Chen Style Tai Chi
陳式太極拳A family style of taijiquan from the village of Chenjiagou, linked to Chen Wangting. It alternates slow and fast movements with explosions of force (fajin) in three frames.
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Who It Suits
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About Chen Style Tai Chi
Chen style is a family style of taijiquan from the village of Chenjiagou in Henan province. Chen Wangting, active at the end of the 16th century, is named as the founder, and according to family tradition he unified the village’s training into seven routines and drew on the manual of General Qi Jiguang. How the family came to its martial style, the sources do not say clearly. Until 1928 the style was documentedly taught only around the village, then Chen Fake carried it to Beijing.
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Technically it is characterised by silk reeling (chansijin), alternation of slow and fast movements and explosions of force, fajin. It is practised in three frames, Laojia, Xinjia and Xiaojia, each with a first and a second routine. The second routine Erlu, also called Paochui, is faster and more explosive than the first routine Yilu. The numbers of movements differ by version and teacher. Training includes zhan zhuang standing, silk reeling qigong and weapons, and the historical manuals of the style describe the spear, staff, sabre and sword. A routine of 56 movements was created for competitions, and an international championship of Chen style is held in the village of Chenjiagou. In 2006 Chen style taijiquan was entered on the national list of intangible cultural heritage of the PRC. It began to spread to the world in the eighties of the 20th century. Yang Luchan, the first documented student from outside the family and the founder of Yang style, came out of Chen style.
History
Chen style (Chen Style Tai Chi) is a family style of taijiquan connected with the village of Chenjiagou in Wenxian County in Henan province. According to later documents, the Chen family is said to come from Hongtong County in Shanxi province, and its ancestor Chen Bu is said to have moved to Wen County in the 13th or 14th century. How the family came to its own martial style is unclear, and the family traditions contradict each other. Chen Wangting, of the ninth generation of the village, active at the end of the 16th century, is named as the founder of the style. According to tradition he unified the existing training into seven routines and drew on 16 styles from the manual Jixiao xinshu by General Qi Jiguang. Chen Changxing (1771–1853) narrowed the material to two routines, Yilu and Erlu, and Chen Youben of the same generation is associated with the small frame Xiaojia. Chen Changxing accepted Yang Luchan as the first documented student from outside the family. Until 1928 the style was taught only around Chen village. In that year Chen Fake (born 1887), at the invitation of his nephew Chen Zhaopei, went to teach in Beijing and stayed there until his death, which the sources place in 1957 or 1958. International spread began in 1981, and in 1983 Chen Xiaowang, Chen Zhenglei, Wang Xian and Zhu Tiancai, referred to as the four “Buddha’s warriors”, went on a trip abroad.
How it differs
China's national intangible cultural heritage portal lists five characteristics of the Chen style: firmness with softness, alternating fast and slow, the union of yin and yang, internal and external training, and spiral silk reeling. The other styles derive from it. According to the portal, Yang Luchan, teaching in Beijing, modified the demanding movements of the old frame, jumps, falls and stamping, and the Yang style is marked by open, extended stances and a 108-movement routine. Wu Yuxiang, founder of the Wu (Hao) style, studied the small frame for forty days in 1852 with Chen Qingping in Zhaobao. The portal says the He style of Zhaobao relies mainly on theory. In 1918 Sun Lutang combined taijiquan with xingyiquan and baguazhang. The old and new frames differ. According to Chen Xiaoxing, the new frame Xinjia has smaller circles, more pronounced waist rotation, and more explosive fajin strikes, qinna locks and jumps.
Technique
The Chen style is practised in three frames, each with a first and a second routine. The number of movements varies by version and teacher. China's national intangible cultural heritage portal gives the large frame as 74 and 41 movements, the small frame as 72 and 42, and the new Xinjia frame as 83 and 71. Hong Junsheng counts 81 and 64 movements in his practical method. Chen Wangting's original Paochui routine had 71 forms and is known today as the second routine, Erlu. Who gave Xinjia its name is disputed. According to Zhu Tiancai, the name was invented by practitioners in Chen village, while Chen Yu questions whether Chen Fake or Chen Zhaokui ever used it. Chen Fake promoted the new frame in the later part of his life and left no written text. Historical manuals of the style describe the spear, staff, broadsword and straight sword. For Chen Wangting, the weapon routines listed are broadsword, sword, staff and hook. From the shortened routines, Chen Xiaowang created a routine of 38 movements and in 1995 one of 19 movements, Chen Zhenglei one of 18 and Zhu Tiancai in 1997 one of 13 movements.
