（The following is a translation of an article that first appeared in the August 2010 issue of Wuhun magazine)
When discussing the modern development of Chen style taijiquan, now generally speaking people start from Chen Fake moved to Beijing in 1928, but the specific details of that time, and which early disciples he taught, are rarely discussed in print. Only in Hong Junsheng’s memoir of Chen style taiji, and articles from Tian Qiumao ‘s blog and Beijing Chen Style Research Association mentioned the names of some early disciples, such as: Liu Zicheng, Liu Ziyuan, Xu Yusheng, Li Jianhua, Liu Musan, Yang Yichen, Li Henian, Liu Liang, Zhao Zhongmin, etc. the specific situation is not fully detailed. To understand the transition between Chen Fake’s early teaching of the old frame in Beijing and the taijiquan frame Chen taught after the 1940s is of great significance for the study of the development of Chen taijiquan, so it is necessary to further excavate and explore this historical data.
In Xingqing Park, Xi ‘an, I once saw someone practicing a style of Chen Taijiquan similar to but slightly different from that taught by Chen Zhaopi. I learned from the practitioner that his teacher Bai Yueben was a student of Yang Yichen, an early disciple of Chen Fake. This set (taolu) was taught by Chen Fake in 1928 and which was brought to Xi’an by Yang Yichen from Beijing during the Sino-Japanese War.
This situation piqued my interest. I thought that, through getting to understand Yang Yichen, we can gain a better picture of Chen Fake’s teaching from 1928 to 1940.
In May 2008, I made a special trip to Beijing to meet [Chen style teacher] Tian Qiumao, who supported me in learning more about Yang Yichen. Through Tian’s introductions and contacts, I had the honour to meet Yang Dehou, Yang Yichen’s brother, in Beijing. Yang Dehou is a former electromechanical equipment expert of the Ministry of National Machinery Industry, a senior engineer at the research level. He started learning Chen taiji from his brother Yang Yichen, and then later learned directly from Chen Fake. He taught Chen taijiquan for many years in Beijing’s Yuetan Park. Yang Dehou is already 90 years old but in ruddy health.
Through my visit to him, I learned a lot about Yang Yichen. The following is the transcript of my conversation with Yang Dehou:
Yang Yichen (original name Yang Defu), was born in 1904 and died in 1959. Our family is of Manchu ethnicity (yellow banner) and our ancestor Yangguli was Nurhachi’s son-in-law. For his outstanding military service, he was granted titles and land (see “Qing Manuscripts” volume 226 biography L3). My family has the tradition of martial arts in past dynasties. When I was a child, my family was relatively well-off. My father required us to learn martial arts from childhood. There was a courtyard for practicing martial arts in my home, with stone locks, barbells, sabres, spears, bows and arrows placed on shelves against the wall, etc. My family lived in a big siheyuan courtyard in Qianmaguan Hutong behind Xidan Shopping mall. There were two courtyards in the complex, namely the front courtyard and the east courtyard, which were very close to Chang ‘an Avenue.
There are five brothers in my family, of whom I am the youngest. All of us liked practicing martial arts since childhood. The three elder brothers all worked in the Beijing Telegraph Bureau at that time. The director of the telegraph bureau was Liu Musan, who was from Wuxi and was a senior disciple of Wu Jianquan, the master of Wu style taiji. Liu was about 50 years old at that time. He was very good at both Wu and Yang style taiji, and was very famous in Beijing. He was obsessed with traditional Chinese martial arts. [Yang] Yichen and Li Henian at first learned Yang and Wu Taijiquan and push hands under Liu Musan. Yichen was the best out of about a dozen students studying with Liu. Liu Musan often took Yichen to the West Xie Street National Arts Museum to push hands with Xu Yusheng (Xu was adept at xingyi, Wu and Yang style taiji, and often trained together with Liu Musan). Liu knew that taijiquan came from Chenjiagou in Henan province. He always wanted to go to Chenjiagou, but he was too busy to go.
