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Chen style Tai Chi Chuan Wikipedia

The Chen style (陳氏) is considered to be the senior branch of the five T'ai Chi Ch'uan family styles and the third in terms of popularity. The Chen style today is known for its low postures and vigorous martial art training. While there are many hundreds of schools teaching T'ai Chi Ch'uan around the world, the family styles are said to go the farthest in maintaining the "old-fashioned" style of teaching that has been normative for T'ai Chi Ch'uan instruction for most of its history.

Historically documented from the 1600s, the Chen family originates in Chenjiagou in Wen County, Henan Province.(溫縣陳家溝). Their best known teacher was Chen Changxing (陳長興 Ch??n Ch??ngxīng, Ch'en Chang-hsing, 1771-1853). Chen Changxing started teaching the famous Yang Luchan in 1820. Yang went on to found the Yang style T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Chen Changxing is also traditionally associated with a teacher known as Jiang Fa (蔣發 Jiǎng Fā), although it is no longer clear if their relationship was a teacher/student one (or even who was senior) or if they were colleagues.
Some traditions teach that a disciple of Zhang Sanfeng named Wang Zongyue (王宗岳) taught the martial art later to be known as T'ai Chi Ch'uan to the Chen family, but this cannot be confirmed. On the other hand, some in the Chen family claim that it was Wang who learned T'ai Chi Ch'uan from them.
Chen style has become well recognized internationally in recent years, due mostly to the efforts of Chen Fake (陳發科, Ch'en Fa-k'e 1887-1957), who taught for many years in Beijing. Many direct descendants of the Chen family are still teaching T'ai Chi Ch'uan around the world.

There is a relatively well known variant of the Chen style known as Zhaobao style T'ai Chi Ch'uan - He style (赵堡 - 和式).

Last Modified:   2005-11-04