This is an article Copyrighted 1995 by Kungfu Magazine on Secrets of Chen Village

Secrets of Chen Village with Master Chen Qingzhou

by Marian K. Castinado

As a child in Chen Village, China in the 1930s, life for him was hard. Sickly, with some lung and stomach disease, he was living in a time and lace where there was little food, and like a scene from !he "ood #arth, the eo le of the area sometimes ate dirt to survive. $ut in s ite of such a%&ect overty, treasured as sacred within their culture was a &ewel %eyond worth ' too valua%le to sell, too recious to ignore( the Chen )amily !ai&i. !his nine'year'old Chen *ing+hou, ho ing to im rove his health, %egan training in tai&i ostures, working first with his father, Chen ,ufang. !he elder man was not of a high skill, %ut he could lay well, and the lessons rogressed in difficulty. #ven under the most stressful of circumstances, when Chen *ing+hou and his father had to leave their home during the -a anese invasions and thousands of eo le were %eing killed, they left their home town, %ut they continued to train. !he %oy.s love for tai&i %ecame very strong, and his father encouraged the search for a %etter teacher, the one who could %estow the ne/t level of difficulty. 0n 1912, at age 19, Chen *ing+hou stood %efore 3aster Chen 4hao i, a famous instructor of the time, and asked for indoor status as a student. ,hy did he choose this style5 63y last name is Chen,6 3aster Chen *ing+hou states with a laugh that transcends language. 60n that area we didn.t even see any other kind of martial art. 3y father, everyone, racticed it.6 0t was &ust %efore the cultural revolution of the mid'1910s, when only echoes would remain from these days when everyone trained ' or were the 6echoes6 the distant sound of ractitioners underground in little rooms, kee ing the

sacred art alive like sorcerers con&uring a time thought dead5 0ronic then, that Chen *ing+hou.s training hall was a graveyard ' 7i%eration Cemetery in ,en/ian ' the only 8uiet s ot where he could ractice when not with his teacher. 9erha s ins ired %y the s irits of his ancestors, Chen *ing+hou.s ower grew so great that Chen 4hao i granted him ermission to teach in 1913, after only one year of tutelage. 0n those days, the Chinese eo le were oor and didn.t travel much, %ut Chen *ing+hou went to teach in outlying rovinces, and first encountered :sing 0, 7ong )ist and Shaolin at tournaments. 60 saw a lot of the chi gong where they were %reaking %ricks on their foreheads,6 recalls 3aster Chen, s eaking through his student ;ris #ckert. 6!heir %odies were hard, and 0 said, .,e.re not like that, we.re &ust the o osite, our %ody is soft and the inside is hard as a rock.6 At first they were all somewhat afraid of us, and at the com etitions all the divisions were se arated, so they really didn.t have an o ortunity to .touch hands. ' to do any fighting. $ut then later they did lay ush hands, or free fighting, and it was very easy for the high'skilled Chen layers to take all this hard energy and dissi ate it, lead them into em tiness and then at that oint e/ert force and finish them off. 6<ur o onent.s first reaction was admiration. !hey said, .,e used so much chi force, and you &ust ut us down so easily.. !hey were in awe. !heir outer strength was really strong. !hat energy was still there, %ut the Chen layers utili+ed that hard energy against the eo le. 60 saw the very traditional as ects and wanted to dig dee er, to research this,6 says 3aster Chen. 6Chen !ai&i is esoteric= you can.t touch it with the hand, you have to feel it, see it, watch it= it.s got to %e e/ erienced %y every sense of the %ody. 0 wanted to get the answers to some of these mysteries. 0 had a good relationshi with my master and really liked traditional Chinese culture. 3y teacher loved me as well %ecause 0 had a love for the gung fu and trained really hard. 0 was with my teacher for nine years, and went on my %icycle an hour from the city where 0 worked, to train.6 :e would study under his teacher until Chen 4hao i.s death. !he lace where he trained still stands, little more than a small mud hut, yet sacred as the lace where a treasure was assed on to its 19th generation. !oday, 3aster Chen is one of the most res ected ractitioners in China, where in 199> he was named one of 12 eo le in the five recogni+ed tai&i styles as da shi, or grandmaster. "eneral instructor and head coach at the Chen )amily !ai&i8uan ?esearch and !raining Centers in ,en/ian and

