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Taijiquan: The Chens Pioneer the Way

2003-11-27 14:00 COC

    Today there exist some 130 different schools of wushu in China, each branching out into different styles to form a kaleidoscopic picture of division and geographical distribution. Indeed it is hard to draw a clear and definite family tree of the various schools and styles, which have been interwoven and overlapped with one another down through the ages of development. Nonetheless we can still draw some rough lines of demarcation among them, though opinions may differ widely from different angles or points of view. A most convenient way to draw such lines is to study the life sketches of their founders and exponents, especially those in modern times.

    Taijiquan is said to have its origin in Chenjiagou Village, Wenxian County, Henan Province. Chenjiagou, or "Chen Family Gully," was named Changyang before 1369 when Chen Pu moved his family here from Hongtong County, Shanxi Province. Today, over 90 per cent of the villagers are his descendants, who have kept alive the family tradition of practising wushu. But it was not until the mid-17th century that the unique Chen-style taijiquan came into being.

    Founder of the Chen Style

    The Chen-style taijiquan was attributed to Chen Wangting (?-1719), who belonged to the ninth generation of the immigrant Chen family. Having passed with honours the imperial examination in both civilian and military arts, he became a high-ranking officer of the local national guard in 1641 and was cited by the court for his bravery in battle. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644 he retired to his home village, "tilling the land in busy season and studying martial arts in slack season." He worked out exercises on the basis of those practised by his distant ancestors in Shanxi, by absorbing the theories of yin and yang -- the two opposing principles in nature, the best elements in Boxing in 32 Forms written by General Qi Jiguang (1528-1587) and the ancient methods of daoyin (conduction) and tuna (expiration and inspiration). In addition, he created the sparring push-hands and spear exercises without using protectors. His fighting techniques laid down the foundation for the Chen-style taijiquan of today.

    Originally, the Chen style consisted of five routines in 13 forms, in addition to a changquan (long-range boxing) routine in 108 forms and a paochui (cannon boxing) routine. They were revised and simplified again and again by Chen Changxing (1773-1853) and his followers until they are fixed into the present-day Routine I in 83 forms and Routine II in 71 forms.

    Distinct Features

    Routine I has the following characteristics:

    1. The movements are circular, rounded or "spiral" with will-controlled force reaching the four extremities, that is, the tips of one's hands and feet, and with "external work" well coordinated with "internal work."

    2. There is an interaction and harmony between hardness and softness, with the inner force flowing deeply yet smoothly.

    3. Actions are regulated by respiration, circulation of qi and exertion of force. Attention is concentrated on the dantian acupoint below the navel when qi sinks to that area. Exhalation is accompanied by utterances of such sounds as hi, si, xi or chui to increase explosive force.

    4. Quick movements are alternated swiftly with slow movements, which usually happen when the hands are moving in a circular path.

    5. The exercises can be performed in a high, middle, or low body position, the high preferably by the aged and the weak and the low by young and strong people.
   
    Based on the cannon boxing, Routine II is characterized by greater speed and force than Routine I, consisting of such energetic movements as stamps, jumps and jerks, which are suitable for young and strong people, but which are not so popular as Routine I.

    The two routines are often referred to as "new frame" exercises while those before Chen Changxing as "old frame" exercises.

    "Mr Tablet"

    Chen Changxing belonged to the 14th generation of his family. After serving as a well-known bodyguard for many years in Shandong Province, he returned to Chenjiagou and applied himself to an intensive study and improvement of the "old frame" taijiquan. He was thinking of the exercises all the time -- how to exert force even when holding a writing brush or putting down a tea-cup, and he never failed to keep his trunk upright when sitting or walking. He was said to stand as firm as a rock when he was being squeezed or pushed about by many persons. That's why he was called "Mr Tablet," a nickname also suggestive of his upright character and strong willpower. It was he who broke the tradition of passing down taijiquan exclusively within the Chen family and taught it to an outsider who later founded the Yang style. Among Chen Changxing's masterpieces are Ten Essential Points of Taijiquan and On the Combative Nature of Taijiquan, now regarded as guidebooks of the Chen style.

    A Worthy Successor

    Another figure of historical significance for the Chen-style taijiquan was Chen Changxing's great grandson Chen Fake (1887-1957), who belonged to the 17th generation. He was a sickly child and improved his health by practising taijiquan handed down from his forefathers. When he grew up, his interest in this art greatly increased. He would do the exercise 10 times in the morning, afternoon and evening, without a letup even in hot summer or severe winter. At 20 he beat a strong field of rivals in an open challenge and made a name for himself. He came to Beijing in 1928 and set up a training centre, to which some skilled masters of other schools came to learn taijiquan out of admiration for him. Although held in high esteem as a taijiquan master, Chen never belittled other schools. When his disciples asked him what kind of wushu was the best, his invariable answer was that all schools, taijiquan included, are good so long as they have stood the test of time. He believed that whether a school is good or bad depends mainly on the way of teaching and learning. At the beginning, it is the teacher who has the primary role to play and a good teacher should have a good knowledge of what he is teaching and he should be able to point out the correct way to learn for his students. As to who will learn faster, it all depends on the learners themselves.

    Soon after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949, he set up the Capital Wushu Society and continued teaching the Chen-style taijiquan in Beijing. It was he who brought it out of a mountainous village as the first step of its spread across the country and even beyond it.

