Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 162

Chén Fā Kē Pào Chuí – Part 3

After he had been studying with Great Grandmaster Chén Fā Kē 陳發科 for a while, Shěn Jiā Zhēn 沈家禎 said to his Sīfú 師父, “I have studied Yáng Style Tàijíquán 楊式太極 before, like most of us here. We all studied with Yáng Chéng Fǔ 楊澄甫(1883-1936), the grandson of Yáng Lù Chán 楊露禪(1799-1872). He showed us some Fā Jìn發勁, which was unusual as it is not in any of the Yáng Style Tàijíquán forms. I believe it is like the Pào Chuí 砲捶 you demonstrated.” Chén Fā Kē smiled and replied, “I believe that Yáng Chéng Fǔ knows some of the Pào Chuí skill and that his Grandfather learnt some of the Pào Chuí from my Great Grandfather Chén Cháng Xìng 陳長興(1771-1853).”  Shěn said, “He taught us some single movements, but never an entire form like Pào Chuí.” Now Shěn Jiā Zhēn had the opportunity to learn the entire Chén Style Tàijíquán 陈式太极拳 including Pào Chuí, and after learning it he had a much better understanding of Tàijíquán.

Later on, together with his King Fu brother, Gù Liú Xīn 顧留馨, he wrote what is the most famous and most popular book on Chén Style Tàijíquán which has his Sīfú and his Sīfú’s son, Chén Zhào Kuí 陳照奎, in it.