The Origins and Development
of Taijiquan
Part of the
book "Chen Family Taijiquan
- Ancient and Present"
published by CPPCC (the Chinese
People's Political Consultative
Conference) Culture and History
Committee of Wen County, 1992
PART
ONE - SETTLING DOWN IN CHANGYANG
VILLAGE
1
"When
you ask me where I come from,
the answer is Big Scholar Tree
in Hongdong, Shanxi"
Chen Family
of Chenjiagou village in Henan
province, the place Taijiquan
originates from, comes from
Shanxi. At the end of Yuan dynasty
(1271-1368) the laws and principles
were abandoned, political affairs
were in chaos, calamities were
coming one after another, the
masses lived in dire poverty
and uprisings were breaking
out all over the country. Later,
Zhu Yuanzhang (first emperor
of Ming dynasty, also called
Ming Taizu) gradually put down
the uprisings and united the
country. When Ming soldiers
attacked northern Huaiqing Prefecture
(today's Qinyang city, in ancient
times was a prefecture which
governed eight counties, Wen
County was one of them), they
faced strong resistance from
Yuan dynasty garrison led by
general Timur and many people
were hurt and killed. However
the prefecture, a small area,
could not endure the pressure
from Ming army. After a long
time the garrison went out of
food, and with no help from
outside, was finally defeated.
Yuan soldiers apart from killed
and hurt, seeing that not much
could be done, all dispersed.
After Zhu Yuanzhang
ascended the throne, he turned
his anger to common people in
Huaiqing Prefecture, saying
they helped the tyrant to do
evil and fought against heaven
soldiers; hence he sent troops
to "clean" Huaiqing
three times and massacre innocent
people. According to old stories,
Ming soldiers after murdering
people and burning their houses,
were often leaving on purpose
money, food, cloths, etc. at
the crossroad in the center
of a village. If they found
out that somebody took it, new
troops were sent to search high
and low for a missing article.
Although people were hiding
with their wives and children,
but eight to nine out of ten
did not manage to escape the
disaster. After these three
"cleanings" all the
prefecture and its eight counties,
the area of several thousand
square kilometers, was covered
by blood and bodies, almost
no crops could be seen, a single
rooster could hardly be heard
within thousands villages; on
the roads, weeds were knee-deep;
the mansions were overgrown
with them; a tidy human world
in a moment turned into world
of ghosts, too horrible to look
at. At this point, Zhu Yuanzhang
still not satisfied, "imposed
tax equal to original one's
triple value" to Huaiqing
prefecture.
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According
to historical records,
in the first years of
emperor Hongwu (another
name of Zhu Yuanzhang
taken after he became
emperor, used for counting
years; Zhu was emperor
from 1368 to 1398; thus
1368 was the first year
of emperor Hongwu), Zhu
Yuanzhang carried out
mass migration and wasteland
reclamation policy to
recuperate and build up
his strength; he set up
a migration office in
Shanxi province Hongdong
County and arranged three
large scale migrations
forcing local inhabitants
(Shanxi Province was one
of the most populated
provinces in China at
that time) to move to
sparsely populated, mainly
because of calamities
and wars, areas, including
Huaiqing Prefecture. Although
some of these immigrants
were not from Hongdong
County, however, since
the starting point for
all the migrations was
below an old scholar tree
(Huaishu) there, there
is the saying about ancestors
coming from "Big
Scholar Tree".
In the
fifth year of emperor
Hongwu (e.g. 1372, although
some say it was the seventh
year; according to the
study of Wen County gazetteers,
there is no contradiction
between these two statements.
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Monument
to Big Scholar Tree (Da
Huaishu) in Hongdong County,
Shanxi Province
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Chen Bu moved
from Hongdong to Chenbuzhuang
in the fifth year of Hongwu,
while from Chenbuzhuang moved
back to Changyang village in
the seventh year. In this text
the "fifth year" statement
is used) an ordinary man from
Shanxi Hezhou Jincheng County
Dongtuhe village, Chen Bu, with
his whole family fled from famine
to Hongdong and was also forced
by government officials to move
to Huaiqing.
Chen Bu, sincere
and honest man, was skillful
in fist and weapon fighting.
On the way, he was helping those
in need and danger and was very
respected by other immigrants.
