Ma Hong （1927 -） is one of the the discipleof Chen ZhaoKui, son of Chen FaKe. He started learning from Chen Zhaokui in 1972 during the Cultural Revolution when taijiquan was banned.  With his academic and teaching background, Mahong is able to write and teach well in the subject of Taijiquan.  This can be seen in his various books and DVDs published. His books was one of the first book that I bought on Taijiquan almost 10 years ago.
Here is one of the videos on the push hands training methods that …

This is a post by our guest blogger, Silkreeling who is also a keen player of Chen Style Taijiquan.
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Watch the above clip, featuring Master Jiang Jiajun performing Yilu perhaps in the 1990s. Jiang, a top student of Grand Master Hong Junshen, trained initially under Chen Zhaopei prior to 1964. Through that experience, Jiang found good ties …

This is a post by our guest blogger, Silkreeling who is also a keen player of Chen Style Taijiquan.
Although many would know that chansijing or silkreeling energy is the main element that makes up Chen Style Taiji, those who understand and can apply it is few and far in between. There are those that think silkreeling as spiral force. If that is the case, their often point of view that follows would be correct -  Don’t have to bother as other Taiji styles dwell on spiral and circular energies too. …

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 …

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 …

If you wonder why are you doing so many wrist rotations in silk reeling exercise and form routines, one of the reasons is to train for qinna applications. Qinna means “to Capture , to take control”. Let see a quick demonstration by GM Zhu TianCai on some qinna applications.
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It was said that most of the qinna techniques now taught by the Chen Village folks were taught by the 18th …

Little has been wrote about this weapon of Chen Taiji – the double mace 锏. It is considered to be a short weapon with a square cross section. Usually made from copper or iron, it it about 4 feet long. The diagram above is scanned from a 1992 special issue of the shaolin and taichi magazine.
Here is a clip showing the performance of the double mace form by Chen ZiQiang. In this vide, he seems to be using sticks to replace the mace.
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I always like the way Zhu TianCai does his forms. Zhu Tiancai is one of the Big 4 of Chen Taijiquan from the Chen village. The other 3 are Chen XiaoWang, Chen Zhenglei and Wang Xian.
In this short clip filmed at an informal setting, we see how he can do the New Frame, XinJia in a smooth and yet aggressive way.
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Taiji balls have been around for a while although in the past heavy concrete or marble balls are used as training aid to develop strength. Recently I saw plastic gym balls being used. here is one, you can push hand with a ball. Buy a 56cm diameter ball http://www.stonetempletao.it/pagine/video_streaming_pace_palla.htm
Here is another one on a well designed Japanese site  (as read from Formasa Neijia site)

Have you incorporated other kinds of balls into your training? Let me  know if you have.

In the Laojia Routine 1, Brush the Knees is a relatively simple move on the surface. However the shifting of weights between the legs and the sinking of the “gua”  are not obvious to many.  For beginners, they are usually taught to cup their hands somewhere near their left knee. Ask yourself, did you shift your weight when doing this ?
Whille we may like to grasp someone knee and destablises him/her, you may like to go for the waist and lift the person up.