Taijiquan Learning Chinese Feedback

Xinyi Hunyuan Chen-style Taijiquan

Taijiquan (or Taiji, also sometimes seen as Tai Chi) is a traditional Chinese martial art now practiced primarily for its health benefits. Xinyi Hunyuan Chen style taijiquan was invented by Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang, an 18th generation master of Chen style taijiquan and a living treasure of Chinese culture. Hunyuan taijiquan is a beautiful art characterized by external softness with internal strength and the use of spiral power originating from a strong foundation.

Hunyuan taiji has five main parts, in sequence: gongfa as foundation, quanfa as form, weaponry as complementary, push-hands as the approach, and sparring as the purpose. Putting the foundation first deviates from the traditional practice of some teachers who have required students to spend months and years learning the superficial mechanics without giving away the secret knowledge of internal arts that could have martial application. Some important distinctions between traditional Chen-style Taijiquan and Grandmaster Feng's system is the emphasis on slow movement and external softness. However, all the underlying principles remain the same.

Some Chen-style hunyuan taijiquan links:

  1. Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang Grandmaster Feng, 18th generation Chen style master and inventor of xinyi hunyuan taijiquan (site in Chinese).
  2. Master Zhang Xue Xin Master Zhang is a senior disciple of Grandmaster Feng, and the head of the Feng Zhiqiang Taijiquan Academy, USA
  3. Shifu Justin Meehan Shifu Justin Meeh an is my teacher's teacher and the senior teacher in the Saint Louis branch of M aster Zhang's School. This site also has information about Shifu Cis Hager, Shifu Justin's senior disciple.
  4. Shifu Herbert Parran Shifu Herbert Parran is my teacher and an authorized teacher in the Saint Louis, Missouri branch of Master Zhang's school.
  5. Shifu Justin Meehan Shifu Justin Meehan is my teacher's teacher and the senior teacher in the Saint Louis branch of Master Zhang's School.
  6. Master Chen Zhonghua Joseph Zhonghua Chen is President of the Hunyuantaiji Academy in Canada, and a student of Hong Junsheng and Feng Zhiqiang. His description of Grandmaster Hong Junsheng's no-nonsense practical approach to taiji is an interesting contrast to the usual mystical description of taiji. For example, Grandmaster Hong argues that seemingly amazing feats are due to precise body alignment and qi is not a concept in Grandmaster Hong's system.
  7. Master Yaron Seidman Yaron Seidman, a student of Chen Zhonghua, is the founder of the USA Hunyuan Taiji Academy. He is also a practicing acupuncturist and an expert in traditional Chinese medicine. Master Seidman provided the acupuncture charts for Grandmaster Feng's book Hunyuan Qigong.
  8. Master Yang Yang Master Yang Yang, a disciple of Grandmaster Feng and other famous masters, is now teaching in Champaign, Illinois.
  9. Wang Feng-Ming Wang Feng-Ming, president of the European Association of Chen Style Hun Yuan Taiji, is a disciple of Grandmaster Feng.
  10. Master Fei Bing Master Fei Bing, a student of Master Wang Feng-Ming, teaches in Croyden, outside of London, England. His classes include baguazhang and xingyiquan as well as taiji and qigong. He also has formal training in traditional Chinese medicine. He is co-founder of the Internal Kung Fu Research Association. I am very grateful to Master Fei Bing for his hospitality and the help he gave me on my root, my 24-form, and my broadsword (dao) form when I visited one of his classes.
  11. Master Ma Bao Guo Master Ma, who teaches in Newcastle, England, has learned hunyuan taijiquan from Master Wang Chang Hai, a student of Feng Zhiqiang and other masters. Videos on his site include performance of xinyi hunyuan forms modified to have more of a combat focus with more lock and anti-lock as well as sink and twist force.

A good source for videos:

  1. Plum Publishing

Learning Chinese

Learning a bit of the Chinese language enriches and supplements learning taijiquan. There are many resources on the web to make it easier. Here are some of the resources I found most useful:

  1. The Chinese Outpost I suggest starting here, where you can find a great Introduction to Mandarin Chinese.
  2. Zhongwen.com This is an amusing browsable Chinese dictionary arranged according to entymology. You can also show the Zhongwen.com's current featured character on your own web site like this:

  3. On-line Chinese Tools Unicode Character Dictionary This is a more comprehensive dictionary that allows many types of look-up. For taijiquan terms, I use the following settings: Comprehensive Search, Trad. and Simp., Radical/Stroke off, Total Strokes off, and Cantonese off. This is part of the larger site On-line Chinese Tools with much information and many links.
  4. On-line pinyin chart This chart gives audio recordings illustrating the pronunciation (neutral tone) of pinyin for all Chinese characters. Pinyin is the most common modern method for representing Chinese pronunciation using Roman (Western) characters. However, the pronunciation of these pinyin romanizations are not necessarily what we expect. For example, to my ear, Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang should be pronounced (ignoring the tones) as if spelled Fung Zee Chee-ong. The chart removes the guesswork.
  5. Learning Chinese Online This site has links to many useful sites.
  6. Chinese Language Info This site has more useful info and links.

Notes:

  1. These resources are mostly for generic Mandarin sites. Mandarin is the most common version of the Chinese language and is the official language on the mainland (communist China). Cantonese is spoken in Hong Kong and other places. Also, there are many local dialects (e.g. Shanghainese).
  2. Note that the web dictionaries are not yet a complete substitute for the print dictionaries. One reason is that many Chinese words are made of two characters, with a combined meaning that is not identical to the meaning of the two characters standing alone. The web dictionaries typically contain the individual character meanings but not the meanings of character combinations.

Disclaimer

I am a beginning student of all these topics. I do not speak for Grandmaster Feng or Master Zhang or anyone else. All of the sites I link to were useful for me but I cannot vouch for the accuracy of their content.

Feedback

I am eager to learn. Please send me e-mail with any comments or suggestions: