Chen's Tai Ji Chuan: A Big Spoiler

Chen's boxing history, which was not complicated, became confusing with the participation of a bunch of people.

Who's making trouble?

At the end of the Lunar New Year 193 1, two middle-aged men came to Henan from Nanjing, the capital, to study water, and prepared to cross the Yellow River from here and make a field trip to Chenjiagou. Two people, one is Tang Hao, who left the central martial arts school where he worked because of the storm of Shaolin Wudang Examination, and went back to Shanghai to practice as a lawyer, but he still remembers the study of martial arts history in his spare time; One is Chen, a martial arts teacher at the Central National Martial Arts Museum, a native of Chenjiagou. Tang Hao and Chen made an appointment to visit Chenjiagou, trying to find the real source of Tai Ji Chuan.

At this point, Tang Hao was trapped in Surabaya. In a letter to his friend Gu, he wrote: There is no hotel in Surabaya now, but there is a vacant room in a shop where you can stay. In case of strong wind and frost, I couldn't cross the river for three days, and the wind stopped for a while. I hired a boat to knock on the ice and cross the Yellow River to Chenjiagou, which was the day at the end of the lunar calendar. 1

Perhaps, it should be said that Tang Hao is an enterprising person. When he investigated the origin of Taiji Zhuan, he was no longer the director of the editorial department of the Central Wushu Museum, but found a self-employed person in Shanghai. It is no longer his duty to write the history of martial arts, but he seems to have such curiosity and sense of responsibility. He wants to achieve something and prove something to the world.

Tang Hao's trip has mixed feelings.

The incident originated from the book publishing storm.

Also in the preparatory stage of the Central Martial Arts Museum, Liu Jiwen, member of the Party Department of the National Government and Mayor of Nanjing Special City, and Wei Daoming, Acting Minister of the Ministry of Justice of the National Government, recommended Tang Hao, who had just returned from studying in Japan, to Zhang Zhijiang, the head of the preparatory office of the Central Martial Arts Museum, and suggested that Tang Hao could engage in the compilation and examination of the teaching materials of the National Martial Arts Museum after the establishment of Zhang Zhijiang. With the consent of consultants such as Li, Li and Li, an official letter was issued, agreeing that Tang Hao would work in the preparatory office for a period of time before deciding whether to formally hire him. In the 17th year of the Republic of China (1928), after the establishment of the central martial arts museum, Tang Hao became the first editorial director of the central martial arts museum.

Tang Hao works very hard, especially when compiling martial arts textbooks. There is no doubt that Tang Hao will become an excellent employee of the Central Martial Arts Museum according to this development. Everything could have been peaceful, but Tang Hao dropped an "academic bomb" at an inappropriate time. No one would have thought that a book would set off an uproar in the martial arts world.

Tang Hao, who loves martial arts, was able to get the position of the highest martial arts institution in China at that time. He is ambitious and ready to show his talents in this position. Of course, he will not be satisfied with routine work such as writing martial arts textbooks during his work. He wants to straighten out the important events in the history of China Wushu. After work, Tang Hao worked hard in the field of martial arts. On 1930, I finished my first martial arts book, Shaolin Wudang Test.

Tang Hao's motivation for writing this book is unusual.

He wrote in the preface, "Now a group of professional warriors are shorter than Shaolin and Wudang, so what they see is too small." "The motivation for writing this booklet is to let the general public know about the so-called Shaolin and Wudang. On the one hand, I witnessed the so-called professional warriors in Shaolin and Wudang, who loved each other and were jealous of each other. It has been controversial for more than ten years. After reading this booklet, maybe we can relax. Let's get up and use the science of martial arts to build this road. Don't sit in a dry well and always shout that it is small. " Tang Hao's "Examination of Shaolin Wudang" originated from the dispute between Shaolin Wudang and other sects, which has been going on for more than ten years. Around the Republic of China, with the emergence of modern industrialized cities, a large number of professional martial artists began to make a living in big cities, and they had more opportunities to get together than in the farming years. With the rise of the publishing industry, it is easier to publish newspapers and books, and martial artists have more opportunities to understand various sects, so there is a debate!

