Chen Style Taijiquan Taichi Blog

This is a post by our guest blogger, Silkreeling who is also a keen player of Chen Style Taijiquan

Chen Family Small Frame Taiji seems to most to be the lesser cousin of the Large Frame. This is not surprising as there have been much more written and discussed about the latter in the last 70 years or so due to its popularity. Some of the factors that could have contributed to this scenario are of course Chen Fake’s efforts and distinction that shook Beijing from the 1930s; and also Chen Zhaopi’s relentless labours from 1950s Chen Village for grooming some of today’s grandmasters.

However, it is interesting to look beyond the last 70 years and realise that the vast majority of the written works then about Chen Family Taiji was based on the Small Frame. The published works of Chen Xin and Chen Zhiming, which contain substantial discussions on theories, are both based on the Small Frame postures.

Regarded as the Chen Family Taiji Classics, we are fortunate to have Chen Xin’s “The illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taijiquan“, as well as Chen Zhiming’s “The Art of Chen Family Taijiquan Transmitted through the Generations“/ “The essence of Taijiquan” reprinted and republished in recent years. This, by no doubt, has helped to keep interests level high, and fan the growth of Chen Family Taiji players globally, whether Small Frame or Large.

So, what are the relations between the two frames and why the distinction, since a lot of the theories seen in the Chen Taiji classics can be applied to the Large Frame as well?

The preface of the recently republished book from Chen Zhiming offers us a view “The development that occurred during Chen Changxin’s and Chen Youben’s time was by leaps and bounds. There was further development through Chen Youben who innovated on what was traditionally transmitted to him. With many years of his own achievements in learning, enlightenment and combat efficiency, he modified some of the Large Frame movements. In his later years, he created what was to become Chen Family Small Frame, which has more continuous flow, and contains many lively and compact transition movements, and therefore more combat practical. The postures are similar to the Large Frame in terms of expansiveness but the fajing comes with a muted or delayed effect. Chen Youben is the innovator of the Small Frame while Chen Changxin is the successor of the traditional Large Frame.”

However, it is also interesting to hear Chen Xizhao, one of Chen Fake’s student based in Xi An, quoted as saying in Ma Guo Xiang’s book <My Taiji Journey>” Among the older generation, it is acknowledged that the small frame is foremost.”  If you are thinking “foremost” in terms of development, then the quote is in line with what is stated in the preface. But is it possible that it is not; and what are the implications?

Whatever it is, Chen Family Small Frame Taiji has its unique flavour. Let us take a moment to enjoy the clip below to mark the uniqueness of the Small Frame and also as a tribute to the recently demised Grand Master Chen Liqing. I do not practice the Small Frame or for that matter, I have no clue what Grand Master Chen Liqing is like. So to me, when I think of the Chen Family Small Frame Taiji, this clip of Grand Master Chen Liqing comes to mind with her exquisite performance of the hallmark muted fajing.

For more details on the Chen Family Small Frame, refer to this site: http://www.chinafrominside.com/ma/taiji/xiaojia.html

This is a post by our guest blogger, Silkreeling who is also a keen player of Chen Style Taijiquan

Recorded during the 3rd Chenjiagou Taiji GongFu Competition in June 08, this clip showcases few of Master Chen Zhenglie’s better known disciples. They are Zhang Dongwu, Wang Haijun, Chen Bin, Fu Nengbin and Chen Juan.

Chen village’s 19th generation master, Chen Liqing has passed away on the 7th November 2008 at the age of 90 years old.

Chen Liqing

She was a teacher for more than 40 years but at the same time is skilled in Chen Xiaojia (small frame) taijiquan.  She started learning Chen taijiquan from the age of 7 from the village elders in Chen village.  Since retirement from her teaching job, she made great contribution to the Chen Taijiquan world by passing on the skills to her many discples all over the world. Her passing on is a great loss to the the taijiquan world.

This is a post by our guest blogger, Silkreeling who is also a keen player of Chen Style Taijiquan.

http://www.chentaichi.com
http://www.chiflow.com/html/Taijiquan_Chen3.html

When it comes to Taiji practice, have you ever felt like you are in a maze running in circles, almost with no hope of seeing light at the end of the tunnel? You can be sure you are not alone, and going online in search for new perspectives might just be the way to cheer you up! These two websites stated above caught my eye, with the contents bearing the hallmark that would only come with years of genuine practice. In addition, the authors are from lineages not familiar to most from this part of the world so it will be good to briefly talk about them.

