Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 163

Chén Fā Kē Pào Chuí – Part 4

Yáng Chéng Fǔ 楊澄甫 knew and practised some Pào Chuí 砲捶. However it was not only Yang Family who knew some of this skill some Wǔ Shì (Style) Tàijíquán 武式太極拳 practitioners also knew it.

The story of how this came about was told by a person named Mǎ Yìn Shū 馬印書. The hometown of Yáng Lù Chán 楊露禪 was the Yǒngnián Qū (District) 永年區 of Héběi Shěng (Province) 河北省. One of Yáng Lù Chán’s neighbours was a man named Wǔ Yǔ Xiāng 武禹襄 (1812-1880). Wǔ Yǔ Xiāng learnt Tàijíquán太極拳 from Yáng Lù Chán. He studied Lǎojià老架. Afterwards he wanted to learn more and so he went to Chénjiāgōu陳家溝 – Chén Village, to find Chén Cháng Xìng 陳長興 (1771-1853) and study with him. However, when he got there, Chén Cháng Xìng was old and did not teach anymore. So Wǔ Yǔ Xiāng left and went to nearby the Zhào Bǎo 趙堡 area. Here he studied Chén Shì Tàijíquán 陈式太极拳 from a master named, Chén Qīng Píng 陳清萍. Chén Qīng Píng’s form was different to Chén Cháng Xìng’s and today is known as Zhào Bǎo Jià (Frame) 趙堡架.

Wǔ Yǔ Xiāng then returned home where he taught some of his relatives. Mǎ Yìn Shū says that one of the relatives that Wǔ Yǔ Xiāng taught, was a person called Lǐ Yì Shē 李亦畲(1832-1892). Mǎ Yìn Shū was Lǐ Yì Shē’s nephew and Mǎ became Lǐ Yì Shē’s student. Mǎ Yìn Shū tells of how one day he saw his Sīfú 師父, Lǐ Yì Shē, and Yáng Lù Chán’s second son, Yáng Bān Hóu 楊班侯 (1837-1890), practising Pào Chuí together!