This is a quote from an excellent article by Jarek Szymanski that shows how the split between dajia and xiaojia came about (bold mine):
Small Frame combines hardness with softness, there is more softness and less hardness in the First Set (Yi Lu), more hardness and less softness in the Second Set (Er Lu). Furthermore since Small Frame has a very complete theoretical system and strict, step-by-step method of practice, people in Chenjiagou praise it as “Gongfu Frame” (Gongfu Jia) or “Special Frame” (Kan Jia Quan; Kan Jia literally means “look after the house”). It is not that - as some books say - “Chen Youben, 14th generation descendant of Chen clan, made some changes to the original routines, gradually abandoning some more difficult and vigorous movements, and created New Frame (Xin Jia), also called Small Frame, as extended as Old Frame (Lao Jia)”.
Since Chen Changxing was escorting caravans away from home all the year round, Chen Gengyun (Chen Changxing’s son and 15th generation descendant of Chen clan), in order to work together with the father, asked Chen Youben, his uncle, to teach him. In order to help Chen Gengyun achieve skill in the shortest possible time, Chen Youben, while preserving the quintessence of the First Set (in) Thirteen Postures (Tou Tao Shi San Shi), put emphasis on “Power Explosions” (Bao Fa Li), enlarged the movements, and coached Chen Gengyun for over a year. Chen Youben and Chen Gengyun through discussions and thorough studies created a certain type of frame; since then, in order to differ it from First Set (in) Thirteen Postures (Tou Tao Shi San Shi), people began to call them “Small Circles” and “Large Circles”. Chen Gengyun passed this frame to his family members; it was also taught to Chen Fake - his grandson - who in 1928 was invited to Beijing to teach martial arts, and made this frame known to the public. Later generations began to refer to this frame as “Large Frame” (Da Jia), while to traditional system as “Small Frame” (Xiao Jia).
The sequence is quite clear: xiaojia came first, dajia (including laojia and xinjia) came later.
So what does this mean? The original Chen style was more like what is now known as xiaojia, not dajia, as is commonly thought. Therefore, people need to stop thinking that xiaojia is something that is done by old people because it’s easier than the dajia frames of laojia and xinjia. Here’s a quote from Wikipedia that shows this incorrect view very clearly:
Small Frame Tradition routines also used to be practised by “retired” Chen villagers. It seems this was because the more demanding leaping, stomping, low frame, and intensive Fa jing of the advanced Big Frame Tradition routines have been eliminated and the retained movements emphasise the training of the soft internal skills…The traditions are only significantly different because the elder practitioners tend to focus on longevity and may develop injuries if they practice in the same manor as the younger practitioners.
The old people likely do xiaojia because that’s the way most everyone did Chen style before the modern adaptations of dajia appeared and were popularized.
Those people who do the xiaojia arts or a version of Chen style heavily flavored by this type of movement shouldn’t listen to ill-informed people who say we are supposedly practicing something inferior, watered down, or “corrupted” by other arts . Actually, thanks to the above article, now the shoe is on the other foot to some extent: dajia was a later modification designed to make Chen style easier to learn. Obviously, the prestige of laojia and xinjia are going to take a hit as their proper place in history becomes more obvious.
NOT that those frames are in any way inferior. They are excellent gungfu. But the dajia arts of laojia and xinjia are not the standard by which all Chen style taiji is to be judged.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Darius // Oct 5, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Yes, excellent article. It’s always very interesting to watch people do the xiaojia and compare it with Chen Panling’s form. It seems the CPL form’s Chen elements come directly from the xiaojia. I’ve never been able to find out who Chen Panling studied with in Chenjiagou when he was there in the 1930s, but I’d love to find out. Maybe his sons know more…
Thanks and hope all is going well for you!
2 jonathan liljeblad // Oct 5, 2007 at 10:06 pm
interesting. where would you put Du Yu Ze (not sure on the translated spelling) into this?
3 Dave Chesser // Oct 5, 2007 at 11:39 pm
Du Yu-ze did both xiaojia and dajia. But from the video I’ve seen of him, I’d definitely put his personal style of movement closer to the xiaojia.
That is what has caused so much confusion about why Du’s material looks different from modern village Chen style. People take the modern stuff as how all of Chen style has always looked and should always look. And that’s very clearly incorrect.
4 Dave Chesser // Oct 5, 2007 at 11:42 pm
Darius,
I would guess you’re likely correct in your assumptions, although we’ll never know for sure. Some have even speculated that Yang Lu-chan learned xiaojia, resulting in Yang taiji looking that much more different from modern day village Chen. Looking at the xiaojia, the similarities to Yang style are more evident.
5 silkreeling // Oct 8, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Fan Chun-lei’s form has leg stomping, leaps and fajing….
his form is only similar to yang in the cloud hands and later single whip parts.
Du Yu-ze has a very distinct brush knee push that is very similar to yang style, which is also similar to dajia’s diagonal form.
haven’t purchase frank’s book on xiaojia, but chenxin’s writing apply equally to both the frames too.
6 Rob // Oct 12, 2007 at 7:37 am
Interesting info. I was told that Chen Qing Ping was short in size compared to his Chen uncles and cousins so he had to develop a certain body method that involved alot of Bao Fa energy and Kai He energy which he could use at close range…
In his form the shen fa looked unusual and strange but it worked really well for Chen Qing Ping when it came to fighting in close.
7 David // May 21, 2008 at 9:47 pm
Great article, thank you! Just to correct what seems to be a misconception, xiaojia and dajia are both Laojia (Old Frame). Prior to the 1900’s (?) there was no distinction between the two. The current lineage holders of xiaojia are Master Chen Peishan and Master Chen Peiju, International Society of Chen Family Taijiquan. In addition, there are also rumors that the Wu/Hao tradition utilizes xiaojia training and knowledge, making it quite a profound style.
8 wayne hansen // May 22, 2008 at 5:51 am
i would love to know how wu/hao uses xiaojai training
looking at du yu ze it seems that it is modern chen that has changed not yang.
if that is true the argument that so many make about chen being closer to the source seems wrong.
i had an old doco on the chen village mainly featuring chen zaio wang,in it the people who seemed to be in their 80,s would do the fa ging with an almost unobservable energy,it impressed me greatly ,i dont see that in any of todays practicioners.when i met chen in 88 he said this was a very old doco and was suprised that i had seen it.
i was told by a teacher of mine that chen pan lings form was called modified chen style and that he had put it together after visiting the chen village in the 30,s.
9 Buddy // May 22, 2008 at 6:08 am
Any links that show the difference? I’m hoping to learn more of the CPL style when my teacher comes.
10 David // May 22, 2008 at 9:41 pm
Wu/Hao is an amalgam of traditional Yang style (via Yang Luchan) and Chen style. The important thing to remember is that previous to the explosion of Chen style on the world, there was no split between dajia and xiaojia. They are both traditional Chen style Laojia (Old Frame), they just focus on different aspects of the training, thereby a differentiation is made. There are some excellent videos of Master Chen Peishan and Master Chen Peiju (20th Generation) and Master Chen Boxiang and Master Chen Li-Qing (19th Generation) available on Youtube. View them and see if you can tell the difference. Good Journey.
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