Chentaichi.com

 

Paul Chou is the person behind http://www.chentaichi.com, one of the first Chen Style Taiji sites that surfaced in the 1990s. His teacher is Master Pan Wing Chow, who was one of the first students of Chen Fake during the 1930s in Beijing, China. And also Gerald A Sharp, who occasionally writes for Taichi Magazine, also has a site dedicated to the practice of the internal martial arts and qigong. Gerald spent many years in China researching with top masters of the internal arts; he is a student of Master Zhou Yun Long, who learnt from Chen Zhao Kui, the son of Chen Fake.

Chi Flow

So what is so special about the two sites? For one, they have video clips to effectively illustrate the point across. Paul’s site has the full length clips of him performing Laojia Yilu and Erlu, which can be co-related to online lessons. While Gerald’s site is not exclusively on Chen Style Taiji, there are video clips of martial application of the various Chen Taiji postures i.e. Single whip etc.

One of the main aims of http://www.chentaichi.com is to communicate by  translating the teachings of Master Pan Wing Chow. There is a good mix of theories complementing the online lessons that focus on form practice. The theories presented include topics such as Ying and Yang, Peng Jing and Application, Chung Chi, Load path, essence of Taichi etc.

As a beginner looking for encouragement, this is one of my favorite lines from Paul’s site
“They are partially correct. The achievement you have is a necessary intermediate step, not the stage Great Master demonstrated in their generation, not the one the story tells….However, Master Pan’s saying is to encourage us. Master Pan himself didn’t stop here. He move on to that stage with pure elegancy with all his energy embedded. He used to let me grasp his hand and move around while I feel not a single trace of resistance, though he is in perfectly connecting and ready to use my energy at any instance. Therefore, if your opponent tells you: That’s not Taichi, don’t be angry or frustrated. You are on the right track, just not there yet. - <Beyond root and load path>“

The chiflow site however, presents us with yet another perspective; this time how not to practice Chen Style Taiji “If the practitioner employs patience, slowness and softness and is able to find stillness in their movement, they will develop a natural twisting and diligent practice will yield huge results. The key word is patience. Without that, you’re really banging your head against the wall. Chen Taijiquan can be very powerful, but if practiced incorrectly, you can damage your back, energy, knees, etc. With improper practice, such as moving first from the waist, you can also make yourself putty in the hands of those who know how to use lightness in applications……..Generally the nontraditional Chen stylists are the same people who believe that something slow and intricate is useless and flowery. This group has an excessive desire to see overt training that involves heavy perspiration and heavy-handed looking blows they can revere and label as “martial.”"

So if you make a cross-reference and view Paul’s form in the video clips on his site, do you see slowness, softness and intricacy? Well, that’s for the experts to tell. For now, I’ll leave you with what I think might be the most important lesson, as a closing remark of my visit to two of the finest sites on Chen style Taiji  “‘First let it in your heart (Conscious mind), then apply through your body (Subconscious reflex) <From Master Pan>.’ This is the approach to build the circles of Taiji into ourselves. Until one day we succeed, the movements we make will be in perfect harmony and balance.”

This has nothing to do with chicken feed but if you enjoy reading this blog, you can get the latest update by subscribing to this blog feed.  Simply click on the icon below.

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If you know anyone that might be intersted in English resources of Chen style taijiquan, do recommend them this blog too.

How many editions are they available for this Chen taiji classic, Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taijiquan 陈氏太极拳图说 by Chen Xin (陈鑫) Quite a lot apparently.  Here are 5. I think the best quality is the one that has 4 volumes (the dark blue cover set ).

Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taijiquan

The Illustrated Canon of Chen Family Taijiquan was written by Chen Xin from 1908. In 1919, the manuscript was sent off to Nanjing to try to get it published. That did not work out and the manuscript was lost.  in 1929, at his deathbed, Chen Xin passed over another copy of the manuscript to his nephew, Chen  ChunYuan and advised him to get it published or else to destroy it. Chen Chunyuan and a few others further arranged and edited it before it was finally published by KaiMing Bookstore in 1933. Thanks to them, this book remains one of the best taijiquan classic today.

As part of the strengthening exercise, the taiji ruler is used to develop wrists power.

How do you obtain a taiji ruler?

There really isn’t a need to buy any special equipment. For me, i just used a chinese rolling pin that is about a feet long. Others simply saw a section off an unused curtain rod.

Here are 2 simple steps on how to do the taiji ruler exercise. You may think of more.

1. Hold the ruler so that it is in a vertical position while your arms are like embracing a balloon. Push the ruler in so that it is near your chest and out again. At the same time your wrists must rotate as though you are wringing the ruler.

2. Hold the ruler horizontally in front of your chest with your palms facing your chest. Next,  using your waist , turn left but using your right hand to push your right end of ruler down (At this point, the right end of the ruler moves toward your body ) while your left hand will try to resist the movement. After that, turn back to face the front to the starting position. Repeat this on right side. Remember resistance is the key here.

This is a post by our guest blogger, Silkreeling who is also a keen player of Chen Style Taijiquan.

