Below is the review I wrote for Amazon.com. I plan a much longer discussion here on the blog, but this will get you started. The book is available here and a 90-page preview is available there, as well.
Written by a member of the Chen family, Chen Xin, this is the first comprehensive look at Chen style taiji. Chen completed his work in the 1920’s and it’s based on his practice of the “xiaojia” frame of Chen style which is a bit different from the more commonly seen laojia frame. So the form, which is meticulously broken down in the book, is the older xiaojia form.
Chen’s point of view is heavily flavored by his knowledge of Yijing philosophy and internal alchemy. The book is basically steeped in it. Chen starts right at the source with the Luo and He River maps that were the pre-cursors to the Yijing in order to explain in minute detail exactly where taiji philosophy and movement came from. He then segues into Yijing philosophy and explains the trigrams, a basis for understanding how the trigrams influence the form that follows later. The meridian theory from TCM is then introduced as an explanation for silk reeling.
Basically the silk reeling originates in the dantian and then spirals out through the meridians in the body and the limbs. Chen provides perhaps a bit more detail than necessary to understand that concept, but better too much than too little.
Chen makes it so clear right from the beginning that internal alchemy is THE point of doing taiji. He even mentions seated meditation at key points in the text as a way of illuminating things that may not be clear from just form practice. The form itself is explained in terms of the alchemy with each move broken down into silk reeling and alchemical components. This section will prove invaluable to practitioners of any taijiquan style. Using this text, taiji people can pick out the alchemy elements of each move in order to practice them.
Chen does mention martial uses of the taiji, but these comments are buried inside the larger alchemical context. In order to understand the applications, you must be thoroughly familiar with the yin/yang philosophy that Chen uses or else the application theory won’t make sense. So in order to grasp what he says about application, you must grasp the central thesis of the book which means not skipping the long parts on alchemy.
This book is a masterpiece, albeit one that will unfortunately not be as influential in the West as it is in the East. For example, when I studied Chen style in Taiwan, my teachers told me this was the only book I needed to buy. It’s deep enough to be plumbed for a lifetime. But because of that depth, few will be able to penetrate the book’s teachings. Basically the book is far deeper than most are willing to go in their taiji practice even though following the advice of this book would lead them to true knowledge of the taiji and taijiquan.
As I read it, I felt a little sad, as if I had been given a glimpse of a masterpiece that would unfortunately not be shared by many people.
6 responses so far ↓
1 David // May 23, 2008 at 9:43 pm
Wow, I didn’t know they had made a translated copy of Chen Xin’s book. Master Chen Peishan’s words on it are the most helpful… this book is not a textbook. It is useful to people who have reached a certain level of understanding. I’ll have to see if I can obtain a copy. Thanks for the review!
2 Edward // May 23, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Hmm - I’d be jumping all over this book… if I was doing Chen style. Any idea where I could find a similar book regarding bagua/xingyi?
3 tom // May 24, 2008 at 2:38 am
“Chen makes it so clear right from the beginning that internal alchemy is THE point of doing taiji. ”
It would be more accurate to say that internal alchemy was THE point of doing taiji–for Chen Xin . . . but not necessarily for his father or other Chenshi practitioners of Chen Xin’s or earlier generations, especially those who–like Chen Xin’s brother and father–trained their taijiquan in the context of their economic livelihood as caravan security or personal bodyguards. But there does seem to be significant evidence of at least allusions to Daoist alchemy dating back to Chen Wanting (ca. 1600-1680). So the scholar and the warrior are intertwined through several generations of the Chen family’s martial art.
It’s worth considering Jarek’s writing on Chen Xin and the context for his book (see http://www.chinafrominside.com/ma/taiji/chenxin.html):
“Chen Xin (1849-1929), also called Pinsan, 16th generation descendant of Chen clan, was born in Henan Province Wen County Chenjiagou village. Chen Xin was a grandson of famous Taijiquan master, Chen Youheng; Chen Xin’s granduncle, Chen Youben, had not only consummate skill in boxing, but on the basis of original routines created a new frame of Taijiquan (known as Small Frame, Xiaojia). Chen Xin’s father, Zhongshen and uncle, Jishen, twin brothers, were both very skilful at Taijiquan. They first learnt from their father, Chen Youheng, but after he drowned in Dongting Lake, they studied with uncle, Chen Youben.
Chen Zhongshen was extraordinary - big and tall - and studied martial arts since the age of three. He passed military examination together with his brother and became Wuxiang (military Xiucai). During the reigns of emperors Xianfeng (1851-1861) and Tongzhi (1862-1874) there were three renowned Taijiquan exponents in Chenjiagou: Chen Zhongshen, his brother Chen Jishen, and Chen Changxing’s son, Chen Gengyun. Among them Chen Zhongshen was especially famous for using a 30-pound iron spear on battlefields and his courage.
