In the eighth century AD (the Tang dynasty) philosophers like Hsu Hsuan- p'ing developed a 'Long Kung-fu' of 37 forms. Some of these movements would become the foundation of modern Tai Chi Chuan. Other forms being practiced in the eighth century (Heavenly-Inborn Style, Nine Small Heavens Style and Acquired Kung-fu) also helped in the development of Tai Chi Chuan. The Monk, Chang San-feng (1391-1459), would later combine many of the above base arts & his own ideas to form Tai Chi Chuan. Chang linked some of the older forms with the notion of yin-yang from Taoism and stressed 'internal' ideals, creating fundamental 'Thirteen Postures' of Tai Chi corresponding to the eight basic trigrams of the I Ching and the five elements. His exercises stressed suppleness and elasticity and were opposed to hardness and force. They incorporated philosophy, physiology, psychology, geometry and the laws of dynamics. His theories, writings and practices were elaborated sometime later by Wang Chung-yueh and his student Chiang Fa. Chiang Fa taught Tai Chi to the villagers of a town on Honan (almost all of whom were called Chen) and thus began the first family school of Tai Chi Chuan. The Chen combined Chiang Fa's teaching with their own Martial Art, Cannon Fist or Pao Chui. This blending gave birth to all current forms of Tai Chi & is the most direct lineage of Tai Chi in existence today. This book is a wriiten instructional on Chen Tai Chi Chuan. It contains over 200 pages of incredible documentation with well over 100 diagrams "Real Pictures" of highly regarded Chen instructors from China demonstrating forms and practical application. This soft cover is brand new and quite rare. Mavideocollector is the only known source of this book on the internet or via magazines. The book is from China and its authors are members of the Shanghai Institute of Physical Culture. |
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