Chen Fake
Master of Chen family taijiquan (1887–1957), great-grandson of Chen Changxing, who taught in Beijing from 1928 and made the Chen style famous beyond Chenjiagou.
Quick Facts
ChinaBiography
Chen Fake, courtesy name Fusheng, was a master of Chen family taijiquan who made the Chen style famous in Beijing. He was born in 1887 in Chenjiagou in Henan province and died in 1957. He was a great-grandson of Chen Changxing.
His father Chen Yanxi was, according to English Wikipedia, an armed escort. Around 1900 he went to teach the family of Yuan Shikai in Shandong, and the adolescent Chen Fake then trained intensively for three years. According to his student Hong Junsheng, he was recognized as a master at the age of seventeen.
According to the agency Chinanews, he came to Beijing in 1928 on the recommendation of his nephew Chen Zhaopei, while English Wikipedia elsewhere places his arrival only after 1930. The agency describes him as an honest and reserved man who refused a well-paid university post so as not to displace another teacher. Thanks to his work, the Chen style became known beyond his native village.
His students included, according to Chinanews, Shen Jiazhen, Gu Liuxin, Tang Hao and Feng Zhiqiang among others, and according to English Wikipedia Hong Junsheng, who trained with him for about fifteen years. His sons Chen Zhaoxu and Chen Zhaokui and his daughter Chen Yuxia passed the tradition on. We have not been able to document the claim that he was undefeated in duels for thirty years. We have not found a quote with a documented origin.
Early life
Chen Fake was born in 1887 in Chenjiagou and died in 1957, and exact dates are not in the sources. His father Chen Yanxi, born around 1820 according to English Wikipedia, was an armed escort. Around 1900 the father went to teach the family of Yuan Shikai in Shandong, and the fourteen-year-old Chen Fake then trained intensively for three years. According to the text by his student Hong Junsheng, he spent about three years caring for his paralyzed mother and promised her that he would stop drinking.
Training and teachers
His main teacher was his father. According to Hong Junsheng, he was recognized as a master at the age of seventeen. The agency Chinanews names among his Beijing students these: Xu Yusheng, Yang Xiaolou, Shen Jiazhen, Li Jianhua, Tang Hao, Gu Liuxin and Feng Zhiqiang. Hong Junsheng trained with him from 1930, according to the website of his academy until 1944, and in 1956 he returned to him for about half a year.
Contribution and innovations
According to Chinanews he came to Beijing in 1928, and thanks to this the Chen style became known beyond Chenjiagou. The weekly Nanfang Zhoumo writes that his nephew Chen Zhaopei recommended him in 1928 and that in Beijing he became famous as Taiji yi ren, the first man of taiji. English Wikipedia, on the contrary, states that Chen Zhaopei was invited to Nanjing in 1930 and only then proposed inviting Chen Fake. According to Chinanews he refused a well-paid post at the Minguo university so as not to displace another teacher.
Legends and documented facts
The claim that he was undefeated in duels for thirty years carries a citation-needed tag in English Wikipedia and does not appear in the text by Hong Junsheng. The year of his arrival in Beijing differs in the sources, Chinanews and Nanfang Zhoumo give 1928, English Wikipedia in the text the period after 1930. English Wikipedia also states that the Xinjia form was named by villagers who learned it from Chen Zhaokui, and does not designate Chen Fake directly as its creator.
Legacy
His children Chen Zhaoxu (1912–1959), Chen Yuxia (1924–1986) and Chen Zhaokui (1928–1981) passed the tradition on. Chen Zhaokui taught a new form of the first and second road in Chenjiagou from the spring of 1973 until his death in 1981. According to Chinanews, Feng Zhiqiang was the chairman of the Beijing Association for the Study of Chen Style Taijiquan. Hong Junsheng published a book on the practical method of the Chen style in 1989, and it appeared in English in 2006.
Associated Martial Arts
A Chinese family of internal martial art styles with slow forms and tuishou, documented from the 17th century in Henan. Zhang Sanfeng is a legend, UNESCO 2020.
Chen Style Tai ChiMaster→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.