Chen Pan-ling
陳泮嶺
Chinese engineer and Kuomintang politician, author of a 99-movement taiji form, founder of the Kaifeng Martial Arts Union and a similar society in Taiwan.
Quick Facts
ChinaBiography
Chen Pan-ling (陳泮嶺) was born on 17 February 1892 and died on 7 April 1967 in Taichung, Taiwan. In martial arts he is known as an organizer and as the author of a 99-movement taiji form combining the Chen, Yang and Wu styles with influences from xingyiquan and baguazhang.
He completed the preparatory school of Peking University (1914), continued at Beiyang University (1917), and in 1919 finished civil engineering at Peking University; a secondary source states hydraulic engineering. We have not been able to verify from whom he learned the martial art.
In 1925 he founded the Kaifeng Martial Arts Union. He was director of the Henan Provincial Institute of National Arts and in Taiwan founded the Chinese Society for the Development of National Arts. According to a secondary source, as chairman of a government committee he synthesized knowledge of taiji from various schools.
At the same time he was active in public administration: from 1926 to 1927 he headed the First Provincial Middle School in Henan, in 1930 he led the organizing committee of the Henan Provincial Committee of the Kuomintang, in 1935 he became a member of the Fifth Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, and in 1947 he headed the Yellow River Water Conservancy Engineering Bureau. From 1961 to 1962 he was the first president of Feng Chia University, which he helped found in 1961.