Chen&iagou, he was also vice'secretary general of the ,en/ian 0nternational 3eeting of !ai&i8uan. A noted author, he has %een invited to act as head coach in ten Chinese rovinces, and has taught more than ten thousand students, many of whom ' including Chen *ing+hou.s sons ' have achieved great com etitive honors. :aving re&ected the so'called @ew )rame Chen style as taught %y Chen 4haokui, youngest son of Chen )ake, Chen *ing+hou decided to reserve the <ld )rame that he learned from Chen 4hao i, a decision that drew re&udice he will only hint at, then 8uickly change the su%&ect. $ut the ancient system was strong enough to survive this attack as well. 0t had to %e, for in generations %efore, its tenets ke t its ractitioners alive against their enemies. Strengthened through centuries of family lineage, it had seemed that the style would remain secret forever, assed down only to the males of the family, so that no girls could carry the system to a new hus%and.s home. $ut as with any treasure, legend magnifies its gleam, and the word of its glories s read until sometime after 11>> during the Ching dynasty, in the 1>th generation, when a young man named Aang 7uchan retended that he was mute and very oor, and the Chen family gave him a &o%. ,eek after week he watched the family racticing Chen !ai&i until one day, so e/cited a%out what he saw, he shouted out, 6Very "oodB6 Caught in his dece tion, Aang had no choice %ut to confess that he wanted to learn, and to ask for indoor student status from Chen Chang Cin, who agreed to teach him. Aang 7uchan also had a nickname, Siao :u, meaning 7ittle !iger. :e was also called Aang the 0nvinci%le. @o one could %eat his gung fu skill, which did not deviate from the Chen )amily !ai&i %o/ing system. $ut when he assed that art on to Aang 7uchan.s sons and grandchildren, they took out some of the %ao fa &ing, or hard elements, changing the style. !he reasoning was that they were teaching the em eror.s family, who %ecause of a life of ease weren.t hard workers, and didn.t want to sweat, to nurse %um s and %ruises= the system %ecame Aang style tai&i, which is the soft side of tai&i. <nce Aang 7uchan was taught, it o ened the doors, and eo le with different last names came in. !hey learned Chen )amily !ai&i, %ut many went out of the village, did their own %o/ing, and ut their name to it, resulting in different 6frames6 %eing studied within the Chen )amily !ai&i. 3ost of them changed the names to their own names. 6Chen )amily !ai&i %o/ing has gone through many changes, and it.s constantly evolving,6 says Chen *ing+hou di lomatically. @onetheless, he is determined that the true

treasure will remain intact. Modern Newcomers <utsiders are still %eing welcomed to hold the tai&i treasure known as Chen, and Chen *ing+hou is no less generous with his wisdom than the generations of masters %efore. A rime e/am le is the acce tance of indoor student #ckert, known in China as -in !aiyang, a >3'year'old American who 6went into China, through the underground gung fu network trying to find someone like him. 3ost of the foreigners don.t get taught all that much, and 0 can say that %ecause 0.ve %een in China= 0.ve aid money, gotten tricked and run through the gamut,6 she says. After two years she found Chen *ing+hou. 6:e.s called himself a recluse= his icture isn.t in all the maga+ines in China. 0t.s really &ust the gung fu eo le who know of him,6 she says. <n Decem%er 21, 1993, 60 went and told my story to his wife in my then very %roken Chinese,6 #ckert recalls. 60 carried with me the very traditional %ag of a les and oranges that you take %efore a gung fu master. !he ne/t day he actually knocked on my door.6 6She has the a%ility to chi ku6 ' to eat %itter, meaning to endure the hardshi s of training ' 6:er time in China and how she came to find me roved that,6 recalls Chen *ing+hou. 6Also, on that EfirstF day 0 asked her to +han +huang G erform the rooting ostureH. She was a%le to endure a low osture a very long time. 0 was im ressed with her a%ility to ersevere. 6:is generosity in teaching me has %een overwhelming, and this is not characteristic,6 says #ckert, who lives in the Chen village. 6:e was so willing to give me these secrets, and a lot of eo le said, .don.t give it u = you.re giving too much,. %ut he wants to give it. 9rotecting the gung fu cost him a lot. :e wanted to reserve the original. :e actually took offense when 0 said to him, .Are you teaching me as much as you teach your sons5. :e got very angry and said, .7ook, 0.m teaching you %etter, %ecause you.re here 2> hours a day and you work hard.. !hat shows his character and his heart. :e has the skill and he wants to s read it.6 Complete Art 9art of s reading this knowledge was a seminar tour of the Inited States earlier this year. Among the differences %etween the countries. tai&i, 3aster Chen notes that 6here there is a time ressure. 0n China, traditionally and even to this day, things are very rela/ed. 0n the %eginning, a student might ractice +han +huang or the stationary rooting osture for at least a month. !he fundamental training would take as long as one year, %ut here, %ecause