In 1928, Liu Musan heard that someone from Chenjiagou had come to Beijing to teach taijiquan. Through Yang Yichen’s inquiries, Liu discovered that the newcomer from Chenjiagou was called Chen Fake. Liu was happy and said to Yichen “Taijiquan is from Chenjiagou, in the past they would not teach outsiders, why don’t we invite Chen Fusheng [Chen Fake] to see what Chen taiji is like.” At that moment Li Henian volunteered and said, “I will go.” He took Liu Musan’s car to invite Chen Fake (Chen Zhaopi had recommended Chen Fake to teach taijiquan in Beijing at that time). When Chen Fake arrived at Liu Musan’s home, Chen demonstrated his taijiquan in the courtyard shortly after going through the usual greetings. Chen performed the Yi Lu and then Er Lu, after which Liu sent the car to take Chen Fake back to the Zhongzhou Clan Association on Luomashi street. At that time, there were more than ten people in Liu’s house.
After seeing Chen off, the house was abuzz with discussion, with some saying, “Is this taijiquan?” “Taiji stretches slowly and is known for its softness. It takes twenty minutes for a set of taijiquan, but he took less than ten minutes to finish the two sets. Chen has a homely appearance and is not talkative. In his taijiquan practice, he stamps his feet, jumps and makes exhalations. Before he started he just said “I’m nothing special”, such a dull guy. Is this the right way to practice? Other people chimed in, saying that this is not taijiquan, it is folk boxing. At which point, Liu Musan said, “Did you not notice that although his movements were fast, they were still all in spinning circles? Although there is fajin, he was still song [relaxed], and he is sunken and has a good root. Maybe it is the real Chen family taijiquan. Now that we have invited him here, we should learn it and wait until we are finished learning the routine. Then we can ask to push hands. If he is better than me, I will continue to learn from him. That’s it.”
And so someone was sent to discuss with Chen Fake and the rate agreed for lessons was 2 silver dollars. Some students thought it was too expensive, but Liu Musan said, “This taijiquan is worth it. You will know it after you practice it for a while.”
Around the second half of 1928, the first batch to learn taijiquan with Chen Fake numbered about ten students, all from the telegraph bureau. I only remember Liu Musan, Yang Yichen, Li Henian, Liu Liang, Zhao Zhongmin, Luo Mai-ao and so on. The ‘big frame’ (da jiazi) at that time was are not quite same as the popular current version, it was very concise, without 3 Palm Changes [san huan zhang], Retreat & Press Elbow [tuibu yazhou] and Middle Winding [zhong pan].
I heard from Yichen that after Liu Musan had learned the Yi Lu, he asked Chen Fake to teach him push hands. Yichen and the other students all thought that since Liu Musan had practiced Wu style Taijiquan for more than 20 years, and his taijiquan skills were very popular in Beijing martial arts circles, there shouldn’t be that big a gap in level between Liu and Chen.
To the shock of all present, when Liu pushed hands with Chen Liu found himself stumbling all over the place, like a 3-year old child being manhandled by an adult, and his joint tendons were injured and painful for a long time after pushing with Chen. Chen said afterwards: “I was too careless. Liu was resisting me slightly, hence why I injured him accidentally.” From then on, no-one dared to ask Chen Fake to teach push hands. Chen Fake said with a smile: “As long as you are relaxed and rounded [song yuan], one can neutralise, we can have a try at push hands, as long as both parties pay attention they shouldn’t get injured.”
At first, Chen Fake came to Liu Musan’s home once or twice a week to teach. Usually Yichen would go to Zhongzhou Clan Association every morning to learn taiji from Chen. In the early days, there were several people (including Liu Zicheng and Liu Ziyuan) who lived in his home when Chen Fake first came to Peiping. Liu Zicheng and Liu Ziyuan had originally learnt from Chen Jifu [Chen Zhaopi]. After Chen Zhaopi went to Nanjing to teach, he introduced Chen Fake to Beijing to teach those who had not finished learning taijiquan for him. Most of them did not stay the course, as they were mainly business owners who were busy and did not practice hard enough.
