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Study of Covered Forearm Punch in Chen Style Taiji Quan
中華古傳陳式太極拳協會
http://www.kongfu.org
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/vadjra
E-mail:kongfu@tomor.com
Summary
Advisor 李章智Lee,Chang-Chih
Master Degree Candidate嚴介廷 2006/1/10
Initiation
Through a long history of development, evolved in a rich and unique culture, the extensive techniques and philosophy of Chinese martial arts became a representation of Chinese culture as one school of unique art. Among the varied schools of Chinese martial arts, the uniqueness of Taiji Quan makes it one of the most widely known martial arts in the world. Combat skills in Chinese martial arts are mainly characterized by techniques such as kicks and hits for long distance attacks and wrestling for close combat. Characterized with smooth and harmonized movements, Taiji Quan emphasizes “overcoming the hard with the soft” techniques; therefore, strong force exertion and hard hits are rarely found in Taiji Quan. Nonetheless, among the varied styles of Taiji Quan, bold and aggressive movements designed for combat purpose are seen in the forms of the Chen Style Taiji Quan, and, in which, the Covered Forearm Punch (掩手肱捶), fist attack in nature, is most representative. The Covered Forearm Punch (掩手肱捶) has its special way of force delivery; nonetheless, through a long history of development, variations have evolved from the original form. Currently, variations are found in the route of force delivery and attack techniques. In view of which, this study attempts to explore and compare the varied styles of Covered Forearm Punch (掩手肱捶).
A Brief History
Chen Style Taiji Quan, also known as Chen School Taiji Quan or Chen Family Taiji Quan, is a special style of martial art originally developed by the Chen Family in Chen Jia Gou, Wen County, Henan Province during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its spread outside of the family did not begin until the Republic Era. Since then, as it was no longer a secrete heirloom of the family, learners of other surnames began to learn this school of martial art and varied styles began to emerge. To classify the varied styles of Taiji Quan, the style developed by the Chen Family were then named the Chen Style Taiji Quan.
Different opinions have been put forward regarding the origin of Taiji Quan and quite a few schools claim the seat of the rightful lineage. We will not discuss this topic here. Nonetheless, with reference to the Chen Jia Gou and Zhao Bao Township theories (please refer to the Chen Family Taiji Quan Illustrated by Chen Xin, The Authentic Taiji Quan by Du Yuan-Hua, and Study of Du Yuan-Hua’s The Authentic Taiji Quan edited by Wang Hai-Zhou and Yan Han-Xiu; also, Chen Family Genealogy (Reference 1), Tracing the Origin of Taiji Quan (Reference 2), and The Authentic Taiji Quan – Analysis I – the History(Reference 3)), be it that Jiang Fa learned from Chen Wang-Ting or Jiang Fa brought Taiji Quan to Zhao Bao Township, Chen Qing-Ping brought Taiji Quan to Zhao Bao Township, or Chen Jing-Bo learn the martial art in Zhao Bao Township, we are sure that the two locations (Zhao Bao Township and Chen Jia Gou) mentioned in history are highly relevant in geographic nature (both in the Wen County) and migration occurred highly frequent between these two places. Assuming that both Chen Jing-Bo and Chen Qing-Ping were from Chen Jia Gou, exchanges in martial arts are not unlikely. Although different in force exertion techniques, Styles of Taiji Quan practiced by these two masters are similar in names as well as forms. This is an interesting point worth discussing here.
Development of Chen Style Taiji Quan in recent history began in the end of Qing Dynasty. At the time, family elder, Chen Yan-Xi (the 16th generation of the Chen Family) came to become acquainted with a Qing Empire official, Du Yan , who brought Chen Yan-Xi and his nephew into his family as family guards and martial art trainers (please refer to Reference 5, A Brief Biography of Master Du Yu-Ze) and, through which, passed the art of Taiji Quan to Du Yan’s son, Du Yu-Ze. In the republic Era, Du Yu-Ze migrated to Taiwan and began teaching Taiji Quan in Taiwan.
