Chen Wangting

Statue of Chen Wangting

Chen Wangting ( Chinese  陳王廷  /  陈王廷 , Pinyin Chén Wángtíng , W.-G. Ch'en Wang-t'ing ; * 1597 , † 1664 ) was the founder of the Chen style of the internal martial art Taijiquan . Whether he is the founder of Taijiquan, as proven by the source researchers Gu Liuxin and Tang Hao, is still doubted by some.

Chen Wangting was a well-respected general under the Ming Dynasty. When this was overthrown in 1644, he was to a certain extent unemployed and withdrew to his village again. By losing his honors and status, he recognized the worthlessness of worldly fame and turned to Daoist philosophy. He practiced the Daoyin and Tuna exercises and studied a classic of alchemy , the Huang Ting Jing. He combined these findings with the martial arts of his time, which he had tried out on the battlefield for so many years. He probably based it largely on Qi Jiguang's 32 forms of boxing from the 16th century.

Allegedly he fought his depression by creating new box shapes. In particular, he created seven shapes, which from then on were passed on in the family under the name Taijiquan , including a “long box” shape made up of 108 figures and a Paochui “cannon fist” shape. He also developed the exercises of the "pushing hands", the Tuishou, and the "sticking spears".

literature

• David Gaffney, Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim: Chen style taijiquan . North Atlantic Books, Berkeley (California) 2002, ISBN 1-55643-377-8 .
• Nabil Ranné: The founder of Taijiquan: Chen Wangting . In: J. Silberstorff (ed.): Pushing hands: The fighting side of Taijiquan . LOTUS-PRESS, 2008, ISBN 3-935367-40-6 , pp. 89-97.

Web links

• Taijiquan lore by Chen Wangting

Note: This article places the family name before the person's first name. This is the usual order in Chinese. Chen is the family name here, Wangting is the first name.