In July of 2011 our Head Instructor, Gordon Muir, travelled to China to work with Grandmaster Liu ChengDe in Jinan, Shandong. Master Liu is a 30 year disciple of the well known Chen Master, Hong Junsheng.

Gordon studied with Master Liu, his son Guanglin and several of their top disciples including Shifu Stan Tabor, Master Liu's North American representative.The point of the trip was to return home with more information about Traditional Chen style Taijiquan and to that end it was a very fruitful trip. Gordon returned with some very advanced Foundations exercises that are a different take of the Positive and Negative Circles than our group is used to practising. The new circles are elegantly simple but at the same time more difficult to master than the former.

Master Liu's system is called Hong Chuan Chen Shi Taijiquan. This means Hong Fist Chen Style Tai Chi.

The foundation exercises in Master Liu's method go directly into the kua (hip joint) from the very first day, and use the movement of the kua/hip joint to cause body rotation. All arm movement is caused by hip movement. His circle practise goes very deep into the core of the body in a deeply rooted manner. The sinking of the hip is deeper and the rotation is much greater. Alignment of the body is emphasized as is a release of the dan tien (belly) and breath. The arm movement in these Circles is very different than previously taught and it is immediately clear that these circles are natural, powerful and work with the body alignment.

Also new is a QI Gong set called Re Shen Gong that works the major joints of the body in a very powerful manner and simultaneously works a strong two way stretch through enhanced releasing of the body.

Gordon also learned a new Chen form called The 42. This form has several attributes that make it a very valuable learning tool.

Grandmaster Hong worked one on one with Chen Fake for 15 years in Beijing before moving to Jinan. In Jinan he worked on what he had been taught for another 13 years and then returned to his Master in Beijing for corrections. At the end of a four month visit Hong was told by Chen Fake that all of his postures and applications were correct. Hong then asked permission to slightly change his form so that the postures in the form more closely resembled the way the postures were applied martially. Once Hong was back in Jinan he began work on this project and eventually created modified versions of Yi Lu and Er Lu that he called Practical Method. Most people take it for granted that Hong only taught Practical Method but I think it is doubtful he would abandon his teachers methods, and 28 years of work altogether. I am convinced that Hong taught his masters system for many years while developing Practical Method, and for years after that as well.

The 42 form is an enhancement of Hong's Taiji with an emphasis on more turning and sinking. It is closer to Chen Fake's original postures. Many of the postures of the 42 are performed in a medium stance that uses a 40/50/10 weight distribution. Other stances transition weight distribution to include

Ce Ma Bu  (40 front /50 back)
Gong Bu  (60 front /30 back)
Pu Bu  (20 front /70 back)
Pan Bu  (50 front /40 back)
Xie Bu  (0 front /100 back)

Transitioning through these postures with a focus on sinking and turning forces the practitioner to further open their hips to ensure a stable root. It is a beautiful set and the value of Circles practise is immediately seen as all arm movements in the form are the same as what is practised in Circles.

The video below was filmed in Italy by an Italian student of Master Liu. Most of the audio is in either Italian or Chinese with a sprinkling of English. The video shows Circles practise, some Qi Gong, Yi Lu and several applications of postures. Featured in the film are Grandmaster Liu ChengDe, Master Liu Guanglin and student Salvatore Cafeiro. This is one of the best videos available to demonstrate Grandmaster Liu's abilities and to see a clear demonstration of what is involved in Hong Chuan Chen Shi Taijiquan.

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The next video shows a performance of the 42 by Grandmaster Liu. The last third of the video is slightly damaged but it is a good representation of many attributes of this style. Master Liu performs a relaxed version of the form here. For a more detailed version there is one on YouTube done by his son Master Liu Guanglin. The quality of that video unfortunately is not great.

While I was visiting I asked the group if I would be allowed to film their movements. Their reply was that Master Liu is not simply concerned about being sure any photos or videos are accurate representations of his art but that this traditional master also believes Gong Fu (Tai Chi is Kung Fu) can only be taught in person and based on a relationship between master and student. This is the main reason there are not many photos or videos available of this highly skilled but difficult to find master.

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