There is another reason for the dispute between professional martial artists: in big cities, there is no fair way to prove one's profound kung fu by relying on one's own martial arts, so various Jianghu methods emerge one after another. Martial arts are accompanied by absurd stories, such as immortal religion, Buddhist family education, ancestor education and so on. Of course, sometimes it's hard to avoid tampering. When the Central Martial Arts School was just established, the Shaolin Gate and Wudang Gate were opened, and the two uncompromising door owners were going to fight each other through fists and feet.

People seem to turn a blind eye to this, but Tang Hao, who has received academic training, is raising the banner of science to bombard this abuse.

Tang Hao's martial arts thought is naturally appreciated and praised by some people. Otherwise, Shaolin Wudang Examination will not have a chance to be published smoothly during Tang Hao's work in the Central Martial Arts Museum. Examination of Shaolin Wudang was officially published on July 30th 19 19 (1930). This book is one of the "Central Martial Arts School Series", edited and published by the Central Martial Arts School. Tang Hao, as the director of the compilation department, may get a convenient position, but in the end he needs the approval of the leaders of the National Wushu Museum. Zhang Zhijiang, curator of the National Wushu Museum, prefaces Tang Hao's book. In his preface, he wrote, "Wudang and Shaolin have formed two sects in the past history, which are known to people, and thus have evolved into many absurd myths, causing many unnecessary struggles and being known to people." three

Tang Hao may have expected it. He mentioned some people's names bluntly in his book, which will naturally offend some people. In the preface, he said, "This booklet has many offensive places. I hope that critics can realize that this is an academic exploration and it is not intended to offend you. " four

No one expected that after the publication of 3000 copies of the first edition of Shaolin Wudang Examination, it caused an uproar in the society. Some martial artists said that Tang Hao "behaved shamefully" and "fooled the people and disturbed the people's hearts", and so on. Even the consultants of the Central Martial Arts School, Li and others were quite dissatisfied.

Those professional boxers who think they are authentic Shaolin and wu-tang clan conspire to give Tang Hao an old fist by hook or by crook. His good friends, such as Guofu Zhu and Wang Ziping from the Central National Martial Arts Museum, mediate to eliminate the interference. Tang Hao's book was published less than a year ago, and Tang Hao, who wanted to make a difference, had to leave in a hurry in May of 193 1 and return to Shanghai, where he used to make a living, to engage in his own lawyer career.

It is under such circumstances that Tang Hao resolutely embarked on the road of Chenjiagou ending in 193 1. Persistent Tang Hao went to Chenjiagou for academic reasons to investigate, but did Shaolin authentic and wu-tang clan professional boxers provoke and threaten their personal safety and self-esteem, subverting a scholar's due impartiality and objectivity?

God knows!

Tang Hao, I'm so glad you came.

After several months' investigation of Chenjiagou, based on limited literature and empirical evidence, a famous argument about the ancestor of Tai Ji Chuan was put forward: Chen founded Tai Ji Chuan.

He listed some seemingly convincing evidence:

First, in Chen's poem, there is a saying called "clench your fist when bored".

Secondly, on page 12 of Chen's genealogy, Wang Ting called him the father of the Boxer Rebellion. On page 16, there are words such as "At this point, the score sequence has been dry for 19 years, and the following two years"; Wang Ting's tombstone was built in the 58th year of Kangxi, which is very close to the 19th year of Qianlong, so this direct historical data is the most credible.

Thirdly, on the 36th page of the genealogy, the 4th Changxing in/kloc-0 has a side note of the Boxer Rebellion, and on the same page, Chen Gengyun has a side note of the Boxer Rebellion. Chen Changxing and Chen Gengyun are both famous experts in Tai Ji Chuan. Chen Jiagou people have only learned the ancestral thirteen strokes of Tai Chi and artillery shells, but have not learned foreign boxing, so Chen must have created Tai Ji Chuan.

Tang Hao's reasoning goes beyond this. He started with Tai Ji Chuan's action technique and traced it back to the source.