I interjected and asked Yang Dehou: Was Hong Junsheng in this group of students? Dehou said: Hong Junsheng joined the group 2 years after my brother. Later, many people from the telegraph bureau started to learn, also Liu Musan was very busy, so going to the Zhongzhou Clan Association so frequently would have been inconvenient. So later we would send a car to pick up Chen Fake and bring him to our home to teach taijiquan. Hong started learning taiji from Chen around this time. Shen Jiazhen and Zhao Bingnan (a famous orthopaedic doctor), only started learning later. Years later, Hong Junsheng said to me, “The person I admire most is your brother Yichen. His taijiquan is the best among us [i.e. from that batch]” After Hong became famous in Jinan, he asked his disciples to go to Xi ‘an to have Yichen correct their taijiquan frame (‘nie jiazi’). Yichen was working in the Chang’an Weiqu Town telex office at that time, and unfortunately at that time the location of telex bureaux were considered confidential, so they couldn’t find him.
When Yichen left Beijing, he told me to train pushing hands with Hong Junsheng. When Hong Junsheng began to learn taijiquan, he was in poor health and lived outside Xuanwumen [in Beijing]. During the 1930s, when I visited his house the rooms all smelt of Chinese medicine; but later on, he cured himself via the practice of taiji. He was also one of the better early students. When Chen Fake just came to Beiping [Beijing], he often went to Tianqiao park to watch other people practicing all kinds of taij, shuai jiao, and Chinese flag pole demonstrations, which was of great help to him later on when he adjusted his form.
At that time, because our family was well off, my brother often invited Chen Fake over to our home for dinner. Chen Fake couldn’t go home for the Spring Festival. When his wife went back to Henan province, Yichen invited Chen Fake to stay with us. We had many houses and hired servants, which made our life very convenient. Li Henian also often came over to our house to keep Chen Fake company. One day we were all chatting, at that time, there was a square table in the main hall of our house with a chair on each side, Chen Fake and Yichen were sitting on either side. Li Henian asked Chen Fake what if someone punches you really fast? Chen Fake replied “Let’s see, I’ll sit here, you try and punch me.” Li Henian, without hesitating, launched a punch at Chen Fake. All we saw next was Li Henian flying backwards away from Chen. Just as Li was about to topple through the curtains in the doorway, Chen dashed over and caught Li by the hand, dragging him back. Li’s face was deathly pale . Li later said: “I felt my punch clearly land on Chen Fake’s body, but it just felt empty, like falling on cotton. Then the next thing I knew I was flying away, really scared the hell out of me. Also for Chen to catch me as I was flying he must have moved even faster than the speed I was flying at!
When Chen Fake was at our house, we all saw him practicing taijiquan whenever he had a free moment, whether walking around or sitting. He would always be practicing some kind of taijiquan movement or principle, so that his sensitivity (ting jin) had been developed to an extraordinarily fine degree. He was able to fajin instantly upon someone touching him. So it’s no surprise that Li Henian was thrown out. Because by that time Chen had gotten famous, people often came looking for him to test him out, for example the wrestler Shen San (aka Shen Yousan), and also the 3 Li brothers, all tall well-built men from Shandong**, who had originally tried to challenge Chen Zhaopi. In all these cases the result was the same – when they visited Chen Fake’s residence they were launched away. However, Chen Fake was humble and never bragged about his exploits. Many famous people in Beiping [Beijing] at that time, such as Yang Xiaolou, the Peking Opera actor, Xu Yusheng of the Beijing Guoshu Academy, Li Jianhua and Shen Jiazhen, professors of the Republic of China University, all came to visit Chen because of his fame. All those that had contests with Chen eventually became his friends. From this we can see Chen Fake’s upright and honourable character.
At that time Yichen would ride his bicycle to Zhongzhou Clan Association every day to learn taijiquan, arriving at 5am. By 5am Chen Fake would have already finished his personal training. He would first watch Yichen practice for a while, then demonstrate and explain the movements he was practicing wrong, correct his form. Only after the form had been corrected would he finally teach the application of moves. Yichen would practice taijiquan, with Chen sitting on a chair watching, smoking his water pipe, after practice, all Chen would say either “That’s good”, “That’s no good”. He would check if your strength was coming from the elbow or waist, how you used your push hands, whether your qi was sunk, whether the waist was turning correctly, whether the head was suspended correctly [xu ling ding jin]. He was a very patient and hands-on teacher.