    Keeping the Chen Style Alive

    As a 19th-generation descendant of the Chen family in Chenjiagou, where the Chen-style taijiquan originated, Chen Xiaowang is now the deputy director and senior coach of the Wushu Academy of Henan Province. His granduncle Chen Fake, his father Chen Zhaoxu and his uncle Chen Zhaokui were all maestros in taijiquan. Chen Xiaowang learned the art from his elders at eight. When he grew older, he practised the routines five times both in the morning and in the evening -- a daily routine he kept up for 11 years when he helped with farm work at home.

    He got a job as a purchasing agent at the General Machinery Plant in the county seat of Wenxian in 1974. Though he had to travel from place to place, he persevered in practising taijiquan no matter how busy he was.

    Once he was away purchasing materials for building a house for himself in his home village. He simply couldn't find any time for his daily exercises. Finally he decided to give up the project though the walls were half completed, so that he could continue his training uninterrupted. Three years later, the walls that were left unfinished had collapsed, but his taijiquan skills had greatly improved.

    He was appointed as a coach at the Wushu Academy of Henan Province in 1980, what with his expertise in taijiquan and his lineal descendancy. That year he represented Henan Province at the National Wushu Tournament and took the taijiquan event. In the ensuing years, he distinguished himself as an undisputed taijiquan master by winning more titles at national and international contests.

    In March 1981 when a Japanese taijiquan group visited Henan, Chen Xiaowang defeated three Japanese masters in friendly bouts; his combat skills were highly appreciated by the guests. Moreover, quite a number of foreigners have come to Henan to learn taijiquan from him.

    Chen Xiaowang has done a lot for the promotion and research of taijiquan. His Simplified Chen-Style Taijiquan in 38 Forms is regarded as a standard textbook for the beginners. From time to time he is invited to perform at exhibitions and in TV shows. The documentaries A Visit to the Home of Taijiquan and Chen-Style Taijiquan, in which he plays the leading role, have been warmly received by wushu enthusiasts.

    Feng Zhiqiang: An Authority Outside the Chen Family

    There are many authorities on the Chen style outside the Chen family. One is Feng Zhiqiang, president of the Chen-Style Taijiquan Society under the Beijing Wushu Association. He has practised many schools of martial arts since age eight under the tutelage of well-known masters of Shaolin, "through-the-arm" boxing and form-and-will exercises in six combinations. Last but not least, he has learnt the Chen-style taijiquan from one of its orthodox exponents Chen Fake.

    Feng was born into a peasant family in Shulu County, Hebei Province, 1927. His great grandfather was an officer who passed the imperial examination on martial arts and exerted a deep influence on his later career.

    During his apprenticeship at an electric appliances repair shop in Beijing, Feng read a lot of romances about chivalrous heroes versed in martial arts, stopping now and then to imitate them in the backyard. But he made little progress until he was 17 years old when he was introduced to a famous wushu master named Han Xiaofeng, who taught him the essentials of "cinnabar palm" and "exercises on pine pegs." He acquired such physical strength in his arms that he could break a brick with a single stroke of his palm after three months of training, three bricks piled on one another after a half year, and a slate one metre long and seven centimetres thick after another year. One day a horse stopping at the neighbouring coal shop ran amok in panic. All pedestrians scampered for life. Feng rushed out of his shop and gave the animal a slap on the haunches. It stopped immediately, as if electrified -- to the amazement of all lookers-on.

    At age 22, Feng was apprenticed to Hu Yaozhen, a master of form-and-will exercises. He made remarkable progress with two years' hard training, especially in the "internal work." The master introduced the promising youth to his friend Chen Fake for an advanced course of taijiquan. The disciple displayed great potential in the push-hands exercises, knowing how to use the energy of his whole body to the best advantage. Just with a slight push of his palms and his opponent would fall to the ground several metres away. He was capable, so to speak, of "moving a weight of one thousand catties with a force of four liang." (1 catty=1/2kilogramme; 1 liang=1/16 catty)

    In 1953, at the request of their disciples, Chen Fake and Hu Yaozhen founded the Capital Wushu Research Institute, with a membership of more than 50, Feng included. Before he died in 1956, Chen told Feng to enrich the Chen-style taijiquan by absorbing the best elements of other schools -- a behest he has always borne in mind and put into practice, whether as a practitioner or an instructor of wushu.

    In 1979, Feng Zhiqiang visited Chenjiagou in Henan Province, the birthplace of Chen-style taijiquan, both as a promoter and an honoured guest.

    In 1981, at the invitation of Beijing Physical Culture and Sports Commission and the municipal Wushu Association, Feng undertook to teach Chen-style taijiquan to a group of wushu enthusiasts from San Francisco. Since then he has received scores of study groups from Hong Kong, Macao and different countries and toured Japan, Singapore, Mexico and the United States to spread Chen-style taijiquan abroad, with a total following that counts by the tens of thousands.

    Apart from being President of the Beijing Chen-Style Taijiquan Society since its foundation in June 1983, Feng has been engaged as a consultant for another municipal society for researches on exercises on "plum-flower pegs," "Through-the-arm" boxing and free combat, and for a number of wushu organizations in other parts of the country. He has played a role in the documentary films Chinese Wushu and Chen-Style Taijiquan. His books Taiji Exercises with Broadsword and Fighting Techniques in Chen-Style Taijiquan are best sellers in China.

    Based on his teaching experiences and by assimilating the essences of many schools of wushu, Feng has evolved a new routine of Chen-style taijiquan in 48 forms characterized by scientific composition, simplification of the traditional routines and application of the features of free combat and internal work. It has been widely accepted as a textbook both at home and abroad.

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