In China, development of Taiji Quan began in the 17th year of the Republic Era (1928) when Henan Association in Beijing invited Chen Fa-Ke (the 17th generation of Chen Family, chief of the family) to teach Taiji Quan in Beijing (please refer to Reference 5, The Origin of Taiji Quan; Reference 6, Appendix IV Love of Taiji Quan – In Memory of Master Fu Sheng). Only until then, martial art masters were able to see the true forms of Taiji Quan. In the hands of Chen Fa-Ke, Chen Style Taiji Quan became famous and began to spread to Beijing, Tianjin, and Nanjing areas to form the mainstream of Taiji Quan practice in China.
Current Chen Style Taiji Quan is roughly classified into two systems - Lao Jia (老架, the Old Style)/Pao Chui (炮捶) and Xiao Jia (小架, the Small Frame)/Xin Jia (新架, the New Frame).
Research Literature
We selected several literatures for reference for the above; the following is an analysis of the selected references.
1. For the timeframe, we roughly classified the reference literatures by the years of inheritors, instead of the publish time of the books. Based on the nature of open information, we believe that that no large-scale modifications have been made.
2. The standard competition set form “Forty-Two Form Taiji Quan” developed for promotion purpose in recent years integrated the features of most Taiji Quan and Taiji Sword forms is unique in its own way; therefore, we include relevant discussions in this study.
3. The timeframe of reference literatures is roughly renders as the following: Chen Family Taiji Quan Illustrated (陳氏太極拳圖說), The Authentic Taiji Quan (太極拳正宗), Chen Style Taiji Quan with Illustration (I) (陳式太極拳圖說 (一)), Chen Family Heritage - The Art of Taiji Quan (陳氏世傳太極拳術), Introduction to Chen Family Taiji Quan (陳氏太極拳入門總解), Chen Style Taiji Quan (陳式太極拳), Selections of Chen Style Taiji Quan (陳式太極拳精選), Introduction to Taiji Quan - Master Chen Fu-Sheng System (陳師福生傳太極拳法引蒙), Analysis of Du Yuan-Hua's The Authentic Taiji Quan (杜元化【太極拳正宗】考析), Chinese Taiji Quan - Chen Style Xiao Jia (中國太極名拳－陳氏小架太極拳), and The Forty-Two Form Competition Course (42式競賽套路).
4. In this study, we referenced 21 representative publications and 12 films.
中華古傳陳式太極拳協會
http://www.kongfu.org
http://www.wretch.cc/blog/vadjra
E-mail:kongfu@tomor.com
Summary
Advisor 李章智Lee,Chang-Chih
Master Degree Candidate嚴介廷 2006/1/10
Initiation
Through a long history of development, evolved in a rich and unique culture, the extensive techniques and philosophy of Chinese martial arts became a representation of Chinese culture as one school of unique art. Among the varied schools of Chinese martial arts, the uniqueness of Taiji Quan makes it one of the most widely known martial arts in the world. Combat skills in Chinese martial arts are mainly characterized by techniques such as kicks and hits for long distance attacks and wrestling for close combat. Characterized with smooth and harmonized movements, Taiji Quan emphasizes “overcoming the hard with the soft” techniques; therefore, strong force exertion and hard hits are rarely found in Taiji Quan. Nonetheless, among the varied styles of Taiji Quan, bold and aggressive movements designed for combat purpose are seen in the forms of the Chen Style Taiji Quan, and, in which, the Covered Forearm Punch (掩手肱捶), fist attack in nature, is most representative. The Covered Forearm Punch (掩手肱捶) has its special way of force delivery; nonetheless, through a long history of development, variations have evolved from the original form. Currently, variations are found in the route of force delivery and attack techniques. In view of which, this study attempts to explore and compare the varied styles of Covered Forearm Punch (掩手肱捶).
A Brief History
Chen Style Taiji Quan, also known as Chen School Taiji Quan or Chen Family Taiji Quan, is a special style of martial art originally developed by the Chen Family in Chen Jia Gou, Wen County, Henan Province during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Its spread outside of the family did not begin until the Republic Era. Since then, as it was no longer a secrete heirloom of the family, learners of other surnames began to learn this school of martial art and varied styles began to emerge. To classify the varied styles of Taiji Quan, the style developed by the Chen Family were then named the Chen Style Taiji Quan.
