Cloud Hands: Chen Taijiquan Short Forms

Monday, May 15, 2023

Chen Taijiquan Short Forms

Chen 18 Taijiquan form of Grandmaster Chen Zenglei.

Chen's Taichi for Health and Wellness. By Grandmaster Chen Zenglei. White Bench Publications, Toronto, Canada, 2010, 94 pages. Warmup exercises, and detailed instructions with some photographs for the Chen 18 Short Form. Jack Yan is a collaborator. I like this book quite a bit. $24.00 in 2/2021. VSCL.

Chen Taijiquan Short 18 Form of Grandmaster Chen Zenglei. By Michael P. Garofalo. Bibliography, links, resources, notes, quotes.

Chen Style Taijiquan Short 18 Form. Performance by Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei. UTube, color, 3:38 Minutes, 2007.

The Chen Style Taijiquan for Life Enhancement. Written by Chen Zhenglei and translated by Xu Hailing. Zhongzhou Classic Publishing House, Zhengzhou, China, 2002. Text in English and Chinese. ISBN: 7534821819. 149 pages. "Describes the principles of Chen style for life enhancement, basic training, Taiji Skills for Preserving Energy and the 18 Forms of the Chen Style. Many photos of Chen Zhenglei doing Exercises and forms. Chen Zhenglei is one of the top Chen stylists in China. Paperback, 149 pages, 5 1/2' by 8'. - Wayfarer Publications "It covers the content of the health exercise silk reeling video, and is a useful reference, giving more detail, especially on theory." This is a very expensive out of print book, not worth $150.00. I purchased back in 2004 for $25.00. VSCL

Essence of Traditional Chen Style 18 Posture Short Form. Instructional DVD by Shifu Jiang Jian-ye. Color, 87 Minutes. Capital District Tai Chi and Kung Fu Association of New York, 1997. "Cheng Zheng Lei (the 19th generation of the Chen Family) created this form from the old style of Chen first and second routines. It includes "silk reeling," fa jin (releasing energy), and balance. This short form is a good introduction for beginners or for those with little Chen style experience." "A good introductory Chen form that includes silk reeling and fajing movements as well as other characteristics of the Chen first and second routines. Chen Zhenglei, one of today's top Chen stylists, created the form. There is a demonstration of the entire form followed by step-by-step teaching in slow motion with 2-4 views, from the front, back and side. There are front and back demonstrations of each segment (5 to 7 moves each.) At the end of the teaching there are demonstrations, front and back. There are also excerpts from other Chen forms." - Wayfarer Publications. CDTKA. VSCL. I use a Cboy V-Zon portable DVD player and this DVD works fine because of the way it is organized.