Wudang tai chi chuan

Wudang Tai Chi Chuan 武當太極拳 is the name of a system of Tai Chi Chuan that was developed by a Hong Kong 香港 based Tai Chi Chuan master known as Cheng Tinhung 鄭天熊. While Cheng Tinhung never claimed to be teaching any particular school of Tai Chi ChuanFact|date=January 2008, his uncle was a disciple of the Wu 吳 school of Tai Chi Chuan, which may or may not have had some influence on his own approach to the art.

The Wudang Tai Chi Chuan system is now being taught in Europe by two of Cheng Tinhung’s disciples, Dan Docherty and Ian Cameron, both based in the United Kingdom. The system also continues to be taught in Hong Kong, and the current head of that school is Cheng Tinhung’s son Cheng Kamyan (Zheng Jianen) 鄭鑒恩, whose school is called the "Hong Kong Tai Chi Association" 香港太極總會.

Zhang Sanfeng 張三豐, a highly mythologised figure said to be the founder of Tai Chi Chuan, lived in the Wudang Mountains 武當山 and the name "Wudang" used for this Tai Chi Chuan system was used in order to acknowledge Zhang Sanfeng's status as the founder of Tai Chi Chuan.Fact|date=January 2008 There are other schools of Tai Chi Chuan that also use this name.

The Wudang Tai Chi Chuan system is also known as “Practical Tai Chi Chuan”. This name comes from that given to Cheng Tinhung's style by various Chinese martial arts journalists in Hong Kong during Cheng Tinhung’s heyday, and from the school's assertion that its tai chi is eminently useful as a form of self-defense. Fact|date=January 2008

The Wudang Tai Chi Chuan system teachers publish that they have links to famous Tai Chi Chuan masters (see lineage diagram), including Yang Banhou 陽班侯 , Wu Quanyou 吳全佑, Wu Jianquan 吳鑒泉, Cheng Wingkwong (Zheng Rongguang) 鄭榮光, Chen Gengyun 陳耕雲, and Wang Lanting 王蘭亭.Fact|date=January 2008

Qi Minxuan

It is thought that Qi Minxuan 齊敏軒 came from from Wen County, Hebei Dao in Henan Province. He was a teacher of Tai Chi Chuan and neigong.Fact|date=January 2008 After losing his family during the Japanese Occupation and Second World War, Qi Minxuan became an itinerant martial arts instructor teaching Tai Chi Chuan to those that would give him board and lodgings.Fact|date=January 2008 His father Qi Gechen 齊閣臣 was a disciple of the famed Tai Chi Chuan master Wu Quanyou. Qi Minxuan also learnt from a Buddhist monk known as Jing Yi 静一 (Tranquil One), who learnt Tai Chi Chuan from Wang Lanting 王蘭亭.Fact|date=January 2008 Qi Minxuan’s Buddhist name was Zhi Meng 智孟 (Sagacious Elder) and was an enthusiastic student of Chan Buddhism. The fate of Qi Minxuan is unknown.Fact|date=January 2008

Cheng Tinhung

Cheng Tinhung (Zheng Tianxiong) 鄭天熊 (1930-2005). As a young boy he studied Southern Boxing 南拳 from his father Cheng Minchueng 鄭綿彰, which was a family style, learnt from his father Cheng Lin 鄭麟 who was a professional martial artist.Fact|date=January 2008 As Cheng Tinhung grew older his uncle Cheng Wingkwong 鄭榮光 took an interest in teaching him Wu style Tai Chi Chuan. Cheng Wingkwong was a formal disciple of Wu Jianquan, who eventually held the rank of Shifu 師父 (or Sifu in Cantonese) in the Wu family's Hong Kong school. At that ranking he had their encouragement to take on disciples of his own and open his own school. Cheng Wingkwong knew of an itinerant martial artist known as Qi Minxuan whose father was a disciple of the founder of the Wu 吳 School, Wu Quanyou. Cheng Wingkwong arranged for his nephew to train with Master Qi from the summer of 1946 to the winter of 1948.Fact|date=January 2008 Qi Minxuan advised his new disciple Cheng Tinhung, that in order to gain a good reputation as a master of Tai Chi Chuan he must be both sound in mind and body and also be able to defend himself, thus being able to represent the art in its true form.Fact|date=January 2008 Cheng Tinhung later took the nickname of the "Tai Chi Bodyguard" for his enthusiastic defence of Tai Chi Chuan as a martial art.Fact|date=January 2008 By all accounts, Cheng was a hellraiser--he liked to drink, eat, and fight as well as train and teach. His predilections may have contributed to the ill health that plagued him in his later years.

Dan Docherty

Dan Docherty was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1954.Fact|date=January 2008 He graduated with an LLB in 1974 and soon after moved to Hong Kong where he served as an inspector in the Royal Hong Kong Police Force until 1984 .Fact|date=January 2008

Soon after he arrived in Hong Kong in 1975 he started training Tai Chi Chuan under Cheng Tinhung and within a few years was elected to represent Hong Kong in Full-contact Fighting competitions.Fact|date=January 2008 In 1980 he won the Open Weight Division at the 5th South East Asian Chinese Pugilistic Championships in Malaysia .Fact|date=January 2008

In 1985 he was awarded a Postgraduate Diploma in Chinese from Ealing College, London.Fact|date=January 2008

He is now based in London and travels extensively teaching and writing about Tai Chi Chuan.

Ian Cameron

Ian Cameron was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1944.Fact|date=January 2008

He first came under the tutelage of Cheng Tinhung in 1971 whilst serving in the armed forces in Hong Kong. On his return to Edinburgh he set up his class which was to evolve into the Five Winds School Of Tai Chi Chuan.

Ian Cameron teaches in Edinburgh. He also supervises other classes in Scotland and England.

Wudang Tai Chi Chuan Lineage

References

*Docherty, D. "Complete Tai Chi Chuan", The Crowood Press, 1997. ISBN 1-86126-033-4
*Cheng, Tinhung & Docherty, D. "Wutan Tai Chi Chuan", Published Hong Kong, 1983.
*Cheng, Tinhung. "Tai Chi Transcendent Art", The Hong Kong Tai Chi Association Press Hong Kong, 1976. (only available in Chinese)

External links

* [http://www.hktaichi.com] The Hong Kong Tai Chi Association
* [http://www.taichichuan.co.uk] Practical Tai Chi Chuan International's official website
* [http://www.five-winds.co.uk] Ian Cameron's Five Winds School of Tai Chi Chuan