Different opinions have been put forward regarding the origin of Taiji Quan and quite a few schools claim the seat of the rightful lineage. We will not discuss this topic here. Nonetheless, with reference to the Chen Jia Gou and Zhao Bao Township theories (please refer to the Chen Family Taiji Quan Illustrated by Chen Xin, The Authentic Taiji Quan by Du Yuan-Hua, and Study of Du Yuan-Hua’s The Authentic Taiji Quan edited by Wang Hai-Zhou and Yan Han-Xiu; also, Chen Family Genealogy (Reference 1), Tracing the Origin of Taiji Quan (Reference 2), and The Authentic Taiji Quan – Analysis I – the History(Reference 3)), be it that Jiang Fa learned from Chen Wang-Ting or Jiang Fa brought Taiji Quan to Zhao Bao Township, Chen Qing-Ping brought Taiji Quan to Zhao Bao Township, or Chen Jing-Bo learn the martial art in Zhao Bao Township, we are sure that the two locations (Zhao Bao Township and Chen Jia Gou) mentioned in history are highly relevant in geographic nature (both in the Wen County) and migration occurred highly frequent between these two places. Assuming that both Chen Jing-Bo and Chen Qing-Ping were from Chen Jia Gou, exchanges in martial arts are not unlikely. Although different in force exertion techniques, Styles of Taiji Quan practiced by these two masters are similar in names as well as forms. This is an interesting point worth discussing here.
Development of Chen Style Taiji Quan in recent history began in the end of Qing Dynasty. At the time, family elder, Chen Yan-Xi (the 16th generation of the Chen Family) came to become acquainted with a Qing Empire official, Du Yan , who brought Chen Yan-Xi and his nephew into his family as family guards and martial art trainers (please refer to Reference 5, A Brief Biography of Master Du Yu-Ze) and, through which, passed the art of Taiji Quan to Du Yan’s son, Du Yu-Ze. In the republic Era, Du Yu-Ze migrated to Taiwan and began teaching Taiji Quan in Taiwan.
In China, development of Taiji Quan began in the 17th year of the Republic Era (1928) when Henan Association in Beijing invited Chen Fa-Ke (the 17th generation of Chen Family, chief of the family) to teach Taiji Quan in Beijing (please refer to Reference 5, The Origin of Taiji Quan; Reference 6, Appendix IV Love of Taiji Quan – In Memory of Master Fu Sheng). Only until then, martial art masters were able to see the true forms of Taiji Quan. In the hands of Chen Fa-Ke, Chen Style Taiji Quan became famous and began to spread to Beijing, Tianjin, and Nanjing areas to form the mainstream of Taiji Quan practice in China.
Current Chen Style Taiji Quan is roughly classified into two systems - Lao Jia (老架, the Old Style)/Pao Chui (炮捶) and Xiao Jia (小架, the Small Frame)/Xin Jia (新架, the New Frame).
Research Literature
We selected several literatures for reference for the above; the following is an analysis of the selected references.
1. For the timeframe, we roughly classified the reference literatures by the years of inheritors, instead of the publish time of the books. Based on the nature of open information, we believe that that no large-scale modifications have been made.
2. The standard competition set form “Forty-Two Form Taiji Quan” developed for promotion purpose in recent years integrated the features of most Taiji Quan and Taiji Sword forms is unique in its own way; therefore, we include relevant discussions in this study.
3. The timeframe of reference literatures is roughly renders as the following: Chen Family Taiji Quan Illustrated (陳氏太極拳圖說), The Authentic Taiji Quan (太極拳正宗), Chen Style Taiji Quan with Illustration (I) (陳式太極拳圖說 (一)), Chen Family Heritage - The Art of Taiji Quan (陳氏世傳太極拳術), Introduction to Chen Family Taiji Quan (陳氏太極拳入門總解), Chen Style Taiji Quan (陳式太極拳), Selections of Chen Style Taiji Quan (陳式太極拳精選), Introduction to Taiji Quan - Master Chen Fu-Sheng System (陳師福生傳太極拳法引蒙), Analysis of Du Yuan-Hua's The Authentic Taiji Quan (杜元化【太極拳正宗】考析), Chinese Taiji Quan - Chen Style Xiao Jia (中國太極名拳－陳氏小架太極拳), and The Forty-Two Form Competition Course (42式競賽套路).
4. In this study, we referenced 21 representative publications and 12 films.
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