Chen Xin and his older brother Chen Yao were both studying boxing from their father, Chen Zhongshen.
Chen Yao at the age of 19 passed military examinations at the county level and became Wuxiang; he practiced boxing ten thousand times a year and within 20 years his skill became superb. He was short and thin and people did not believe he was proficient in martial arts. Chen Yao often contested with guards of the local county magistrate (Yamen) and was able to throw six to seven on the ground at the same time.
Chen Xin also learnt martial art since early childhood and understood its principles and methods, but since his father ordered him to study literature, his skill could not match the one of his brother. When Chen Xin was older he realized how little he achieved in literary studies and how accomplished Taijiquan master his brother was. Chen Xin regretted that he had not focus on martial arts practice and made a firm decision to write books and expound principles and methods of Chen Family Taijiquan.
Chen Xin’s most famous book on boxing is ‘Illustrated Explanations of Chen Family Taijiquan’ (Chen Shi Taijiquan Tushuo). Chen Xin was writing it by hand for 12 years, from the 34th year of emperor Guangxu’s reign (1908) until 8th year of the Republic (1919). There were together four volumes containing 200-300 thousand characters. Based on profound principles of Yijing (Book of Changes), the books were expounding changes between Yin and Yang; the meridian theory was confirmed using physiological points and veins; the applications of all postures were explained, indicating the key points for beginners. The results of many generations of Chen clan Taijiquan masters were written down without keeping anything secret. Silk reeling and neijin (internal strength) are the core ideas of the book. Chen Xin wrote many books that were never published, ‘Illustrated Explanations of Chen Family Taijiquan’ was the fruit of many years’ of his painstaking work and the most systematic and complete summary of Chen style Taijiquan.”
For naysayers who doubt that alchemy was ever a part of taijiquan as it developed within Chenjiagou before Chen Xin, there is the reference to Chen Wangting (1600s) in his dotage in Chenjiagou: “Now old and fragile, I am left only with the book of Huang Ting [Jing] for company.” This book is a traditional classic of Daoist alchemy.
From http://www.wisdomandpower.com/article-ARChenStyleTaijiquan.html
“In creating the art he drew from a number of sources including Jixiaoxinshu (New Book Of Effective Techniques,) a military classic penned by General Qi Jiguang. But what is most significant about Wangting’s contribution is his incorporation of Daoist philosophy into his martial system, drawing from Huang Ting Jing (Classic of the Yellow Court), a Daoist book of high-level spiritual training often confused with Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor’s Internal Classic) the foundation volume of Chinese medical theory.
Recent evidence credits the Li family, Wangting’s mother’s side, with the Daoist influence. There was a mythical figure, Wang Zhong Yue, author of the classic Taijiquan Lun. We now know that Wang was a schoolteacher hired by the Li family. Interestingly the Li family also has their own martial art called Wuji system. Wuji is the word for the Daoist concept of emptiness, the state of the universe, pregnant with infinite possibility, before it organized into the harmonious interplay of opposing forces known as taiji.”
4 YMAA.com // May 24, 2008 at 3:11 am
Liang, Shou Yu’s Bagua and Xingyi books are quite profound:
http://www.amazon.com/Baguazhang-Applications-Chinese-Internal-Martial/dp/0940871300/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1211569748&sr=1-5
5 Frank Bellemare // May 25, 2008 at 4:35 am
I tried posting this 3 times, I hope it works this time. This is from Peter Lim’s page, it’s an exchange Wu Tunan had with Chen Xin during his visit to Chenjiagou:
Chen Xin had told Wu that he was writing a book on Taijiquan. Wu then asked Chen Xin whether he practiced Taijiquan. Chen Xin replied that his father had let his older brother learn martial arts but had made him get an education instead so he did not know any martial arts. Wu then asked how he was going to write a book on martial arts if he did not practice martial arts. Chen replied that Taijiquan is based on the Book of Changes and that he felt that as long as an art conformed to the Book of Changes it was Taijiquan. So he intended to use the boxing postures of Pao Chui and relate them to the Book of Changes and that his purpose of the book was to show how the Book of Changes was related even to martial arts, it was not his intention of writing a martial arts manual.
6 lzy // May 26, 2008 at 3:18 pm
honestly whether it is the chinese or english version(preview PDF), i do not appreciate and understand the part of Luo He, Wuiji or Book of Changes . I attributed this to my ignorance at this point of time.
What i found helpful is the part on the postures where many key points were highlighted. Chen Xin may not be as skilled as his brother, but based on what he wrote regarding the postures, you know that he did have much knowledge about the form.
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