Training
According to China's national intangible cultural heritage portal, the Chen style has five kinds of pushing hands, tuishou: wanhua, dingbu, huobu, dalu and luan caihua. Weapon routines include the one-handed broadsword with 23 and two-handed with 35 movements, the one-handed sword with 49 and two-handed with 39, plus spear and staff. Training aids are meihua zhuang posts, taiji balls, iron bricks and stone lifting. Chen Xiaoxing said in an interview for Tai Chi magazine that in Chenjiagou the old frame Laojia is learned first, in Beijing the new frame Xinjia, and he regards both as basic routines of the same style. The second routine, the cannon fist Paochui, is by his account practised only after the first and develops endurance and explosive power.
Ranks and progression
We found no grading system specific to the Chen style in the sources. In 1998 the Chinese Wushu Association introduced the duanwei system nationwide, with nine grades in three levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. According to a specialist article, taijiquan is one of the twelve fist disciplines of the examination, listing the Chen, Yang, He, Wu and Sun styles. Under rules in force from 28 January 2021, a duanwei title can be revoked, for example for a forged certificate or a self-proclaimed grandmaster title. The 24-movement competition routine arose in 1956, from the Yang style, not Chen.
Who it suits
Of the studies that explicitly worked with Chen style, we know three. Liu et al. (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2019) randomised 43 people aged 50 and over with chronic non-specific back pain. A group of 15 people practised 16 movements of Chen style for 60 minutes three times a week for 12 weeks. Their pain on a visual analogue scale fell from 5.67 to 3.47 cm, in the trunk stabilisation group to 4.27 cm, and in the controls it stayed at 5.85. Joint proprioception did not improve, the authors point out the small sample, and the article does not report adverse events.
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Zou et al. (Brain Sciences 2019) divided 80 people over 55 between a modified Chen style of 18 movements and routine 24 from Yang style. After 12 weeks the modified Chen style group improved, according to the abstract, more significantly in cognition, one-leg stance, the Timed Up and Go test, rising from a chair and a six-metre walk. It was a modified form, not the traditional routines. We did not find any other comparison of the demands or load of Chen and Yang styles. Liu et al. (Medical & Biological Engineering & Computing 2023) measured 13 experienced practitioners of Chen style in four movements. The movements required greater lower-limb muscle force and led to greater forces in the knee than a deep squat, with a higher load on the inner side of the knee in the movements stretch down and part the wild horse’s mane. The authors therefore recommend, in knee osteoarthritis, a higher stance and less knee flexion.
Competition
A Chen style routine of 56 movements was created for competitions, devised by Kan Gui Xiang of the Beijing Sports Institute under the Chinese National Wushu Association. We were not able to document the year it was created or whether it is a compulsory IWUF routine. Chen Xiaowang is named as a technical adviser of the standardised competition routines of Chen, Yang, Wu and Sun styles. He himself won taijiquan at the Chinese national wushu tournament three years in a row from 1980, and in 1985 he won a title at the first international wushu tournament in Xi’an. An international championship explicitly in Chen style is held in the village of Chenjiagou. Of the competition categories we documented only the fan competition, and for the categories of routines and tuishou we did not find any data.
Today
Chen style taijiquan was entered in 2006 in the first batch of the national list of intangible cultural heritage of the PRC, with the region of Chenjiagou in Wenxian County, in the city of Jiaozuo. The UNESCO inscription of 2020 concerns taijiquan as a whole, not Chen style itself. Chen Xiaowang, born on 20 October 1945, is regarded as the current representative of the style. From the age of seven he studied with his father Chen Zhaoxu and later with his uncles Chen Zhaopi and Chen Zhaokui. The numbering of generations differs in the sources for him, as it does for Chen Changxing, whom one source places in the 6th and another in the 14th generation.
Did you know
In 2005 the Chinese Wushu Association awarded the city of Jiaozuo the title Holy Land of Taiji, and in 2007 two national associations recognised Wen County as the birthplace of taijiquan. Seven communities of the Chen, He, Yang, Wu, Wu (Hao), Li and Wang Qihe styles jointly applied to UNESCO, and taijiquan was inscribed in December 2020. Chen Fake came to teach in Beijing in 1928, and according to the China News Service agency his students included the Peking opera master Yang Xiaolou. According to Britannica, the Chinese name taijiquan means supreme ultimate fist.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Chen style the oldest style of taijiquan?
China's national intangible cultural heritage portal calls it the main branch from which the He, Yang, Wu and other styles developed, and places its origin in Chenjiagou at the end of the Ming and the start of the Qing dynasty. According to the portal, though, the origin of taijiquan as a whole remains disputed.
How many routines and movements does the Chen style have?
According to the national portal, the large frame has routines of 74 and 41 movements, the small frame 72 and 42, and the new frame 83 and 71.
Is taijiquan suitable for seniors?
A 2023 meta-analysis of 24 randomised trials found that tai chi reduces the risk of falling in older people by roughly a quarter. It did not assess the Chen style separately.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.