Fists or palms?

Our most recent tendency has been to emphasise open-hand techniques, for the reason that they seem to be quicker and more adaptable than the good old fist. The trouble with making a fist is that it seems to instantly instil a kind of bad boxing mentality, where we are tempted to stand our ground, toe-to-toe, and slug away forgetting about disrupting the structure of the opponent or attempting to make a break for it. Now our thinking is swinging back the other way, as we realise that the punch is an excellent structure-breaker in itself, and that many tai chi techniques and principles work only if you've already hit or disrupted them in some way. Also, as we have personally experienced, the fist tends to keep people at bay. Maybe an open palm slap would do the same, but I've never tried it. Then of course it may also depend on your target: fist for the body, slap for the face? It seems that you can't really emphasise either without detriment to the other. In the real situation that I experienced, using fists came quickly and naturally, and that seems to be the case for most people. The difference between tai chi punches and boxing punches is that boxers are ultimately trying to stay within a sweet range, so they can keep knocking chunks off the opponent with combinations. Tai chi punches come with the intention to move, whether closing to grapple and "finish" or moving out of range to escape.