There are two sets of Tai Ji Chuan's spectrum in Wang Zongyue's Tai Ji Chuan spectrum, one is Changquan, and the other is Thirteen Potential. Changquan has been lost, but the spectrum still exists, such as: seven-star boxing takes care of brothers and sisters; People are afraid when the gun is pointed at them; Cross the tiger and move your feet; Chaoyang hands cover legs; The head of the beast is a card; Qiu Liu moved her right palm to the left; The boxing tactics such as sweeping the red fist before kicking the foot are completely taken from "Thirty-two Boxing Classics 5". Therefore, in his initial creation, Tai Ji Chuan's movement techniques absorbed the techniques in Boxing Classic compiled by Qi Jiguang, and used them to train soldiers.

In this regard, Tai Ji Chuan's appearance should be after Qi Jiguang's creation of boxing classics; Chen was born in the late Ming Dynasty and died in the early Qing Dynasty. Chen Wangting later taught Yang Luchan Taiji Biography in Chen Changxing; The Chen family has only studied their own boxing for generations, so it is very likely that Chen created Tai Ji Chuan.

Tang Hao found the real author of Taiji Biography with great fanfare. He finally got the evil spirit and dealt with those who attacked him with justice.

Of course, this chain of evidence is problematic, and reasoning is not necessarily logical, but who wants to really try to get to the bottom of this problem! Many years before Tang Hao, people were still looking for evidence in that pile of old paper and quarreling for decades. No one can convince anyone, and no one trusts anyone. Everyone thinks their conclusion is the most reasonable. Whether the conclusion is right or wrong, Tang Hao is, after all, the first person to make an in-depth field trip.

"Chen Chuang's Boxing Theory" spread like wildfire.

As soon as Tang Hao's argument was put forward, his successors tampered with the evidence and attached it. Undoubtedly, the most authentic collateral work is Chen Xin's Illustration of Tai Ji Chuan, which looks like Chen Xin's work under the banner of Chen Xin.

1929 Four years after Chen Xin's death, the heirs Chen Xueyuan and Chen Chunyuan had to rearrange, edit and even create the materials left by Chen Xin because they couldn't get the manuscript of Taiji Biography and Lectures. Finally, the Kaifeng School Ming Kai Bookstore published four volumes in 1933. In 2003, Shanxi Science and Technology Publishing House reprinted the illustrations of Biography of Chen Taiji, and explained the source of the illustrations of Biography of Chen Taiji for the first time in Chen Dongshan's preface. Chen Tai Ji Chuan's illustrations were compiled, revised and rewritten by later generations according to his great-grandfather Chen Xin's lecture notes on Tai Ji Chuan. But those editors didn't find the complete manuscript of the lecture notes of Taiji Zhutu. What an empty rhetoric it is to say "according to Taiji's lecture notes".

Since Ming and Tang Hao put forward Chen Chuang and Tai Ji Chuan's theory in 1932 in the process of sorting out and editing, there are also some important points attached and deleted.

Chen was never mentioned in the original handout, let alone the so-called "Chen Chuang Boxing". On the contrary, it is clearly pointed out in the article On Taiji Biography: "My ancestor Chen was a famous artist in the Yuan Dynasty. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Wuding decided to move from Hongdong, Pingyang, Shanxi Province to Huaiqing Wenyi, Henan Province, which is the descendant of boxing. " 7 point of view, only see Chen Xin emphasized that "Chen Bu in Yuan Dynasty" had spread boxing to later generations, but did not mention the words that "Chen" created Tai Ji Chuan.

This can not help but make later researchers question that Tang Hao saw the so-called Chen's poems from his works:

Sigh that year, I persevered and swept the atmosphere, and I was not afraid of danger several times!

Blessed in vain, I am still breathing when I am old.

I only got a roll of Huang Ting in the end. I clenched my fists when I was free and plowed the fields when I was busy.

Use your spare time to teach some disciples and grandchildren to make it easier for Jackie Chan to become a tiger.

If you owe official grain early, you should pay off your private debt, but don't flatter with arrogance and flattery, be patient first.

People treat me like a fool, they treat me like an asshole, and they often wash their ears without playing the crown.

