Master Chen Zhonghua is a disciple of two of Chen Fake's primary disciples. He spent many years studying with Hong Junsheng and heard many stories and anecdotes about Chen Fake. He is also a disciple of Feng Zhiqiang. Between the two he has been given the training methods of Chen Fake from two distinct lineages.

GrandMaster Feng Zhiqiang in Beijing - Chen Shi Xinyi Hunyuan Taiji

We expected only a short interview with Grandmaster Feng as he is quite a busy man and in fact had people waiting for him when we arrived. He spent more than two hours with our group (Joseph, Todd and myself) and never did meet the other group. Feng talked to us about both Chen Fake and Hu Yaozhen, his Chen Taiji master and his Hunyuan Qi Gong master respectively. He was quite happy to hear that I spent a lot of time studying his Hunyuan Qi Gong and worked through it with us. He asked me to stand beside him as we went through and kept a careful eye on my performance. Part way through he remarked that he could tell I did a lot of zhan zhuang (standing post). Master Feng also corrected some of my silk reeling postures and then worked on the Hunyuan 24 with our group.

Students (Peng Daishan & Zhang Yuhai) of Tian Xiuchen in Beijing - Chen style and Feng style

These two students both began their studies with Tian Xiuchen, another disciple of Chen Fake. They switched to Feng Zhiqiang after Tian died. Zhang Yuhai lived in the same courtyard as Tian and said that as a boy he used to watch him practising all the time. Zhang Yuhai's sister is married to Chen Yu, the son of Chen Zhaokui, and he stated that he could probably arrange an interview for us easily. We tried to get them to talk about their training with Tian but it was very difficult to get any detailed information from them. They were both solidly from the mystics school of tai chi. "We just did form!" From what I know of Hong Junsheng and Chen Fake they both seemed to be from the 'engineers' school of Taiji. That is, they were more concerned with body mechanics and correct movement than in qi.

Things got a little heated when in exasperation I asked them what they thought their teacher, or Chen Fake, did on a minute to minute basis throughout the day that made both of them so highly skilled. They were not able to answer the question the way I hoped and it was at that moment it occured to me that the Taiji world is divided into engineers and mystics. Neither good nor bad, just very different approaches to training. My own belief is that one has to be a mystical engineer to truly understand and embody the art.

Master Meng Xiantang  on Daqingshan Mountain - Sun Bin style

Meng Xiantang is the president of the United Wushu Federation of the World.

Master Meng visited us on Daqingshan Mountain for two days. He was accompanied by a young female student (Lan Chunling) who had won several competitions and who had visited North America. Lan Chunling is the vice chairman of the Wushu Cultural Assocation of Qingdao. Meng claims that their style originated with the author of The Art of War, Sun Tzu. We asked him for the story of the creation of his art and he complied. A very interesting man and an interesting take on the historical figure of Sun Tzu.

They both demonstrated their style for us including empty hand and weapons sets. Their style was very external. During our interview Meng called his style Shaolin Sun Bin. He said that he had added many Shaolin forms to the style.Master Meng is based in Qingdao on the eastern coast of Shandong province.

Master Chao took up Taiji to help with a heart condition. Since he has always lived in Heze his studies with Grandmaster Hong have mostly been from a distance. He only studied directly with Hong on a few occasions, when he had the time and money to travel all the way to Jinan. He Shugan also lives in Heze and I think it was he who introduced Chao to Hong.

Master Ai Shenghua in Weifang - Wu Shu and Sanda

Master Ai has a large training compound in Weifang. It is a wu shu and sanda (Chinese kick boxing) school and it appears that most if not all students live at the school in dormitories. Their main training hall is very large and spacious. The students train on a bare concrete floor covered by cloth mats. The sanda students ranged from early to late teens and some showed good speed and power. They did not demonstrate. The Wu Shu students were very good.

A Taiji brother of Master Chen Zhonghua's. He  was was a badminton provincial champion, famous artist and was China's envoy to the UN committee on the status of disabled persons.  He is a long time student of Feng Zhiqiang

Master Cai Shengye in Jinan - Chen Style Practical Method

Cai Shengye started his studies with Hong when he was just a teenager. Hong apparently liked him and thought he could be successful in Taiji. He spent personal time with Cai. Cai gave us a good interview and taught us a chin na routine.

Master Li Enjiu in Jinan - CSPM

Master Li Enjiu is the mastermind behind the international team that swept the national push hands tournaments for many years, taking most of the gold medals. He is a Preying Mantis (Tang Long) master as well as a master of Chen Style Practical Method. Todd and I returned to Jinan to spend some time with Li Enjiu. I ended up spending an extra couple of days with him after Todd had left. I trained with the same students we saw and got to know them and Master Li a little better.

This photo shows Gordon Muir with Todd Elihu and Masters Li Enjiu and Chen Zhonghua.

Han Yue - push hands champion and student of Master Li Enjiu

Present on the first day we met with Master Li was Han Yue, a young man I first met in 2004 on my first trip to China. Han Yue had grown a lot and had put on a lot of muscle. He was a formidable fighter in 2004 and seemed even stronger this time.  Han Yue is a member of Master Li Enjiu's national push hands team.

Zhang Yanping in Jinan - Wu Shu Taiji

Zhang Yanping is a Wu Shu (Taiji) champion and multiple gold medal winner. Throughout her career she won gold medals at the municipal, provincial and national levels of competition. We interviewed Yanping twice and she was able to give us a brief account of her life training as a wu shu champion. She began her studies in Weifang at six and continued until she became a multi gold medal winner. She is retired now, has a child and is teaching at the university of Jinan.