Chen Wei-Ming (1881–1958) was a scholar, taijiquan teacher, and author. He was also known by his name Chen Zengze (), Wei-Ming being his hao, a pen-name. Chen came from an educated family with roots in Qishui,

Hubei Hubei (; ; alternately Hupeh) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, and is part of the Central China region. The name of the province means "north of the lake", referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The pr ...

, China. His great-grandfather was a famous scholar; and his mother was skilled at calligraphy. As a boy, Chen prepared for the

civil service exams Civil may refer to: *Civic virtue, or civility *Civil action, or lawsuit * Civil affairs *Civil and political rights *Civil disobedience *Civil engineering *Civil (journalism), a platform for independent journalism *Civilian, someone not a membe ...

by studying the

Chinese classics Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...

Chinese calligraphy Chinese calligraphy is the writing of Chinese characters as an art form, combining purely visual art and interpretation of the literary meaning. This type of expression has been widely practiced in China and has been generally held in high es ...

, poetry, and essay-writing. He passed the mid-level exam of ''

juren ''Juren'' (; 'recommended man') was a rank achieved by people who passed the ''xiangshi'' () exam in the imperial examination system of imperial China. The ''xiangshi'' is also known, in English, as the provincial examination. It was a rank hig ...

'' in 1902, and received a post in the

Qing The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...

History Office. His two brothers also became scholars and authors. Chen began to study the

Chinese martial arts Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

in Beijing under Sun Lutang (1859–1933), with whom he studied xingyi (hsing-i) and

bagua The bagua or pakua (八卦) are a set of eight symbols that originated in China, used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. Each consists of three lines, each li ...

(pa-kua). He then began to study

taijiquan Tai chi (), short for Tai chi ch'üan ( zh, s=太极拳, t=太極拳, first=t, p=Tàijíquán, labels=no), sometimes called " shadowboxing", is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits and meditation. ...

(t'ai chi ch'uan) with

Yang Chengfu Yang Chengfu or Yang Ch'eng-fu (1883–1936) is historically considered the best known teacher of the Neijia, soft style martial art of Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan (Yang-style T'ai chi ch'uan, Taijiquan). Biography Yang Chengfu was born into the ...

(1883–1936), grandson of

Yang Luchan Yang Lu-ch'an or Yang Luchan, also known as Yang Fu-k'ui or Yang Fukui (1799–1872), was an influential Chinese practitioner and teacher of the internal style t'ai chi ch'uan (taijiquan). He is known as the founder of Yang-style t'ai chi ch'ua ...

, founder of the Yang family lineage. In 1925, Chen moved to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

and established the Zhi Ruo (Achieving Softness) Taijiquan Association. Chen recorded Yang's teachings in three books under his own name: ''Taijiquan shu'' (The Art of Taijiquan, 1925), ''Taiji jian'' (Taiji Sword, 1928), and ''Taijiquan da wen'' (Questions and Answers on Taijiquan, 1929). These books are important not only for their content, but because they were among the first taijiquan books published for a mass audience. Chen also wrote several scholarly books under the name Chen Zengze. He wrote prefaces to Sun Lutang and Zheng Manqing's taijiquan books. Though Chen did not create a large following through his teaching as did his classmates Dong Yingjie (Tung Ying-chieh) and

Zheng Manqing Cheng Man-ch'ing or Zheng Manqing (29 July 1902 - 26 March 1975) was a notable Chinese expert of t'ai chi ch'uan, Chinese medicine, and the so-called three perfections: calligraphy, painting and poetry. He was born in Yongjia (present-day Wen ...

(Cheng Man-ch'ing), his books have remained influential and are important references about taijiquan in the early 1900s.

T'ai chi ch'uan lineage tree with Yang-style focus

Notes

References

*Chen Weiming. ''Taijiquan shu'' (The Art of Taijiquan, 1925). Section of commentary on the

Taijiquan Classics The T'ai chi Classics, or Taijiquan Classics (Chinese: ''Taijiquan Pu'' 太极拳谱 or ''Taijiquan Jing'' 太極拳經), is a collection of over 100 articles on the Chinese martial art of t'ai chi ch'uan written by the art's master practitioners ...

translated in ''The Taijiquan Classics: An Annotated Translation'' by Barbara Davis, 2004. . * --- ''Taiji jian'' (Taiji Sword, 1928), Translated as Taiji Sword by Barbara Davis. . * --- ''Taijiquan da wen'' (Questions and Answers on Taijiquan, 1929). Translated as ''T'ai Chi Ch'uan Ta Wen: Questions and Answers on T'ai Chi Ch'uan'' by Benjamin Lo and Robert W. Smith. . * ''Zhongguo wushu da cidian'' (Great Dictionary of the Chinese Martial Arts), 1990. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Weiming 1881 births 1958 deaths Chinese tai chi practitioners Sportspeople from Hubei Chinese baguazhang practitioners Chinese xingyiquan practitioners Republic of China writers Writers from Hubei People from Huanggang