Robert W. Smith (writer)

Robert William 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.

Born on a farm in Iowa, he was sent at the age of three to an orphanage due to his family's economic distress. There he became a voracious reader. In high school, he learned boxing and wrestling. He joined the U.S. Marines at seventeen. While in the Marines Smith completed his high school requirements through a correspondence course. He was honorably discharged in 1946. Smith attended college on the G.I. Bill, eventually earning a M.A. in History from the University of Washington in 1953. Smith's interest in boxing and pursuit of Asian martial arts (especially judo) continued unabated. After a brief stint with the Red Cross, Smith joined the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency as an Intelligence Officer and moved to Bethesda, Maryland.

From 1959 to 1962 he was posted by the CIA to Taiwan. The Republican Chinese government led by Chiang Kai-shek had fled to Taiwan (Formosa) after the victory of Mao Zedong and the Communists on the mainland in 1949. Protected by the U.S. Seventh Fleet, Taiwan became the seat of government for the Republic of China - the only Chinese government diplomatically recognized by the U.S. Government until the 1970s. Smith worked as a liaison to the Republican government.

While in Taiwan Smith trained and studied with many masters of Chinese martial arts (e.g., baguazhang, xingyiquan). Most importantly, he met Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing (Zheng Manqing), the "master of five excellences" - calligraphy, poetry, painting, Chinese medicine, and taijiquan. Legend has it that Smith had to keep knocking on Cheng's door for at least six months before Cheng would accept him as his first non-Chinese student. While waiting to study with Cheng, Smith studied with T.T. Liang. Cheng and his students would meet every Sunday in Taiwan for taijiquan and tuishou ("push hands"—which Smith often preferred to translate as "sensing hands"). Cheng moved to the United States in the mid-1960s and lived and taught in New York City for a number of years before returning to Taiwan in the mid-1970s. Smith and Cheng kept in close contact until Cheng's death in 1975.

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