Known as the “King of Wrestling” in Chen village, you would not suspect that He Guo-Yin is a blind man. Although blind in one eye since birth, He Guo-Yin was an active boy in Chen village. He started learning from Chen De-Yi after being thrown successively to the ground, when he tried mischievously to disrupt Chen’s farming activities.

Due to his surname, He Guo-Yin was considered an outsider and for a long time he could not be coached in the usual way. Instead, Chen De-Yi would throw him to the ground with an application move and he was left to figure out how it all worked. When He Guo-Yin thought he had it figured, he would go back to try the move on Chen. If there was a gap in his understanding, he would be thrown to the ground again. This process would repeat until he can successfully apply the move on Chen De-Yi, which usually took months.

In addition to Chen De-Yi, he also received pointers from other exponents, which include Wang Xian, Li Xi, Chen Zhi-Ben, Chen Xin-Lan, Chen Hei-Xin and Chen Yong. He became more prominent in recent years when the younger generation Chen Chun-Ai sought out his guidance, even though he was totally blind by then.

Ok, let us view this clip for inspiration; and ponder about the feelings going into our forms as if we are blindfolded.

Source: Shaolinyutaiji – March 09

If you can’t see the embedded video, please go to here

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.

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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.

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

“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.

One of the new book is by Ma Hong, titled 陈式太极拳劲道释秘-拆拳讲劲 . Roughly translated as Chen Style Taijiquan Secrets Explained – Dissecting the Routine to Explain the Jing.

Ma Hong new book

I have not read it but it looks interesting based on the content pages.  Apparently, this book is the results of accumulated learning by the author over the years. He attributed much of the teachings to be from his teacher, the late 18th generation Chen taijiquan master, Chen Zhaokui.  The book try to explain for the each of the strokes found in Routine 1 and 2 , how the various jing (force dynamics)  can be found and applied against an opponent.  Can such stuff be well explained in a book? I believe it will serve as a good reference book only. No armchair fighting!I would believe this book is a  good companion book to Ma Hong’s previous book,  Chen Shi Taiji JiJiFa  .  More books to come!
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Hai Nan IslandTaiji at Hainan

Introduction

The morning park scene here consists of Taiji players, joggers, badminton players, qigong enthusiast, dancing fans and general health maintainers. This reminds me of the bustle of Singapore’s morning rush hour, yet it is pleasantly unfamiliar. It was the last day of my 7-day trip, and as I was determined to have one last highlight, I decided to check out the Taiji scene on the island. I was up by half past 6 and head towards Haikou’s Haimen park. Many people have told me this before when they have visited China, but it is nothing like being there in person to soak up the atmosphere created by the sheer number of uniformed Taiji players.

The Players
The vast majority of those in uniforms were following their instructors in the nationally standardised Taiji and weapon sets. It took me a while to locate a spot for my own practice, as I navigated past at least 10 groups of uniformed players already deep in their practice. As I was ending my set, I noticed another chap also finishing up his Chen form. I was impressed by his form and later by his understanding of Taiji. I thought he must be learning with a good teacher for a number of years and as we started to talk, I found out more about Taiji on Hainan Island.

He said there aren’t many people practicing the traditional aspects of Taiji in Haikou as far as he knows. There is a Wu Tunan Wu style practice group somewhere in the park; and he himself is no longer learning from a teacher. “Other than practicing the forms daily, my only other source of guidance comes from watching DVDs and reflecting on the Taiji classics”, thus painting the picture that high level teachers are almost non-existent in this island 22 times the size of Singapore.

Taiji at Hainan

We found out about each other and later exchanged contact details. Wen Zhe Fu is a 27 year-old recent graduate from the Broadcasting University, and he has been practicing Chen Village Taiji for the last 4 years. He showed me round the park indicating where I could locate which practice group (including one doing the Chen 81 form) as we headed to the direction of his friend who was about to get to work. “I want to focus on Taiji training for a further period before properly looking for a job”, Wen said, indicating his priority. And pointing out one of the main reasons for his deep interest, he said “It didn’t make sense to me initially, but after a while when the form mellows, the practice just gets more and more comfortable”. He and his friend left shortly for me to explore the park on my own after trading much ‘thank you’ on the views we had swapped.

 Back for more?
This two-hour ad-hoc encounter is really just scratching the surface of the Hainan Taiji scene but given this glimpse, would I be back for more? But one thing is almost for certain, there will be a lot going for the Taiji scene here as long as the province continues to host world class events like the World Taiji and Health conference. A cursory glance at the internet also indicates that exponents are traveling both ways to and fro this sunny tropical island for healthy Taiji exchange.

Pondering this chanced meeting while on my way back to the hotel, I bought some coconut-rice cakes from a roadside stall for breakfast. My in-laws who were traveling with me would like them as they tasted better than those from the shops in Singapore’s Hainan 2nd Street. Just then, my phone rang with a reminder that our breakfast appointment was half an hour away.

That day, as the Tiger-Airways aircraft touched down in Singapore, a thought crossed my mind to forward Wen this link http://www.masterfu.net. Maybe with some income, he can seek further guidance with this master in Guangxi, which is not far from Haikou. With their respective potentials, I would be keen to hear of Wen’s progress as much as the development surrounding the Hainan Taiji Scene.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hainan

All post will be credited. A link to your blog or website will be given at the end of the post. Watch out for our very first guest blogger, Silkreeling on taijiquan at the Hainan Island.

But if you ask me, some of the fight scenes look similar to WWF scenes.  

Poundmortar.Com

In 2001, I started learning Chen style taijiquan. Eager to soak up whatever knowledge I can get hold of, I started surfing the Internet for information. Then there are limited websites on Chen Style Taijiquan on the Internet. The most comprehensive then and remains is of the best Chen site is Chen Style Taijiquan Notepad by Christoph David Weinmann.

Another was Chenstyle.com by Herb Rich which unfortunately is no longer available. Apparently he decided not to continue with the web hosting of the site.

6 yrs ago, I also decided to put up my Chen style website to complement (not to duplicate) what is already available. I named it ChanSiGong site after the silk reeling exercises that we all do. Now, I decided to host it on a dedicated domain name POUND MORTAR http://www.poundmortar.com . While the content remains the same, I have adopted bigger font for the site for easier reading. So please visit the site and give me your feedback!

Added on 18 May

A reader, Gerald Carter has let me know that you can retreive chenstyle.com infor from the Web Archive at http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.chenstyle.com. Thanks Gerald!