Formosa Neijia

I think Bob must have excellent typing skills. He typed up this excerpt from Adam Hsu’s latest book over at ChenWired, but I want to archive it here. I’m about to order the book (available here) and I’ll review it after I read it. This excerpt has some great information about what Hsu laoshi uncovered when he went to the mainland. The versions of Chen done by his teacher, Du Yu-ze, (including the huleijia) naturally look a bit different from common village style, and Hsu apparently wanted to find the roots to his taiji. His efforts are commendable and the fruits of his research, hinted at below, are well worth contemplating.

Here is what Adam Hsu has written in his new book (previous writings) Lone Sword Against the Cold Cold Sky with regard to Du Yu Ze’s taiji:

Regarding his trip to Chen Jia Gou


“First came Chen Hsu Chai (Chen Xu Cai?). He was 80 years old, and as he began to move, my heart began to pound—what he did was very close to the Chen Taiji Quan as I had learned it! Then a lady sifu in her sixties, Chen Sou Yuen (Chen Zou Yun?) did her set, and now I could comfortably confirm what I had been told by people who visited Chenjiagou, “The old people there do Chen Taiji Quan just like you!” When Chen Sou Yuen was finished, I got a grizzled old man around 60 years of age, Chen Pou Hxian, to perform Xin Jia from Chen You Heng/Chen You Beng system. What he showed me was quite different from the Xin Jia I knew but when he was done, we bagan to chat.

Peering at me through thick horn rimmed glasses, Chen Pou Hsian asked, “Do you know where your sifu got his Xin Jia?”

Disillusioned by now, I hopelessly said, “Yes, Chen Ming Biao.” Che Pou Hsian looked up causually and said, “Oh, Du Yu Ze’s bodyguard.”

Looking at the old man in disbelief, I had to control myself so I didn’t leap off the couch, grab him and shake him too quickly wring all the possible information out of this living historical reference book. At last, I had dug up my roots; the known source of my Chen Taiji Quan was about to flower before me. This was the history I had travled so many thousands of miles to find. I begged Chen Pou Hsian to continue, and he told me:

“Chen You Peng began Xin Jia and had an outstanding student, Chen Qing Ping who relocted to Zhaobao where he married a local woman. Accoridng to people here, Chen Qing Ping was a rich guy in the rice and grain business. It was through him that Woo style and then He and Sun style Taiji Quan developed. All these styles and their main exponents became quite well known, but in the village people knew that Chen Qing Ping had even better students; one in particular was Li Jing Yen.

“Li Jing Yen initially learned from Chen Zhong Shen, but later switched and became Chen Qing Ping’s student until Chen Qing Ping’s death. Li Jing Yen’s way to do Taiji Quan was new, but it differed from all theother methods that had been created up until then..”

His Kung Fu earned him many compliments from sifus in Chenjiagou and ZhaoBao who recognized a valuable variation on the Chen Taiji Quan when they saw one. Respecting his interpetation and training methods, they chose a name to distinguish his set: “Hu Lei Jia,” the thunder style, alternatively explosive, then calm. They called his steps “bou jaio,” continuous sets of waves. I could verify, these were the very things Du Yu Ze taught me!

I cannot describe how happy I felt as I sat furiously writing notes while Chen Pou Xian spoke. When I returned to San Francisco I wrot to Du Yu Ze to tell him what I had discovered. When the 90 year old man received my letter he wept and wrote me back: “The last time I saw my sifu Chen Ming Biao, he bid me farewell, planning to return to Chenjaigou to continue his Taiji Quan practice and research. Then the Sino-Japanese war began, followed by the Chinese civil war, and I was never able to return home again or get any information about what became of my sifu.”

I asked Chen Pou Xian if there was anybody left in the village practicing this kind of Hu Lei Jia? He shook his head in disgust and said, “No. It’s pitiful.” When I asked why he continued Chen Ming Biao’s saga: “Chen Ming Biao got tuberculosis, at that time a fatal disease, and died young. He had 2 sons, who learned Taiji Quan but neither of them were very good. The first son, Din Xin, married twice but had no kids. There was a second son, Hue Xin, who was about 5 years older than me—we went to school together—but he died as a teenage.” pp. 97-98.