Yang NuoBing, a fellow blogger in Beijing, talks to CCTV about Chen style taijiquan and the up-coming Beijing Olympics 2008. The chat is filled with jokes and it is good to see light-heartedness and enjoyment.

Yang learns with Tian XiuMao, whose uncle, Tian XiuChen is one of Chen Fake’s disciple. With such a background, somehow it came as a surprise when Yang said Tian had not asked for any tuition fees. In fact, sometimes Yang even sponge off his teacher by accepting free food and lodging, he laughingly tells the show hosts.

But yet, there are times when his depth reveal beyond the superficial, “The more achieved you become, the more you realise you’re lacking. The Chen form is just so profound; never ending”

Yang even show the hosts a few Chen moves and from his blog, we can see that he is an enthusiastic and optimistic Taiji player with good attempts to remain open. His email, contact number and time/ location of his usual practice are public domain. He certainly believes there is nothing to hide, a virtue not too common in the blogsphere. If you can spare the time for some light-hearted optimism in taiji, why not visit Yang Nuo Bing’s blog http://blog.sina.com.cn/taiji

Well I was hoping someone will do it someday and they did. The National College of Physical Education and Sports of Taiwan digitized together a collection of 46 Taijiquan classics. A few of them are even handwritten copies, while others are printed in the 1930s.

Well the scanned images may not be of high resolution but it is good enough for research or personal use.

So here it is The Tai-chi Martial Art Digital Archive.

One of the manual in this archive is  by 17th generation xiaojia master, Chen Ziming. His work, The Art of Chen Family Taijiquan Transmitted Through Generations published in 1932.

Well hopefully some of you find this archive useful.

This is a post by our guest blogger, Silkreeling who is also a keen player of Chen Style Taijiquan.

“I have to share this with someone”, I said to myself, looking at the dim sum dumplings packed in the styrofoam box that had just been distributed. The portion resembles more like a main meal rather than mid-afternoon refreshment. If anything, it is an indication of how well the event had been managed. “Taiji for Osteoporosis” is a public forum organised by the Osteoporosis Society of Singapore, which is backed by the Lee Foundation, Tote Board and the National Health Group. Dr Paul Lam from Sydney was the main speaker.

Dr Paul Lam, a western doctor and lecturer at the University of New South Wales, has been practicing different styles of Taiji for over 30 years. His rehabilitation Taiji programs – for conditions - have been well received worldwide, which are only now just making headway into Singapore.

The specially designed osteoporosis program is easy to learn, safe, enjoyable yet effective and therefore suitable to help prevent, or improve Osteoporosis conditions.

“Not all Taiji are suitable for people with Osteoporosis. For example, the Chen style might even be harmful for those with such conditions”, he qualified. And in response to a question about how the various Taiji styles compare in terms of their rehabilitation effectiveness he said, “It’s hard to compare due to the diversity involved; but the program that we are running has been specially designed with that purpose in mind”.

The popularity of his osteoporosis program can be said to be due to the research evidence that it works. Ended in 2006, the Central Sydney Taiji Trial for 700 elderly people showed a strong correlation between confidence and fall prevention.

“Fall prevention is important because most of the time people with Osteoporosis don’t feel anything but once they have fallen, their bones will easily snap due to the brittleness caused by their condition”, said Dr Lam when talking about how Taiji can help prevent fall. Balance, strength and confidence are factors that can help prevent a fall. Studies, including the Atlanta FICIT study in 1996, have shown that regular Taiji practice can improve all of that as well as reducing bone loss, or even increasing Bone Mass Density (BMD).

Dr Paul Lam, of Teochew descent, sees himself as a bridge between the old Chinese tradition and modern western medical science. Looking at the evolution of Taiji, this may be the beginning of a new wave where forerunners such as Dr Lam himself, is introducing Taiji mainly as a rehabilitation tool to the world. The first wave development is popularly seen as the bringing of a Village Family Martial Art into capital Beijing in the late 19th Century. The second wave development is marked by the pivotal figure Yang ChengFu and his contemporaries, who taught Taiji publicly for the first time in 1910s Beijing.

Towards the end of the forum, Dr Lam impressed the near capacity crowd at the Teochew Building with his play of the various Taiji Forms. We were also showered with health information pamphlets, sample vitamin pills, salt/sugar substitutes etc as part of a health starter kit.

Dim Sum Taiji

To me the 10 different dim sum dumplings packed for each participant can really be used to sum up the takeaway message for the afternoon. Just as the different dumplings have different appeal, Taiji can also be multi facet when served on the 21st century platter. Regardless of your personal needs and goals, there will always be a Taiji form suitable for you. Whatever the reasons you have for Taiji play, don’t forget to share the goodness around.