| Cheng Man-ch'ing or Zhèng Mànqing [(1902-1975)]
was born in Yongjia (present-day Wenzhou), Zhejiang Province (his
birthday was on the 28th year of the Guangxu emperor's reign, 6th
month, 25th day, which corresponds to July 29, 1902). He passed away
March 26, 1975). Cheng was trained in Chinese medicine, T'ai Chi Ch'uan,
calligraphy, painting and poetry. Due to his skill in these five areas
(among some of the traditional skills and pastimes of a Confucian
scholar in traditional China) he was often referred to as the "Master
of Five Excellences." Because he had been a college professor,
his students would call him "Professor Cheng." Cheng
taught poetry and art in several leading colleges in Beijing and
Shanghai and was a successful artist. In his twenties, he developed
lung disease, (believed to be tuberculosis partly from exposure
to the chalk dust from the school blackboards). Ill to the point
of coughing up blood, he began to practice taijiquan more diligently
to aid his recovery. Cheng retired from teaching and devoted himself
for several years to the study of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, traditional Chinese
medicine, and literature. In 1932 he met the well-known master Yang
Chengfu, with whom he began to study Yang style T'ai Chi Ch'uan,
which he did until 1935. Cheng ghost-wrote Yang Chengfu's book "T'ai
Chi Ch'uan Shi Yong-fa" (published in 1934).
Cheng taught T'ai Chi Ch'uan, practiced medicine, and continued
his art practice in Siquan Province during the Sino-Japanese war
years. By 1946 he had developed a significantly abbreviated 37-move
version of Yang's traditional form.
He moved to Taiwan in 1949 and established a career as a traditional
Chinese medicine physician and teacher of his new T'ai Chi Ch'uan
form, as well as practicing painting, poetry, and calligraphy. He
published Cheng's 13 Chapters of Taiji Boxing in 1950 which has
been translated into English two different times. He started the
Shih Chung T'ai Chi Association in Taipei, where many now well-known
students (Benjamin Lo, Liu Hsi-heng, Hsu I-chung, Robert W. Smith,
T. T. Liang, William C. C. Chen and others) worked with him.
Cheng moved to the United States in 1964, where he taught at the
New York T'ai Chi Association and then the Shr Jung T'ai Chi school
in New York City's Chinatown section. with the assistance of his
American senior students. Lou Kleinsmith, Tam Gibbs, Maggie Newman,
Ed Young, Stanley Israel, and Mort Raphael. The Taipei branch of
the Shr Jung school operated initially under the direction of Liu
Hsi-heng. Hsu I-chung is the current director.
In 1967 in collaboration with Robert W. Smith, Cheng published
T'ai Chi, the Supreme Ultimate Exercise for Health, Sport and Self-defence."
He wrote over a dozen other books on a variety of subjects. Other
translations of his works include: Master Cheng's New Method of
T'ai Chi Ch'uan Self-Cultivation; Cheng Man Ch'ing: Essays on Man
and Culture; Cheng Man Ch'ing: Master of Five Excellences, and T'ai
Chi Ch'uan: A Simplified Method of Calisthenics for Health and Self-Defense."
Cheng passed away in 1975 during a visit to Taiwan.
Cheng Man-ch'ing is best known for his T'ai Chi Ch'uan. The following
are some of the characteristics of his "Yang-style short form."
* It eliminates most of the repetitions of certain moves of the
Yang long form.
* It takes around ten minutes to practise instead of the twenty
to thirty minutes of the Yang long form
* The hand and wrist are held open, yet relaxed, in what Cheng called
the "Fair Lady's Hand" formation (as opposed to the straighter
'Chinese tile' formation of the Yang style)
* The form postures are not as expansive as Yang C'heng-fu's form
* The yin or 'empty' foot rotates on the ball, rather than on the
heel as in Yang style (This can be seen in movements such as 'Single
Whip')
* Cheng postures are performed with the spine more consistently
upright throughout the form than is done in the traditional Yang
family form, and also changes the position of the feet from the
original version
These, and other important changes and natural developments allowed
Cheng to teach larger numbers of students in a shorter time. His
shortened form became extremely popular in Taiwan and Malaysia,
and he was among one of the earliest Chinese masters to teach T'ai
Chi Ch'uan publicly in the United States. His students have continued
to spread his work around the world.
Cheng's changes to the Yang style form have never been officially
recognised by the Yang family and (partly because of the continued
popularity of Cheng's shortened form) his style is still a source
of considerable controversy among some T'ai Chi Ch'uan practitioners.
Another controversy surrounding Cheng was (as with virtually all
martial arts historically) who among his main students received
what is often called the "true transmission" of the teachings,
ie. the (often secret) set of fundamental or 'core' movement-principles,
techniques and associated training practices which make up T'ai
Chi. Cheng however dismissed such arguments, saying that anyone
could acquire the 'true flavor' of t'ai chi by diligent practice
according to the strict principles which are common (and essential)
to all T'ai Chi styles. (A book by one of his New York pupils was
even called "There Are No Secrets.") |
