CompleteMartialArts.com - Old Frame Chen Family Taijiquan
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Manufacturer: North Atlantic Books
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 613.7148 EAN: 9781556434884 ISBN: 155643488X Label: North Atlantic Books Manufacturer: North Atlantic Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 250 Publication Date: 2004-04-06 Publisher: North Atlantic Books Release Date: 2004-04-06 Studio: North Atlantic Books
Chen Family (or Chen Style) Taiji is the ancestor of all Taiji systems. Unlike many of the easy, meditative Taiji forms practiced in the West, Chen Style Taiji is a highly evolved martial art. Newcomers to the art will find useful information on how to identify a qualified instructor, while the martial arts theorist will find a thorough discussion concerning the origins and evolution of Taiji.
Spotlight customer reviews:
Customer Rating: Summary: dreary, autocratic, uninspiring Comment: It is hard for me to get past Mark Chen's black and white view of Taijiquan practice (and most of it is black). Yes, we're all doing it wrong here in the west, now if only we'd drop the metaphysical and get cracking we might learn something. Or we might not. Mark Chen is definitely the anti-Jou Tsung Hwa. Customer Rating: Summary: Superb introduction to Chen style Tai Chi Comment: This book is a godsend to those wishing to study Chen style Tai Chi.
It should be couple with Chen Style Taijiquan, Sword and Broadsword, by Chen Zhenglei (which really deals with the basic forms more than sword and broadsword) ISBN 7-5348-2321-8
Between the two of them, you have everything you need to enjoy and understand Chen Style.
Please note that Chen Style is the more martial, older form of Tai Chi. Customer Rating: Summary: Reasons to Buy This Book -- Comment: 1. Contains the only substantive explanation of the dantian (tan t'ian) I have ever read. Demonstrates that it is conscious muscular activity in the lower abdomen.
2. Excellent explanation of rooting or the absorbtion of power by directing it into the ground.
3. Wonderful description of fajing or issuing which is the core of taijiquan's power.
4. The best historical analysis of taiji's origins I have seen to date.
5. Overall, it is clearly and intelligently written in a way that few martial art books achieve.
That said, it then falls back on the "primacy" of the Chen style and ends with a bunch of joint-locking and take-down applications. This is kind of like having the keys to the kingdom and leaving them hanging in the barn while you feed the pigs. If you are a serious student of taiji as an internal art, if you want to end up where Yang Luchan, Yang Chengfu, and Sun Lutang did, there are many excellent teachings in Mr. Chen's book to help you on your way. But do as he says, not as he does, or you will ground your taiji out in waijia-land like everyone else does. All real roads are straight, narrow, and are walked by the bright-eyed, the clear-minded, and the under-fed. Customer Rating: Summary: Clear illustrations of the form, lack of faith in Tai Chi Comment: This book illustrates the tai chi form... Chen Lao Jia Yi Lu. Chen old frame first form. It is the considered the oldest form of Tai Chi in existence, and its slow, graceful choreography is peppered with hard, fast strikes and stomps. The illustrations are clear, and I learned most of the whole form from this book (after learning perhaps the first twelve moves in a class). I then followed up with some videos and dvds to tie it all together.
There is a brief historical introduction and some recommendations on finding a decent instructor, and the form is followed by a description of push hands and a few applications. I photocopied pictures of each movement and pasted them into the book where it just references something done before. Trying to learn that way was impossible.
The pictures will just end at a random spot and say "repeat move 5 (1-6)" and I'll have to go back see what that move was and then find the page I was on again and try to progress until another annoying reference to a previous point in the text.
I work from The Tao of Taiqiquan by Jou Tsung Hwa which recommends learning this Chen form first and then working through the other forms (in historical order). Though the content in that book is far more interesting and useful, the illustrations are somewhat difficult to follow so I picked this one up as a supplement. While Tao is often seen as mystical, Old Frame Chen Family Taijiquan in my mind is not mystical enough. Without that aspect Tai Chi is just another martial art is slower to learn than others and usually not as effective.
As a side note, the author's tone is sometimes so arrogant it's comical. I'd quote some of the more outrageous lines, but if I did I might ramble on too long... Customer Rating: Summary: A welcome addition to any TaiJi player's library!!! Comment: Although this book deals with Chen,QingZhou's version of the Lao Jia YiLu I must say that it is indeed a well written account of the basics of TaiJi. This is not to say that he is not an advanced practitioner of Chen's TaiJiQuan. Au contraire! I have heard many fine things about Mr.Chen's (Mark's)skills as well as his teaching abilities. Having attended two of Grandmaster Chen,QingZhou's seminars to study the TaiJi Ball and TaiJi Bang (pronounced,"Bong"),as well as having "felt" his skills in "touching hands" with him and having several of his videos, I've eagerly awaited the release of a book detailing the performance of his routine. I especially like the way he explains the reason why some of the postures are done differently than some of the other Chen masters; also in defining the energy of "Kao". Practitioners of Chen Style know that Kao actually means "leaning", or "bumping" and can be done with any part of the body and is not limited to just a "shoulder strike" as some other styles of TaiJiQuan are wont to do. He also provides some excellent examples of several Chin Na techniques from the pushing hands. His approach is simple and direct. Especially when it comes to "telling it like it is", when it comes to the truth about gaining proficiency in TaiJi, and anything else you want to be good at. All it takes is alot of sweat and hard work. I thought that the first 39 pages alone were worth the "price of admission". And remember, although there are many photos and instructions to help one learn this particular style of Chen's TJQ, this is still no substitute for a good teacher. Many kudos to you, Mark Chen for providing us with an excellent opus. I hope that someday you can produce a book on the TaiJi Iron Ball.
