Chen Taijiquan: Masters and Methods

Few arts are more misunderstood in today’s fast-paced digital age than Taijiquan. Typically it is represented in one of two diametrically opposed, but equally misleading ways. In the world of martial arts movies Taijiquan masters are portrayed as almost supernatural individuals capable of defeating opponents with little more than a touch. Alternatively it has come to be viewed as the slow and simple exercise practised by old people in the park as they try to hang on to some degree of mobility and suppleness. Neither depiction is adequate. Chen Taijiquan is one of China’s most ancient fighting systems with an unbroken lineage stretching back almost 400 years. While today many people look exclusively towards the health and exercise benefits of the system, the true face of traditional Taijiquan is its unique method of developing martial skill. Like all traditional South-East Asian martial arts, it combines high levels of self discipline, spiritual awareness and combat skills. Perhaps more than any other discipline Taijiquan presents a seamless integration of philosophy and martial arts. Chen Taijiquan: Masters and Methods is the third book by Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim and David Gaffney. It is the product of some two decades of ongoing research into the oldest of the five traditional schools of Taijiquan. Involving more than twenty visits to China, as well as trips to South–East Asia and throughout Europe to experience and document the insights of some of the foremost elder practitioners of Chen Taijiquan including: the late Feng Zhiqiang, a senior disciple of the legendary seventeenth generation master Chen Fake; Chen Xiaoxing, Principal of the Chenjiagou Taijiquan School; Chen Xiaowang, Chen Zhenglei, Wang Xian and Zhu Tiancai often collectively referred to the “Four Buddha’s Warriors” of Chenjiagou; Chen Yu, the Beijing based son of the eighteenth generation master Chen Zhaokui; and Yu Gongbao, author of the world's first dictionary of Taijiquan and China’s first Professor of Taijiquan. Chen Taijiquan: Masters and Methods draws together a record of the teachings of a generation of Chen Taijiquan masters who still had a foot in previous times before the commercialisation and mass propagation of Taijiquan. A time when the discipline was passed orally from one generation to the next reflecting it’s importance as a means for defending self, family and community. It enables the reader to join a conversation with some of the great masters of Chen Taijiquan and take away fascinating insights into the true nature of the system. Taken together their words present a clear exposition of the theoretical and practical standards which define and shape the art.