Laughing and killing thousands of princes, being conscientious, is not as good as Shu Tai in my heart, and fame and fortune are never greedy for understanding organs.

Knowing Han, Tao Qing is interested in fishing and lingering in the mountains and rivers, which has nothing to do with prosperity and waste.

If you get a healthy and peaceful world, you don't have to care.

Success or failure is not important. If not immortal, who is immortal?

This work is seriously inconsistent with the Chen era, and people have always suspected that it was written! Now, we can't help but re-examine why people did it.

The explanatory material of Chen Jiaqi provided by Chen Sen to Tang Hao was obviously written by Chen Sen.

Therefore, can we make an even worse assumption: this poem may be a fake of Tang Hao, and the annotation is a cheating pen inspired by Tang Hao. Tang Hao lived in a house in Chen Sen when he visited Chenjiagou. What did he want to do? There is only one motive: to overthrow "Zhang Sanfeng's theory of creating boxing" and retaliate against his professional martial artist.

Chen's illustrations in Taiji Zhuan obviously deviated from the viewpoint, and tampered with the materials and documents. The purpose is to echo Tang Hao and Chen's "Chen Chuang Taiji Biography" and create false certificates under the pretext. Chen's biography of Taiji was illustrated by Chen Pinsan, but its content, main points and title have been obviously changed. eight

In the next 80 years, due to the authority of this theory in China, Chen Taiji's illustrations replaced Chen Xin's original Tai Chi biography picture lecture notes and were highly respected.

Really "true is true, true is true"!

People will wonder, where is the manuscript of Taiji Zhuan Jing that Chen Xin's descendants can't get?

Zhao Chen Pi, who claimed to have been practicing boxing under the guidance of Uncle Yan Xiguan, Pin Sangong and Fu Shengji since the spring of "the 24th year of the Republic of China" (195)1,"brought the legacy of Changxing Sangong to Beijing and made it public, so that Chen Xuequan would not be drowned for hundreds of years." nine

This seems to be a respectful speech to the predecessors, perhaps deliberately concealing the truth.

By "coming to Beijing", the author means Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China. Zhao Chen Pi 1928 was invited to teach boxing in Nanjing. Chen Xin's successor, in the absence of the manuscript of Taiji Zhutu Lecture Notes, re-edited Chen's Taiji Zhutu Shuo with the publication number 1933. Why did Zhao Chen Pi come to Nanjing with the relics of Chen Xin and Chen Changxing in the spring of 1935? This is a deliberate beautification of his behavior.

It is reported that around 1928, one of Chen Xin's grandchildren found him and offered to help him publish a book, and promised: "You will give me the manuscript to ensure a safe life. After death, I am responsible for all the garden goods. " Chen Xin gave him the manuscript, but soon, a letter from Nanjing said, "When I came to cross the river, I fell into the water because of the risk." Lie that the manuscript was lost. This is also the reason why the manuscript materials entrusted by Chen Xin to Chen Chunyuan and others during his lifetime did not have a complete Lecture Notes on Taiji Zhutu.

However, in 1935, Zhao Chen Pi published "Chen Tai Ji Chuan Hui Zong", which included all the contents of lectures. Gu said that this is "a different book with slightly less content and different characters". It was Gu Zai 1933 who compared Chen Tai Ji Chuan with Chen Tai Ji Chuan's Illustration.

In this way, it should be, or it may be, that someone else took Chen Xin's Lecture Notes on Taiji Zhutu, but the manuscript finally reached Zhao Chen Pi.

No matter how dramatic things were, the manuscript was finally fortunately preserved!

The original "Lecture Notes on Taiji Diagram" shows us Chen Xin's real viewpoint.

The Lecture Notes on Taiji Illustration written by Chen Xin includes not only the original text, but also the preface written by many friends who supported the publication of the Lecture Notes on Taiji Illustration before Chen Xin's death. The 9 prefaces and 1 postscript collected by Hui Zong, as well as the 1 prefaces and 1 biographies of Chen Zhonggan by Zhao Chen Pi in Yizhou Selected Works, count as 65 * *.

As for Chen Xin, who created boxing?