these seminars are for a short time ' two hours, three hours, four hours ' you have to try to cram a lot of information into a short time. During the four'hour sessions, eo le are getting a full s ectrum( the +han +huang, the %asic e/ercises, they also want a lot of ush hands and a lications. Aou can.t get a com lete, com rehensive understanding a%out what is going on in the tai&i or the ush hands Ein that timeF. 60 don.t lay wing chun and tae kwon do and all the other things, so 0 do not want to make a comment on their training methods. 0 don.t want to critici+e. $ut 0 have seen some eo le in the ark and watched their %asic fundamental training,6 says 3aster Chen. 6!he most im ortant element in Chen tai&i 8uan is that one side is the hard, and one side is the soft side,6 he says. 6Aou have to have them %oth at the same time= you can.t disregard the other one. 0 have seen a lot of Aang style here in America and in China ' it is the same ' the arks are full of Aang style tai&i. !hey ractice with almost entirely soft energy. !his is not a criticism. 0 am only noting that the Chen style tai&i has %oth hardness and softness. Aou can.t &ust ractice soft energy, you must also e/ ress the develo ment of that soft energy which comes out in hard energy. $ut it is not e/ternal hard energy, it comes from the internal, from the dantien,6 or center of the %eing. 6!he whole characteristic, the rinci le of yinJyang, is called gang rou /iang chi( !his is Chen style tai&i.s s ecial element. "ang is yang, rou is yin.6 ,ithin that duality is the hard side, %ao fa &ing, notes #ckert. !his translates as an e/ertion of force, %ut again, that force is not e/ternal, %ut an e/ertion that roceeds out of the dantien, using the internal energy of Chen !ai&i. ,ithin the com lementary element of softness is +ou hua. !hough the energy is taken away from the artner, the energy is still resent and is used, a synergistic effect %etween the master and the attacker. 60n the Chen !ai&i which was handed down, there are e8ual elements of hardness and softness,6 says 3aster Chen. 6@ow in tai&i and all over China, even in the wing chun training center, mostly what you are seeing is the soft side= in some cases you are seeing the soft side which does not have any internal energy, so it is em ty. 0f you are laying good tai&i with good internal energy %ut are not racticing the %ao fa &ing, then in ush hands training you might still %e a%le to achieve yin &ing lou kong6 ' which #ckert roughly translates to 6leading the artner into em tiness6 ' 6$ut you cannot do anything with it %ecause you have no e/ losive force.

