As regular readers of this blog may know, since around the middle of last year I have been investigating (actually starting over completely afresh as a beginner in) Hao style taijiquan, particularly the current branch I am training which comes down from a well-known grand-disciple of Hao Weizhen called Chen Gu’an, from Xingtai in Hebei. Chen had studied from Li Shengduan (nicknamed “Taiji Li”), one of Hao’s best disciples in the Xingtai area, and also received pointers from other senior disciples of Hao Weizhen such as Hao Zhongtian and Han Qinxian. As a Chinese Muslim (Hui), Chen also studied northern longfist (Zha Quan) from his father and the Mai family version of Xinyi Liuhe, which he seems to have learnt while living in Xuchang in Henan.
Although Chen passed away in 1993, he left behind an extremely complete system wherein the student establishes a strong foundation with Zha Quan and then moves on to Hao style taiji, with an emphasis on single posture training and a wide variety of push hands (tuishou) methods.
The reason I have gravitated to Hao style taiji is because it is extremely compatible with the body methods / principles (shenfa) of Song style xingyiquan as I learnt it, for example:
*Requirement for ‘3 points aligning’ [san jian xiang zhao];
*Heavy, relaxed quality of fajin;
*Emphasis on diametric pulling (dui ba) in fajin movements;
* Requirement that the arms be completely relaxed (but with intention in the hands);
*Rooting is determined by ability to drop weight / sink the qi down to the feet rather than height of stance
I hope to be able to share more details of this very complete system once I have really ingrained the requirements and deepened my own practice, and hope this particular branch becomes more widely known outside of China.
A good example of this branch’s flavour is shown by Gao Liancheng (who learnt from Chen from a young age), based in Zhengzhou:
2 Comments
Cathern Buboltz · July 21, 2024 at 8:27 pm
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Chip Ellis · August 17, 2024 at 5:16 pm
I just wanted to say hello, and that I greatly appreciate your posts. I have been studying taijiquan from the Dong family for the last 50 years, and my journey is still fresh, and I continue to try to learn.
By coincidence, I have also been studying baguazhang for those same 50 years, although not as diligently, due to time pressure. For the last 10 years I have been studying Yin style baguazhang with Wang Shangzhi of Beijing.
I continue my practice in Honolulu, Hawaii.
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