two periods when such movements have taken place in sufficient numbers as to have a potentially significant impact on the country’s international standing.
    The first period was in the 1960s, when a number of its best ethnic Chinese players and coaches left for China, at a time when many other ethnic Chinese were making this same journey.

    As one Indonesian commentator put it, discussing China’s rise to prominence in world badminton and thus to threaten Indonesia’s position:

    ...Three leading Chinese players and coaches, members of the International Badminton Federation’s Hall of Fame, who do seem to fall into this category are Tang Xianhu (known when in Indonesia as Tong Sin Fu and Thing Hian Houw), Chen Yu Niang (Tan Giok Nio) and Hou Jiachang (Houw Ka Tjong – the ‘Hou Chia Chang’ mentioned above?). Another was Liang Chiu Sia (Leung Ca Hua), who went to China in 1966, following the rise to power of General Suharto. As was often the case, some of Liang’s siblings went with her to China, and other stayed in Indonesia. Amongst those who stayed was her younger brother Tjun Tjun, who was to win the All England men’s doubles titles for Indonesia six times between 1974 and 1980. Liang eventually left China for Hong Kong, and finally returned to Indonesia, re-acquiring Indonesian citizenship in 1986 – ‘thanks to the combined efforts of the government, in this case the offices of the Ministers for Sport and Employment, the Indonesian National Olympic Committee and the Indonesian Badminton Federation.’


    …the seeds (of China’s rise) came from Indonesia in the 1950s, when Hou Chia Chang and Tang Hzien Hou returned to their Ancestral Homeland from Solo. Tang, who we knew as Tong Si Fu, did come back to Indonesia but because his application for citizenship was not dealt with properly, he went back (to China). And the successor to this pair of pioneers developed and perfected their (training) methods.
     
  14. visor

    visor Regular Member

    Joined:
    Dec 7, 2009
    Messages:
    16,401
    Likes Received:
    2,001
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    Wow, excellent dig, cobalt! You and Maklike should be nominated for the best intraweb search engines on BC. :)
     
  15. badMania

    badMania Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 3, 2005
    Messages:
    18,925
    Likes Received:
    269
    Location:
    Hong Kong
    It's indeed a pity that INA lost a great coach in Om Tong (Uncle Tong) due to the protracted process in getting his citizenship. Some of us are still grieving for this loss.

    Liang Chiu Hsia is still currently coaching in INA. She (and Sarwendah) were asked to return back to Pelatnas last year to assist Li Mao but I think something happened in between and she might have returned back to club. Krisna and Hau-Ge will probably know better and correct me if I am wrong.

    Fang Kaixiang also worked for PB Djarum recently before he retired either in 2010.
     
  16. Licin

    Licin Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jul 10, 2008
    Messages:
    4,107
    Likes Received:
    21
    Occupation:
    Student
    Location:
    Asia
    I just want to add something which i have been told by my relatives when they went back to their ancestor's home land during 1960s.

    When they went back, they were placed in a several main points, and China government arranged some competitions inside, i don't know that it is just for leisure activities or talent scout, but it seems for both. Badminton & Table Tennis are two of the several small competitions arranged by China Government. Therefore during that time, there are high possibilities that some talents from INA have been discovered.
     
  17. viver

    viver Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    1,935
    Likes Received:
    158
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
    I certainly would not be as well known as you. Imagine, to remember a person one met once over 30 years ago must have left a very deep impression. I am certainly not able of such thing.


    The post you mentioned was not the reason. As mentioned, the stuff you listed are a few points good for badminton, I don't think they are detail/advanced techniques by Tang Xinfu and they may not reflect the school of badminton that Tang Xinfu represented. The questions requesting you to share (if you wish of course) resulted from the posts below - I believe you posted them right?



    You claimed that Tang Xinfu's philosophy on training methods the best. Are you saying that you consider Tang Xinfu philosophy on training methods the best because you saw Tang Xinfu displaying some techniques and not elaborating any further on the training methods and philosophy behind it?

    If you like to stop wasting your time, it's just fine with me, honest. But I have doubts:
    - In the Liem Swie King thread if I am not mistaken, you mentioned Tang Xinfu and Hou Jiachang visiting Australia together in 1980. Hou Jiachang was seen by CBA in much better light than Tang Xinfu; how come Hou Jiachang was not involved in the exhibitions? Of course, you may have forgot to mention :confused:
    - You mentioned Tang Xinfu, representing CBA (read China) conducted the training sessions in a mixture of Indonesian and Mandarin. I think this is not a politically correct thing to do during an official visit for obvious reasons. Furthermore, as far as I understand, on those bygone days CBA always had interpreters in the entourage, a visit to Australia there should be English/Mandarin/English translators/interpreters. In some tours/competitions the players and coaches were not even allowed to communicate with anybody foreign to the team.
    - Hou Jiachang held a more senior position than Tang Xinfu in those days. Did Hou conduct any training session?
    - The visit was made possible by CBA. How come the Chinese players did not invoke the principles of the Chinese Badminton school when displaying their excellent techniques and results. On the other hand, I had been to a few seminars conducted by Chinese National coaches and I always hear these principles as a starter.
    - I question the year 1980. I can let you know that I visited the co-author of Tang's book and was made aware of the book project. I was told that Tang Xinfu was off and not in the National training center. He was involved in some other personal projects and not available until the following year. Interesting, I believe the videos in Cobalt's links provided earlier did mention, though not clear, something that somehow matches the dates.

    Actually I am not expecting you to reply, but will leave it at your discretion. ;)
     
  18. viver

    viver Regular Member

    Joined:
    Apr 25, 2002
    Messages:
    1,935
    Likes Received:
    158
    Location:
    Vancouver, BC
  19. taneepak

    taneepak Regular Member

    Joined:
    Jan 5, 2004
    Messages:
    6,526
    Likes Received:
    25
    Occupation:
    Designing and producing quality feather shuttlecoc
    Location:
    Hong Kong
    chris-ccc, is that all about what you have learned from the 'Thing'?

    I thought there must be more, much more and may I add much better quality stuff you have learned from Tang.
    I am confused. First, you claimed that Tan Xinfu taught you how to play badminton (post # 7258 Lee Chong Wei thread). Then there came a list of rather rudimentary "methodologies" supposed from Tang, which if true would rather make Tang look very pedestrian. After some less than complimentary feedback on the "methodologies", we were then told that Tang did not teach you how to play but only how to coach.
    Now, which is which?
    Also a 30+ years old encounter somehow becomes a bit of a far-fetched story, because its relevance is questionable even if you have a certificate to show the great Tang taught you how to play, how to string and repair rackets and how to coach.

    Also, the "methodologies" you came up with, supposedly from Tang, is a not strictly methodologies but a 'Chap Suew'. You are mixing up methodologies with techniques. I would not think Tang would make such elementary errors.
     
  20. cobalt

    cobalt Moderator

    Joined:
    Aug 7, 2010
    Messages:
    8,906
    Likes Received:
    10
    Occupation:
    Yes
    Location:
    Arrakis
    I am not able to make the connection between your statement and the reference
    http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Pa...0807.1.13.aspx
    :confused: Could you clarify?
     

Share This Page