At that time, Chen Fake’s eldest son, Chen Zhaoxu, and Yichen were the best at taijiquan and pushing hands. Later on, Hong Junsheng also reached a high level. The other students said: Chen Zhaoxu’s taijiquan is so good at such a young age, he must have received secret teachings from Chen Fake. In fact, that is not the case. When Yichen went to learn taijiquan, he arrived at 5 am. But Chen Fake had already finished his personal training (he got up very early and practiced at least 20 repetitions of the form every morning). When I arrived I would see Chen Zhaoxu still training, Chen Fake was very strict on Zhaoxu. Every day he would wake Zhaoxu up early to start training. Chen’s youngest son, Chen Zhaokui, was still very young at that time, his head was just a little bit higher than table height.
Chen Fake taught taijiquan to all in the same way, with no discrimination. He never hid material. Chen Fake’s upright and honourable character was well known in Beijing. Chen Fake often said, “Even if I show someone step by step they have difficulty getting it exactly right, what reason is there to be conservative?” He would answer every question, and explain each action in detail, such as Peng, Lu, Ji, An, how to use [them], and at the same time to do demonstrate physically as well, dozens of times. At that time, most taijiquan teachers in Beijing would start teaching pushing hands straight after students had learnt the form. With Chen Fake, he would teach the Yi Lu, then have the student practice Yi Lu for at least half a year before he would teach Er Lu, and would not teach push hands until later. Chen Fake said, “Pushing hands is the first step towards non-compliant practice, but the student needs to be familiar with Peng, Lu, Ji, An, Cai, Lie, Zhou, Kao and advancing and retreating, and how to use it. There is no point talking about it if a student’s gongfu has not reached the right level.”
At that time, all of my brothers learned taijiquan with Chen Fake, but out of all of them only Yichen really learned well, and went to Chen Fake’s house every day. At that time, of all the early batch of Fake’s taijiquan students, my brother worked the hardest and was the best at taij. Yichen and Chen Fake are similar in character, so Chen liked him very much. I often advised Li Henian to be more like Yichen [in character].
During the July 7th Incident, when the 29th Army engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese troops at Marco Polo Bridge, many important ministries were urgently moved out [of Beijing]. Yichen, my third brother and my brother-in-law were all evacuated to Xi ‘an, while the rest of the family remained in Beiping. I started working as soon as I graduated high school to help the family.
At that time, Yichen and the others transferred the money they earned in Xi’an back to Beijing to support their families via the merchants of the Zhongzhou Clan Association. They kept up their correspondence with Master Chen. My brother also asked me to visit Teacher Chen’s house often. At that time, the first batch of people who learned taijiquan in the telegraph office had left Beiping. Chen Fake didn’t leave because he didn’t have an employer. He continued to teach taijiquan in Beijing, but financially he was in dire straits in those years because he had very few students. In the 1940s, Chen Fake wrote to Yichen saying that he was thinking about coming to teach taiji in Xi ‘an to support his family. My brother replied that there were many people who had fled from Chenjiagou in Henan province already teaching taijiquan in Xi ‘an, and the income of teaching taiji in Xi ‘an was not as good as that in Beijing, so Chen Fake decided not come to Xi ‘an in the end.
After Yichen arrived in Xi ‘an in 1937, when he was working in Xi ‘an Weiqu Town Telegraphic Bureau [at that time just outside Xi’an], he taught some people taij, amongst whom a monk nicknamed “Iron Buddha” [Tie Fo] was the most outstanding. After the end of the war, the Xi ‘an telegraph office moved back to downtown Xi’an, and my brother taught some people in Lianhu Park. I knew that Chen Zhaoxu had come to Xi ‘an to look for Yichen and stayed with him just after Liberation (i.e. 1949). After I started working, I couldn’t practice for a variety of reasons. I was far behind my brother in terms of taiji. After the Cultural Revolution, in 1972 I moved back to Beijing from Henan May Seventh Cadre School. In my free time I would go to Yuetan park to train taij with Chen Fake’s disciple Lei Muni. It was also during that period that I and Lei Muni both changed to the current Beijing xinjia. That’s about all I know. You can go back to Xi ‘an for the rest. (to be continued)