New Development of Chen Style
This new development took place in the late 18th century when Chen You Ben (1780-1858) reformed Chen style forms. The reformed forms are now called “New Frame” (新架) This new form was further reformed and became a string of new styles. What I did on New Year’s party was the New Frame. Chen You Ben was a cousin of Chen Chang Xing who taught Yang style. Chen You Ben had a brother (Chen You Heng) whom we will discuss later. Chen You Ben and his brother learned from their father and together they would be regarded as the best of the 14th generation. He taught many people however one student in particular, Chen Qing Ping, would lead to the spread of Tai Chi. Chen Qing Pin was born in 1795 and died in 1868. He moved to a village called Zhao Bao about 2.5 miles away. He started teaching soon after he moved there. In teaching and practicing away from his masters and fellow students he was free to experiment and mix new ideas, training methods and techniques turning them into Chen Style Tai Chi. He would go on to develop his own styles later in life. One of the new styles is called Zhao Bao Frame. The major difference being the practitioner is expected to add an increasing number of circles to their body movements. The 2nd is called Hu Lei Frame which was a style developed between him and his student Li Jing Yan. The Hu Lei Frame has three characteristics- 1. Fa Jin in every move.
2. The lion-roar sound uttered by/through every Fa Jin
3. Practiced in a “cow space” (a space just large enough for a cow to lie down). Wu ( 武 ) Style Wu Yu Xiang (1812-1880) was born and grew up in a wealthy family in the same county where Yang Lu Chan (founder of Yang Style) was born and grew up. He studied under Yang but felt did not learn the whole thing. When he learned that Yang learned his art from Chen Jia Gou, the Chen family village, he decided to pursue the same path. Chen Chang Xing (Yang’s teacher) introduced him to Chen Qing Ping because he himself was too old to teach. Wu later mixed Yang Style he learned from Yang Lu Chan, New frame, small frame he learned for Chen Qing Ping and developed his own style. This new Style is Wu (武) Wu’s brother was credited as the one who found the book entitled “On Tai Chi Quan,” a short essay said to be written by martial artist and theorist Wang Zhong Yue (lived at the same time as Chen You Ben and Chen Chang Xing.) This book is said to be the first to call this art Tai Chi Quan. Wu’s own works were: “Important words on Push-hands,” and “8 rules of body work.” Sun Style The founder of Sun Style was a legend. Sun Lu Tang was born in 1860 and died in 1933. He was called the number one under the sky by martial artists of his time. He first learned some martial arts from various teachers. He then studied under two grand masters of Xing Yi Quan. Later he studied Ba Gua Palm under a Ba Gua grand master. He then spent two years traveling to Shao Lin, Wu Dang, E Mei and other famous (and sacred) martial art locations to challenge renowned artists. He won all of these matches. In 1912 when he was 52 years old, he met Hao Wei Zhen (1849-1920,) a renowned Tai Chi practitioner and a grand student of Chen Qing Ping. He learned Tai Chi from Hao. In 1918 he showed the martial art community the fruit of his creation- Sun style Tai Chi. The mixed essences of Xing Yi, Ba Gua and Tai Chi. He was invited to be the dean of Internal martial arts Department of Central School of National Arts (martial arts) in 1928 when it was established by the central government in an effort to rescue a dying martial arts tradition. The teachers at the school were the best of the time. He was my most admired martial artist as he was the only one who excelled at three arts. |