6!he artner attacks and his energy is coming toward your %ody,6 3aster Chen e/ lains. 60f you do not do something, you will fall down and his attack will %e successful. <ther styles. theories are very different.6 0n the Chen )amily tai&i, the theory is called ying &ang yong tan in which the ractitioner uses the techni8ues of Chen !ai&i, twisting or turning on the dantien in a s iraling action that is constantly circling. Ising these skills you understand the artner.s energy= then you lead the artner into an 6em ty lace.6 6Visuali+e what it might %e to &um out of an air lane with no arachute ' that weightless, hel less feeling,6 e/ lains #ckert. 6!he oint of traditional handed down gong fu originally was for self' defense,6 says 3aster Chen. 6!o take the guy down to the ground where he could %arely move is the ultimate goal of the original gung fu ' what you could really use. $ut if you are laying in a com etition or at home &ust to learn the theories, then you add &ust enough %ao fa &ing to control the o onent without killing him or hurting him. <ur ush hands is eaceful= we are friends, not hooligans. 6,e have all the fundamental training, the ush hands that we ractice, the forms and the hand methods. ,hy do we do it5 ,e do it for th ur ose of racticing ush hands training. !hat is the ultimate goal. !h oint is that there are a lot of energies that we ractice= the first four are eng, lu, &i and an. !hose energies need to come together to the level where you %lend and harmoni+e all these kinds of energies. !hat is understanding and hearing and feeling the artner.s energy. ,e ractice ush hands to have that connection.6 !he ninth generation of the Chen )amily !ai&i, more than 300 years ago, develo ed free ste ush hands, which is also referred to as &in yi tui yi, meaning 6forward one ste , %ack one ste ,6 notes #ckert. !he other main ty es of ush hands stem from this first method. 0ncluded are ding %u, which means fi/ed ste ush hands= he %u, which is closed ste = &in sin tui san, which is three ste s forward, three ste s %ack= and da teng da lu, which is the same as free ste , %ut the osture is lower, with the %uttocks almost touching the ground. 0t is a dedication to the traditional methods which differentiates Chen )amily tai&i ' and the %enefits it can roduce. According to 3aster Chen, the Chen )amily tai&i.s advantage is that 6everyone can do it. 0f you.re old, young, in good health or %ad. !wo im ortant conce ts within the Chen )amily tai&i %o/ing are chan si &ing,6 which translates into silk'reeling energy, 6and lou /uan6 which means a s iraling motion. 6Ising these energies, it is ossi%le for a smaller'framed

erson, such as a woman, to defeat a larger o onent using these internal energies rather than e/ternal force. Aou don.t have to %uild u our %ody to %e successful at this.6 Sharing the reasure 6,hen China o ened to the world in the 19K0s, that was very im ortant for the develo ment of Chen !ai&i, %ecause eo le came in an researched this. 3any eo le went to China and were looking for martial arts. Chen )amily tai&i is a treasure of China, and now it.s a gift to the world, not &ust har%ored in Chen village,6 says 3aster Chen. 60 want eo le to learn from it and %enefit. Also, throwing it out to the world will create controversy and romote more research, which is essential to the health and long'term well'%eing of Chen !ai&i. 0 don.t have all the answers, or claim to %e the foremost world authority. 0 offer this to you in ho es of further research, to make it go further.6 ,ritten %y 3arian ;. Castinado for ;I@")I3A"A40@#.C<3

Ai 7u !his is the traditional .dragon ark. Chen first form that 0 learned from :uan Dahai in Shanghai. 0 will add to this gradually and will add hotos G%ut don.t hold your %reathH. -ames Sa er is giving me a lot of the details on the internal connections, drawing on his knowledge as a Chinese !raditional 3edicine doctor. 7ineage of this routine(

Chen Aan/i taught his son Chen )ake G1KKL'19MLH, 7i ?uidong, Auan ;eding G1KLK' 5H, :u Auchun, and others. Auan ;eding was from :enan and s ent time in !ian&in, Shandong, and $ei&ing. Auan ;eding was Auan Shikai.s G1KM9'1911, and the first resident of China 1911'1911H son. 0.m afraid that Auan ;eding wasn.t famous for much of anything %ut trying to get olitical ower on his father.s coattails. Sifu was a %it reticent a%out our lineage %ecause of this. 7i ?uidong was from ,u8ing county in :e%ei. :e learned from Aang 7uchan, among others, and was known for his skill in shaolin, tai&i, wea ons, and wrestling. :e was a wushu instructor for Auan Shikai. 0 think Auan ;eding could have also learned from 7i ?uidong since they %oth worked for his father. :ui -uan5 learned from Auan ;eding. :uan Dahai learned from his friend :ui -uan5 and also from :u Auchun G:ui.s martial uncleH.

Sifu did not ut our style into any standard catagory, he &ust said it was .old., older than .lao&ia.. 7ooking at hotos of old Chen&iagou villagers, hotos of /iao&ia, and the illustrations of Chen Cin.s 1921 %ook, there are a lot of similar looking moves. !he +hao%ao style looks tantali+ing similar at first, %ut on looking closer is not 8uite it. !he cris fa&in of old villagers is a lot more like our fa&in than any modern Chen 0.ve seen. !he movements 0.ve seen in video cli s of /iao&ia do not really move 8uite like our style. 0n the end, it does not really matter what it is, the feeling of the moves and the way they grow together is roof of its authenticity.