Doc Stier wrote:Getting back to why the death of Master Yang Cheng-Fu is still enveloped in mystery, it's likely that if the same events occurred today, a modern postmortem autopsy, combined with modern lab work analysis, would quickly identify the actual, real cause of Yang's death. There would simply be no logical consideration of rumors or hypothesis, as the results would clearly speak for themselves, unless a serious effort was made to deliberately conceal the findings.
Unfortunately there is a great mythology built around the martial art prowess of Yang Chengfu and the Yang family practice in general.
Yang Chengfu's early passing calls into question the longevity mythology built around his practice.
I was once told by a Yang Chengfu taijiquan lineage holder to NEVER call my practice Yang's taijiquan - deferring to this request I told him I would refer to it as "Yang Style Taijiquan" - he still wasn't satisfied and said I should only refer to my practice as taijiquan - at that point I simply walked away - had enough of the game LOL