The Cheng Man-Ching Yang Style Form and much of the Tchoung Ta-Tchen Dual Sided Yang Style is Taught at Soft Answer Tai Chi

The Styles Taught at Soft Answer Tai Chi

Lineage of the Cheng Man-Ching and Tchoung Ta-Tchen styles and how they interconnect: This is OVERLY-SIMPLIFIED but shows *some* of the paths of the lineage of the styles we will be learning. It can be some interesting reading! It is not shown here that Tchoung Ta-Tchen also learned from Cheng Man-Ching:

Cheng Man-Ching Style:
Yang Lu-Ch'an -> Yang Pan-hou & Yang Chien-hou -> Yang Ch'eng-fu -> Cheng Man Ching -> Benjamin Lo -> Ed Chan & Pak Chan
Tchoung Ta-Tchen Style:
Yang Lu-Ch'an -> Yang Pan-hou & Yang Chien-hou -> Yang Shao-hou & Tian Zhao-Lin -> Shi Tiao-Mei -> Tchoung Ta-Tchen

For more detail download the Cheng Man-Ching Yang Style Family Tree and/or the Tchoung Ta-Tchen Yang Style Family Tree

Cheng Man-Ching Simplified Yang Style Tai Chi

Portrait of Cheng Man-Ching Cheng Man-Ching Demonstrates Push Cheng Man-ch'ing or Zhèng Mànqīng 鄭曼青 was born in 1902 and passed away in 1975 during a visit to Taiwan. He was born in Yongjia, what is now present-day Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province in China. Many regard Cheng Man-Ching (Often referred to as Professor) as the man who brought Tai Chi to the west. Cheng Man-Ching moved to the United States in 1964, where he taught at the New York T'ai Chi Association and then the Shr Jung T'ai Chi school in New York City's Chinatown section. with the assistance of his American senior students.

Cheng Man-ch'ing is best known for his "Simplified" 37 Posture Yang Style T'ai Chi Chuan. *Simplified* does not mean easier. It was simplified in it's length and complexity but not the quality or difficulty of the postures.

Cheng Man-Ching developed lung disease in his twenties which is believed to have been tuberculosis. He was coughing up blood and began to practice taijiquan diligently to aid in his recovery. He met the well-known master Yang Chengfu in 1928 and began to study his Yang style T'ai Chi Ch'uan until 1935.

Cheng Man-Ching's changes to the Yang style form were controversial but allowed him to teach larger numbers of students in less time. These changes are still a source of controversy to some T'ai Chi Chuan practitioners in the Yang Style community.

Tchoung Ta-Tchen Demonstrates Shoulder Stroke Tchoung Ta-Tchen 鍾大振 was born 1911 and passed away in Vancouver, BC Canada in 2000. He was born in Hunan Province in China. His Tai Chi practice began in 1942. Tchoung was among the earliest Tai Chi Chuan practitioners to bring the art to North America. Tchoung taught in Taiwan, South Africa, United States and Vancouver, BC Canada. In Vancouver he formed the Chinese Tai Chi Chuan Association in 1972. Shortly thereafter he was invited to become the Tai Chi master of the Seattle Tai Chi Association where he also taught many students.

Tchoung Ta-Tchen created the 6 section Dual Sided Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Form in the late 1960's. He felt the standard Yang Tai Chi form favored the right side, which he considered unbalanced. He taught a two man partner set called "Section 7 & Section 8" and he created "section 9", a fast set combining elements of the Natural School, Tai Chi, Bagua and Hsing-I.

Tchoung Ta-Tchen began teaching in 1970 as the Tai Chi Chuan teacher for President Bongo of Gabon. He also established the South African Chinese Health and Self Defense Club in Johannesburg.

Having been one of his students in Vancouver, BC I can testify that he loved his Tai Chi Classes and his Tai Chi Students! He was like a father to us. He cried publicly when I returned to the club to visit after years away!

Soft Answer Tai Chi Chuan - 回答柔和太極拳

... a soft answer turns away wrath ... Proverbs 15:1 - ... 回答柔和，使怒消退。... 箴言15:1

Soft Answer Tai Chi

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