This was in response to a letter I sent to Marvin Smalheiser regarding a
very inflamatoy article he printed for Justin Meehan in Tai Chi Magazine.
The article totally **** on Chen style tai chi, saying that chen style could
even cause brain damage. Please read my response. Marvin Smalheiser
refused to print it saying my response was too emotional and attacking Mr.
Meehan. I thought I was just stating some facts. You decide. Then send it
to everyone you know.

Mark Wasson


To Marvin Smalheiser,

Dear Marvin,

On quite a few occasions you have remarked to me how better to say
things in my articles so not to offend other styles and practitioners.
I have taken this advice to heart and tried to write my articles in that
fashion. Now I know I can be quite outspoken on things I feel
passionate about, and tai chi is right up there with the most important
things I value in my life. That is why, as a Chen stylist, I feel so
upset about many comments Justin Meehan said in an article that just
recently appeared in Tai Chi Magazine.
I am very surprised that you would allow so many prejudice
statements, not to mention totally incorrect, in print from a person as
he compares Feng's tai chi to Chen tai chi. To those remarks I feel
pressed to speak out and correct these misconceptions that he has stated
about some aspects of Chen tai chi. My Commentary follows, which I
would ask most generously of you to print.

Thank You,
Mark Wasson



Commentary on The Hun Yuan Article, by Justin Meehan:

By Mark Wasson
Copyright 2001


As a writer I feel awkward correcting another writer's work, it is
considered politically incorrect. In this case, however, I must let
another part of me speak out, and that is the tai chi practitioner.
What I feel obliged to correct is a number of mistakes that Justin
Meehan spoke about in an article he recently wrote for Tai Chi Magazine
in regards to the differences between Hun Yuan tai chi and Chen style
tai chi.
I do not know Mr. Meehan so I will not speak about his credentials
concerning tai chi chuan. I have heard much about master Feng; both
good and bad, though I have not met him personally. What I do know
well, however, is Chen style tai chi.
I got the strong feeling in Mr. Methane's article that he feels Hun
Yuan tai chi is quite superior to Chen style tai chi. He points out
that 'Stomping' the foot and 'fa jing' movements, that are common
practice in Chen tai chi, can cause all kinds of maladies, even leading
to brain damage. If this is the case I would ask Mr Meehan to bring
forth even one Chen stylist who suffers brain damage from stomping their
foot or using fast explosive movements in their tai chi practice, or in
any daily activity.
The fact is, the practice of stomping the foot in Chen style tai
chi actually has a number beneficial effects on the body, especially in
women. It has been shown in medical tests, on football players in the
NFL, that all the hard hitting they take during a game actually triggers
the bones to secrete bone building material to those areas that are
under stress thereby building up the added bone in that area of
activity. In countless other studies regarding women and osteoporosis
it has been shown that hardy activity actually fights off the
deterioration of bone material as the body ages.
Before anyone jumps up and says, wait a minute, you can't expect an
eighty year old woman to practice fa jing movements at the same level as
say Chen Xiaowang, the answer is, of course not. Chen Xiaowang, who is
my teacher, has commented on this very issue many times while teaching
seminars all over the world. His reply is that the amount of fa jing
that one uses in his practice is determined on his/her health and energy
level on any given day. Fa jing movements actually stimulate the chi
flow throughout the body, and enlivens the spirit, or shen. You do as
much as your body tells you is ok. If you start to feel your energy
depleting, then you back off and go softer. It all depends on your
strength and health and age. This is of course just common sense.
Mr Meehan also criticizes the use of low stances in one's tai chi
practice. Again, Chen Xiaowang has said that there are three levels of
stances in Chen style tai chi depending on one's level of expertise. It
is ok use either high, medium, and low stances, for more advance
practitioners in Chen style practice. Low stances do not in fact break
the the flow of chi as Mr. Meehan stated. Quite the contrary in fact.
Low stances actually condense the chi making it even stronger. This is
a matter of simple physics. If you take a given amount of energy and
condense it into a smaller space, that energy becomes more condensed,
with that much more potential for faster and explosive force when it is
released.
Mr. Meehan states that Chen Wangting created seven sets of tai chi
and Chen Changxing later condensed them into two routines, the Yi Lu
routine and the Er Lu routine. This is incorrect, there were originally
only five sets that were later made into the two forms that are still
practised today.
Mr Meehan justifies master Feng's creation of different forms and
uses Chen Xiaowang's creation of the nineteen and thirty-eight routines
to do so. The difference here is that Chen Xiaowang did not create new
movements, as Feng did, but used the exact movements as they are
performed in the longer sets.
In regards to the differences between the Xin Jia routine created
by Chen Fake, and the original Lao Jia routine, Chen village mostly
promotes the Lao Jia routine, and only teaches the Xin Jia routine to
someone when they feel he has reached a level that he can understand its
complexity. Chen Fake did not in any way change the Lao Jia routine as
Mr. Meehan stated, Chen fake only created another form to better
demonstrate many of the hidden movements that are not so apparent in the
Lao Jia form
Also, it should be understood that the Xin Jia routine was created
by Chen Fake, a Chen family member, so naturally it would also be called
Chen style tai chi. It is expected that when Feng Zhiqiang dies his
system of tai chi will be called Feng style tai chi to honour its
creator as is done with all the other styles of tai chi.
I am glad that Mr. Meehan states that the Hun Yuan system is not
traditional Chen style tai chi, but a hybrid of things Feng Zhiqiang has
learned over the years. This distinction has cleared away much
contention between Chen village and master Feng because Chen village
felt that Feng style tai chi no longer represented Chen style tai chi in
its original form and the principles that Chen style are based on. With
the declaration that master Feng teaches something other than Chen style
tai chi there is no longer any reason for argument.
In one other note, or correction, that does not pertain to Mr.
Meehan's article, but to C. P. Ong's article regarding how the name of
the Four Buddhist Warriors came to be. Everyone in Chen village knows
how that name for Chen Xiaowang, Chen Zhenglei, Wang Xian, and Zhu
Tiancai, came about. It was created by a Japanese journalist who was
studying Chen tai chi in Chen village during the early eighties. This
journalist was so impressed with Chen tai chi that he wanted to write
something that would promote Chen tai chi and Chen village.
Many people believe that these four masters were chosen
specifically by their teacher Chen Xiaopei, because of their outstanding
skill, to go forth and promote Chen tai chi. This is absolutely false,
and if you ask any of the Four Buddhist Warriors they will only say that
Chen Xiaopei installed in all his students that it was their duty to
promote the Chen family treasure that is known as Chen tai chi.
The standard bearer for Chen tai chi is Chen Xiawang. The other
Buddhist Warrior's will confirm this. If something were to happen to
Chen Xiaowang, then the responsibility of carrying on the tradition of
teaching Chen tai chi would fall to Chen Xiaoxing, Chen Xiaowang's
younger brother, and who is currently head of all tai chi in Chen
village since his older brother is constantly travelling throughout the
world to promote Chen tai chi. If something were to happen to Chen
Xiaoxing, then that responsibility would fall to one of the two
brother's sons, the one whoever was most qualified to take up that
title. Anyone who knows Chinese tradition knows this is the way things
are done in China, and the Chen family takes this responsibility very
seriously. Every member of both brother's families are well versed in
Chen tai chi and would easily be considered a master in this country.
I hope in writing this I have not offended anyone, but instead made
more clear to tai chi practitioners throughout the world about some
controversial aspects that crop up from time to time regarding certain
aspects of Chen tai chi.
As far as master Feng and his new style of Hun Yuan, I wish him
well. If he and his style are all that Mr. Meehan claim then I think
that's great. But we won't know that for a hundred years or so. It
takes that long for things to really prove themselves in regards to
kungfu and tai chi styles. If people are still practicing Feng style
then it will have proved itself, and deservedly so.

Sincerely,
Mark wasson


(Optional)
About the Author: Mark Wasson is the first Westerner to ever have been
accepted into the Chen family as a disciple under Grandmaster
Chen Xiaowang.