They all left their homes and
worked forever, "ate in
the wind and slept in the dew";
"under canopy of snow and
frost" went through many
hardships escorted by officials
"like wolves and tigers"
who were urging them on, before
they reached Huaiqing Prefecture
passing through many different
places.
Chen Bu saw
the place in the south-eastern
part of prefecture, with Yellow
River to the south and Taihang
Mountains to the north, which
a was wide expanse of flat land
with fertile soil, good place
for getting married, working,
having sons and grandsons; thus
Chen Bu discussed it with his
family and they decided to settle
down in this place. Together
with other immigrants they cleaned
it of rotten bodies and bones,
cut down "thistles and
thorns", built houses of
dirt and covered them with grass
roofs and in this way a village
was erected. Since Chen Bu was
a public-spirited person, the
immigrants who came with Chen
Bu named the village after him
- Chen Bu Zhuang (Chen Bu's
Village; this village in old
times belonged to Qinyang, now
it belongs to Wen County Beilengxiang).
Although later Chen Bu moved
away from there, but the name
of the village has been kept
without change for centuries.
In spite of many administrative
reforms, the village still exists
with its original name. Local
people say that the stone cover
for the well located in the
north-eastern part of village
was in old times "a stone
roller used by Chen Bu".
Some elders can even tell stories
about how Chen Bu and his wife
were finding pleasure in helping
others.
2
After two years
(e.g. in the seventh year of
Hongwu) because the land Chen
Bu Zhuang was situated was lowlying
and soil saline-alkali Chen
Pu decided to find a higher
place nearby and settle down.
Hence, during slack season,
he took some food and set out
to make on-spot investigation
of the places within ten li
(Chinese unit of length, =0.5km)
around Chen Pu Zhuang.
This day, Chen
Bu arrived at the bank of Yellow
River and saw a ridge called
Qing Feng Ling (Green Wind Ridge).
This ridge, although not very
high or precipitous, was like
a natural screen, keeping off
surging yellow water, torrential
muddy waters. There was a village
on the ridge, and there was
an old Chang Yang temple inside
the village. Village was called
after the temple - Chang Yang
Village. Chen Bu entered the
village and saw that on the
south was a boundless sandy
banks with a murmuring snake-like
Yellow River winding to the
east. To the north of the village
was a high mound in a shape
of head of a tiger, called Tiger
Head Mound (Hu Tou Gang), although
high and hungry for rain, but
not failing to be used as farmland.
Whole village was low in the
south and high in the north,
sunny and out of the wind and
the crops would be guaranteed
even during droughts or excessive
rains. Chen Bu was very satisfied
with this place. However he
heard the villagers saying that
there were many bandits hiding
in the nearby hills, who would
often come out to fight and
rob the households and disturb
the villagers. Villagers many
times reported this to the local
government but the officials
did not send troops to suppress
bandits. Since Chen Bu was a
very skilful martial artist,
he just laughed at it. Thereupon
he fixed a date and moved with
whole family from Chenbuzhuang
to Changyang Village.
After Chen
Bu settled down in Changyang
Village, indeed saw the bandits
from nearby hills constantly
coming to the village molesting
its inhabitants and plundering
their households. In order to
protect the homes and defend
the villagers, indignant Chen
Bu started preparations, and
lead over one hundred of his
disciples and young and strong
people from the village. They
slipped into Qing Feng Ling
and, relying on exquisite methods
of the boxing passed from ancestors,
attacked bandits' lair, wiping
them out at one fell sloop.
Hence Chen Bu's fame shook the
nearby villages and everyday
more and more people were coming
from all quarters to ask for
teaching.
Chen
Bu established a martial
arts school in the village
and was accepting students
and passing on his knowledge.
The martial art inherited
from his ancestors and
other styles that Chen
Bu brought from Shanxi
started to spread far
and wide because of this
school and practice of
martial arts became family
custom of Chen clan. Time
flies like an arrow, "sun
and moon move back and
forth like a shuttle",
more than two hundred
years passed in the twinkling
of an eye. Chen Bu's descendants
were more and more and
there were more people
named Chen in the village;
Chen family martial arts
were passed on from generation
to generation and enjoyed
great prestige around;
since there was a ditch
in the village, people
changed the name of the
village from Changyang
to Chenjiagou - Chen Family
Ditch.
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Chenjiagou
in Chen Bu's times did
not probably look much
different than today
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