Chen
Fake demonstrating the First
Set of Chen Style Taijiquan
Part One
Learning
Taijiquan from Chen Fake - Hong
Junsheng's recollections (excerpts)
Part One
I translated
and edited the text a little
adding some explanations (italics
in brackets) for better understanding.
The original is a part of the
book "Practical Boxing
Method of Chen Style Taijiquan"
written by late Hong Junsheng
and published in 1989 by Shandong
Science and Technology Press;
Translation
? J.Szymanski 2001
In
1928 Chen Fake's relative (grandson
of Chen Yannian, Chen Fake's
uncle), (Chen) Zhaopei, who
was in herbal business, came
to Beijing escorting herbs delivery
and settled in Tianhui Drug
Store in Da Mo Chang outside
of Qian Men Gate. At that time
Taijiquan was already popular
in Beijing and there was no
practitioner who would not know
that Yang Luchan's boxing came
from Chenjiagou in Henan. People
heard that Chen Zhaopei was
a descendant of Chen clan and
boxing expert, so many came
to learn from him. After some
time the government of Special
City Nanjing heard about him
and invited him to teach offering
very high salary.
Mister (Chen Fake) said: "At
that time many people were learning
from Zhaopei, and when he was
invited to Nanjing with salary
of 200 yuan a week, they had
not finished learning a complete
routine yet; they could not
stop him from going, but did
not want to give up the study.
When Zhaopei saw that students
did not want him to go, it became
difficult for him to go, but
he realized he couldn't stay
in Beijing; he figured out a
way to solve the problem: "I
learnt boxing from my Third
Uncle (i.e. Chen Fake), my uncle's
skill is hundred times better
than mine, so the best solution
would be to invite my uncle
to Beijing to teach, while I
would go to Nanjing; this would
be beneficial for both of us".
As a result he cordially invited
me to Beijing".
Mister (Chen Fake) said: "I
came to Beijing in 1928. At
the beginning I stayed in my
student's - Liu Zicheng and
Liu Ziyuan - house, and taught
them the First and Second Routine
of Chen Style, as well as single
broadsword and double broadsword.
There were two small girls,
Yueqiu and Yuehua, in the Zaolin
compound where Liu Zicheng and
Liu Ziyuan lived, and they also
learnt quite well". (I
- i.e. Hong Junsheng - saw these
two sisters' demonstration;
each had two tresses and wore
violet skirt, their movements
were so soft and light; they
could jump over one Zhang (i.e.
3meters) in "Jade Girl
Works at Shuttles" and
"Wrap Crackers"; in
"Stand on One Foot and
Stretch Down" they could
stretch so low that their thighs
could touch the ground; they
were very good material for
martial arts. In 1956 when I
came to Beijing for the second
time, Zicheng was half-paralyzed,
Ziyuan did not practice anymore;
the most painful was the fact
that both girls died because
of scarlet fever!). At that
time many quite famous martial
artists in Beijing were learning
from Chen Fake - Xu Yusheng
(also known as Xu Chonghou),
Li Jianhua (coach at Nort-eastern
University, very skilful at
Baguazhang), Liu Musan (from
Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, director
of the Telegram Service Department
at Beijing Telegram Bureau,
very good at Wu Style Taijiquan),
Liu Ruizhan (doctor), and Shen
Jiazhen (famous for his book
"Chen Style Taijiquan"
published in 1963) and others.
Chen Fake accepted at least
several hundred disciples over
the period of thirty years;
I was one of those who were
accepted as disciples in 1930.
(...)
LUCKY
TO MEET A GOOD TEACHER
As a child I was of weak physique
and often sick, and when 17
I dropped out of school because
of illness; when I got married
at the age of 20 I realized
the reason I was often ill was
that I was too lazy and did
not do any physical exercises.
I decided to change bad old
habit and was going out everyday
in the morning for a two hours'
walk. Beijing's Xian Nong Altar,
Temple of Heaven, Jinan's Daming
Lake and Botu Spring were the
places I often visited. Since
that time I was gradually getting
healthy. However my body still
could not deal with changes
of the seasons and weather.
In winter 1929 all of a sudden
I caught Dongwen (winter epidemic
febrile disease in traditional
Chinese medicine) and had to
stay in bed for three months
until 1930. Zhou Huaimin (from
Wuxi, skilful landscape painter,...),
my neighbor from the same compound,
introduced me to Mr.Liu Musan
and I started to learn Wu (Jianquan)
style Taijiquan from him. After
few months we saw an article
in Beijing Xiao Shi Bao newspaper
about Yang Xiaolou, famous Wusheng
(actor in traditional Beijing
opera playing physically very
demanding roles of soldiers),
who after learning boxing from
Chen Fake of Chengou village
became healthy and was able
to perform again; as a result,
after checking with many people,
we asked Mr.Yiyuan to invite
teacher Chen to teach boxing
at Mr.Liu's house. At that time
over thirty students of Mr.Liu,
employees of Beijing Telegram
Bureau, all came to learn from
teacher Chen, so did I.
In the beginnings of my Wu style
Taijiquan studies, teacher Liu
(i.e. Liu Musan) told me, that
the slower the movements, the
better the skill, that is: the
better the skill, the slower
one can practice. When teacher
Chen came for the first time
to teacher Liu's house, after
exchanging the greetings, he
(i.e. Chen Fake) performed the
First and the Second Routine
of Chen style Boxing; everybody
prepared over an hour to admire
famous master's art. Unexpectedly
the demonstration of both routines
took only several minutes, and
the Second Routine contained
some leaping and very fast movements,
and Chen's stamping shook tiles
on the roof. Teacher Chen sat
(with us) for a while after
the demonstration and then left.
Afterwards everybody was making
comments - some said Chen practiced
so fast, that considering the
principle "move like pulling
the silk" the silk would
tear; some said stamping did
not conform with the rule of
"taking steps like a cat".
However teacher Liu said: "Although
the movements were fast, they
were all round; although the
power was issued, he was still
relaxed; since we invited him,
we should learn; after we learn
the routine, we ask him to teach
Pushing Hands; if he is better
than I, then we continue to
learn the Second Routine".
Hearing this we all decided
to study with Chen Fake.
The first question I asked teacher
Chen when we started out study
was "Should the movements
be slow or fast?". The
teacher answered: "The
beginners should practice slowly,
so that the movements are correct.
Practice makes perfect, so after
long time one can naturally
be fast and steady; when fighting
the speed of the movements depends
on the opponent's speed; practicing
slowly is the method to learn
the boxing, but it is not the
goal. However when movements
are slow, the legs are exercised
for a longer time, which is
also beneficial." Since
that moment I kept my mind on
my study. However the way I
was learning is worth mentioning,
so I'm writing it below for
reference.
(1)(2)(3)
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