Skip to main content

Cheng Man-ch'ing - a review of a recent biographical documentary

Image result for Cheng Man-ch'ing

Last Year the documentary "The Professor: Tai Chi’s Jouney West" by Barry Strugatz (Director, Co-producer), 2016, was released about this extraordinary tai chi master.

If you have an interest in Tai Chi you will likely have heard or seen pictures of Cheng Man-ch'ing (-wade giles) Zheng Manqing (-pinyin).

This article provides a critical review of the film, written by respected Martial Arts historian Douglas Wile.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sun Style Taijiquan: 98,97 and 73, huh? by Master Ivan Ang

Sun style Taijiquan is one of the main branches of taijiquan in existence today. While the form was created only at the turn of the last century, the fixation of the number of steps in the routines got people confused. Interestingly, this was believed to vary between 98, 97 and 73. I hope to shed some light on the origins of these numbers and hope future generations will be able to have a clear distinction between the forms. Sun style count her blessings through the founder Sun Lu Tang’s book on taijiquan among his other books in internal arts.  The Study of Taijiquan   (Tai Ji Quan Xue)  is a classic reference text that outlines the steps and movements in Sun style taijiquan. In this book, Sun Lu Tang explained the origins of Taiji through the use of I-ching. This explains why the first movement in Sun style taijiquan is  The study of Emptiness or Wu Ji Xue  followed by  The Study of Extremes or Tai Ji Xue.   In fact, this is the sa...

In Memory of Wu (Yuxiang) Style Master Yao Jizu by yosaku a.k.a. Jon Nicklin

by   yosak The founders of Wu (Hao) style taijiquan are acknowledged to have authored some of the writings now considered as taiji classics. There are four main ‘branches’ of Wu (Hao) style in China, of which two are represented in the West. The four are (a) the taiji spread by the Hao family (as represented in the West by M Liu Jishun); (b) the taiji practiced by Hao Weizhen’s students from the Xingtai area in Hebei (as exemplified by Wu Wenhan and Chen Gu’an, whose student, Jimmy Wong, is spreading this version in the US); (c) the ‘old frame’ practiced by descendants of the Wu and Li families, and (d) the taiji spread to the Northeast of China (formerly called Manchuria) by Yan Zhigao, who I hope to profile in a later article. The founders of Wu (Hao) style taijiquan are acknowledged to have authored some of the writings now considered as taiji classics. There are four main ‘branches’ of Wu (Hao) style in China, of which two are represented in the West. The four are (a) the ...

Wu(Hao) Tai Chi - an interesting history lesson for Sun Style enthusiasts - The Development Of Wu Yu Xiang Style Taijiquan by Peter Lim Tian Tek

The founder of this form of Taijiquan was Wu Yu Xiang (1812-1880) who was a native of Yung Nien, the home County of Yang-style founder, Yang Lu Chan. Wu Yu Xiang had two brothers, Wu Deng Qing (1800-1884) and Wu Ru Qing. Both brothers were officials in the Qing government. Wu Deng Qing was the magistrate of Wu Yang, a County in Henan Province, and Wu Ru Qing was a secretary in the Penalties Department under his older brother. All three of the brothers were very interested in martial arts, having initially learned martial arts from their father. The main art learned was Shaolin Hung Boxing thus they had a good foundation in martial arts. When Yang Lu Chan started teaching Taijiquan at Yung Nien, the Wu brothers went to watch him. All three brothers were enthralled by Yang Lu Chan's skills and began studying under him. Wu Yu Xiang also became a tutor to Yang Lu Chan's sons, teaching them reading and writing13. Later, Wu Yu Xiang went to seek out Yang Lu Chan's teach...