Zheng Manqing

Zheng Manqing ( Chinese  鄭曼青  /  郑曼青 , Pinyin Zhèng Mànqīng , W.-G. Cheng Man-ch'ing , born July 29, 1902 , † March 26, 1975 ) was a Chinese Taijiquan master , artist and doctor. He has been named the Master of Five Excellence because of his exceptional skills in traditional Chinese arts (Taijiquan, medicine, painting, poetry, and calligraphy) .

From 1928 to 1935, Zheng Manqing was taught the Yang style of Taijiquan by Master Yang Chengfu . By 1946 he had developed the long form of the Yang style into a greatly simplified short form in 37 images. After the communists seized power in China in 1949, Zheng Manqing fled to Taiwan , where he worked as a teacher. In 1964 he went to New York City and found many followers there. He was the first teacher to use this simplified form to teach Taijiquan to Western students.

In his classes, Zheng Manqing placed particular emphasis on observing the principles of Yang-style Taijiquan and on the ability to test his students' abilities through Tuishou or Push Hands , one of the partner exercises in Taijiquan. Zheng Manqing's skills in Tuishou have been widely noticed and documented on film.

He has published various books on his short form and the principles of Taijiquan. He has also written books on art, medicine and poetry.

Zheng Manqing's person and style have come under constant criticism. Its short form is not recognized by the official Yang family lineage. Followers of his person and style are of the opinion that “good Taijiquan” can only be demonstrated by verifiable skills (such as in Tuishou) and that the form is only “the rod to catch the fish”, ie the means for the purpose of understanding and being able to apply the principles of Taijiquan.

literature

• Zheng Manqing, Thirteen Chapters on Tai Chi Chuan , ISBN 3-89631-389-4
• Zheng Manqing, Essays on Man and Culture , ISBN 1-883319-26-9
• Zheng Manqing, New Method of Tai Chi Chuan Self-Cultivation , ISBN 1-883319-92-7
• Wolfe Lowenthal, There Are No Secrets , ISBN 3-928288-05-9
• Wolfe Lowenthal, At the gate to the wonderful , ISBN 3-928288-31-8
• Wolfe Lowenthal, Like a long river, some taichi thoughts , ISBN 0-9773107-0-1

Web links

• Taichi after Master Cheng Man-Ching in Berlin - third generation Lineage see here ( http://taichi-berlin.blogspot.de/p/taichi-berlin-lineage.html )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Taijiquan , classification of Taijiquan under the five excellence
2. ↑ Yang style according to Zheng Manqing ( memento of October 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), master of the five excellence

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