chen and yang styles-when they came out to the public

[oasis]

just a historical question...i know chen fa ke began teaching in beijing in 1928, and yang cheng fu began teaching in shanghai in the 1929, but when did chen start spreading in shanghai and yang in beijing?

[oasis]

an excerpt from an interview with chen zheng lei posted on www.chenstyle.com
interesting because it talks about the chen experience under the cultural revolution as well:

Q. You have been practicing Taijiquan for over forty years. Could you tell us something of your experiences and recollections of training with Master Chen Zhaopei? (Editors note: Chen Zhaopei (1883-1972) was a student of Chen Dengke (his father), Chen Yanxi, Chen Pinsan, and Chen Fake. His teaching and efforts to continue the legacy of Chenjiagou Tajiquan led to the spread of Chen style Taiji to the world outside Chenjiagou as well as the establishment of the Wushu Training Halls in both Chenjiagou and Wenxian.)

A. Although my teacher left us over 20 years ago, I will keep the memory of how he taught in my heart always. Chen Zhaopei was my uncle. I started training with him when i was eight years old. In 1928 he went to Beijing to teach. During this period he asked Chen Fake to come to Beijing to teach also. After Chen Fake arrived, he travelled to Nanjing. At that time, the Kuomintang was in power, and the mayor of Nanjing invited him to come and teach a class there. (Editors note; at that time, he also served as an honorary coach at the famous Central Martial Arts Institute)
From 1928 to 1958, he taught Taiji outside of the village. Some of the cities he taught in were Beijing, Nanking, Xian, Lanzhou, Luoyang, Kaifeng, and Zhengzhou. In 1958 he returned to the village. After his return visit, he realised that not very many people were practicing Taiji anymore, due to the stresses of the World War, and the war between the Nationalists and the Communists. Seeing this, he became very worried that the art would eventually decline. So he returned to his job at the Yellow River Regulatory Commision (in Kaifeng) and requested an early retirement. He returned home to the spartan life of the village to recruit a group of children for serious training.
There were about thirty kids who would gather in front of his door for instruction. He would lead the class in front while his wife would be in the back, making corrections. He was very patient, and took great pains to make corrections. He was never angry.
During these years, there were three years of "natural disasters" (flooding, famine, etc) as well as the beginning of the cultural revolution. During the cultural revolution, Tajiquan was considered to be old fashioned, and part of old religions and superstitions. It was forbidden to promote Taijiquan at this time. Also, because he was connected to the Nationalists in Nanjing in the 1930s, he was in a lot of trouble. during this time, if you wanted to teach or learn, it was very difficult. (editors note: Chen Kesen, Chen Zhaopei's son, wrote of this period: "During the cultural revolution, my father was persecuted and subjected to public "struggle sessions", but during the still of the night, Chen Zhenglei and several others of his prized disciples secretly went to study under him. My father, demonstrating that he was not afraid of the persecution, bravely carried on with his teaching of Taijiquan.")

[scholar]

In 1914, Yang Shao-hou, Yang Ch'eng-fu and Wu Chien-ch'uan were invited by Hsu Yueh-sheng (a disciple of Yang Chien-hou) to teach T'ai Chi Ch'uan to the public at the Beijing Physical Culture Research Institute. Shortly thereafer, Sun Lu-t'ang joined the faculty there. This was apparently the first time that T'ai Chi Ch'uan instruction was made available to the general public. The Yang brothers, Wu and Sun, representing 4 of the 5 major styles of T'ai Chi (Sun initially learned T'ai Chi Ch'uan from Hao Wei-chen, who was a student of Wu Yu-hsiang's nephew Li I-yu), taught together in the same building from 1914 until 1928.

[oasis]

okay, didnt realize yang cheng fu started out that early in beijing, and hence a number of years before chen fa ke. that makes sense

[GeneChing]

A View from a Tai Chi Summit by James Healy

[ShaolinDan]

cool story. Good luck to him on "global standardization of Chen taiji ," though--I've noticed that even his own disciple Wang Hai Jun does the 18 Movement form that Master Chen created himself significantly different than his teacher...

[mawali]

just a historical question...i know chen fa ke began teaching in beijing in 1928, and yang cheng fu began teaching in shanghai in the 1929, but when did chen start spreading in shanghai and yang in beijing?

I do not know the exact year but Yang taijiquan was allegedly known before
Chen style. Chen remained a village art and people doubted the Chens when they told the people that thie art was the origin. The question is incorrectly stated because Yang Luchan went to Beijing and it was he who came in contact with Qing officials and that was in late 1800 ( around 1855??) give or take a few years.
The date of Chengfu is too late!