According to the preface of Chen Zhonggan's biography in Zhongzhou Literature Collection, Li Shican emphasized that Chen Jiagou's traditional boxing is different from Chen Bu's fine boxing in the early Ming Dynasty.

For Chen's boxing, I always believed in his ancestor Chen Bu.

Things didn't end there.

In 2009, Shanxi Science and Technology Publishing House published the latest Lecture Notes on Taiji Diagram, edited by Chen Xinpin and Chen Dongshan.

This book follows the original title, but the main content is to copy the illustrations of Chen Taiji Biography. Some viewpoints seem to be close to the original version of Chen Xin's Lecture Notes after superficial changes, but the main viewpoints are still the same as those of Illustration, and their purpose is self-evident, and they are still unwilling to give up their original views on the origin of Taiji Zhuan. The contents and viewpoints that have been tampered with by illustrations as "Chen Quan" still appear in this pseudo-lecture. Incredibly, the Lecture Notes also added "Appendix Chen Quan Jing General Song" to continue to fabricate new "evidence" for "Chen Chuang Boxing Theory". However, Zhao admitted in the preface of this book that the original work was Chen Jifu's Lecture Notes on Taiji Illustration, which he compiled in 1935. He said, "It is gratifying that the manuscript of Taiji Illustrated Notes, which was called" Lost "two years after the publication of Illustrated Fu Zi, reappeared in front of the world in 1935." I am deeply grateful.

The new Lecture Notes on Illustration of Taiji admits that there are some differences from the original point of view, but it also thinks that "these differences are not contradictory, but the discussion angle, the detail of narration and the language style of writing are different." If it can be combined with Xi Zhi, it will only complement each other and promote the understanding of Tai Ji Chuan's profound theory. " This deceptive practice is to cover up the fact of fraud.

The new edition of "Lecture Notes on Taiji Illustration" intentionally avoids many obvious mistakes and loopholes in illustrations. This paper tries to make the "fake" more "real" and let the fake "handout" replace the original, so as to achieve the purpose of confusing the fake with the real.

In the introduction of the handout and the appendix "Biography of Chen Zhongguan", Chen replaced Chen Bu in the original work. Du Yan's preface was changed to "Introduction to Taiji Biography"; The original Taiji Zhuan Tu Shuo has also been transformed into Taiji Fax Xie. Guo Yushan's Illustration of Taiji was changed to the original famous Notes on Illustration of Taiji, but without explanation, he still insisted on "not only fulfilling his great-grandfather's ambition of failure before his death, comforting his great-grandfather's soul in heaven, but also providing a valuable document for Tai Ji Chuan researchers." Mislead readers.

The new handout made mistakes in illustrations, which became another stumbling block to the study of Chen Xin and his academic thoughts.

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The history of the so-called Chen style boxing that we have seen may be just what others are willing to let us see. For various purposes, or political beliefs, or self-interest, or narrow prejudice, they casually told history, smeared history, fabricated history, and presented us with a seemingly sumptuous meal.

Stripping away the dirt attached to Chen Xin and Artest's family heirlooms, we can see a real traditional literati image. Although there may be some shortcomings and loopholes in his research, he has always defended his views.

Precautions:

1 Gu Yi. China Wushu [J].1982 (1):1.

2345 Tang Hao. Tai Ji Chuan and Neijia Boxing in Shaolin Wudang Examination [M]. Taiyuan: Shanxi Science and Technology Press, 2008.

6 Chen Xinpin III. Lecture on Taiji Illustration [M]. Taiyuan: Shanxi Science and Technology Press, 2009.

7 Chen Xin. Illustration of taiji biography [M]. Kaifeng: Ming Kai Bookstore 1933.

89 Zhang Zhiyong. Research on Chen Xin and Tai Ji Chuan Thought [J]. Journal of anyang normal University.2016 (5) p:12-19.

References:

The fifth part: Ji. Tai Chi past [M]. Beijing: China Commercial Press 20 1 1.

The fifth and sixth parts: Zhang Zhiyong and Chen Xin's Tai Ji Chuan Thought [J]. Journal of anyang normal University.2016 (5) p:12-19.