From Teaching Notes to Technical Legacy

Chen Zhaokui, Ma Hong, and the Living Logic of Chen-Style Taijiquan

Note: This is a short summary from Ma Hong’s Chen-Style Taijiquan: Illustrated Explanation of Structure and Application book. The work did not begin as a book in the usual sense. It grew out of practice, memory, and felt responsibility. I think it is nice to "triangulate" Chen Zhaokui's work, looking from various student's perspectives to get a better picture of how and what he taught.  

Between 1972 and 1980, Ma Hong studied Taijiquan with Chen Zhaokui and carefully recorded what he was taught: explanations given during class, corrections made in person, technical comments on individual postures, and later, letters sent by his teacher. Beginning in 1982, Ma Hong started organizing these materials—five volumes of handwritten notes together with personal correspondence—with the intention of fulfilling what he understood to be his late teacher’s final wish: to leave behind a clear, usable record of his approach to Chen-style Taijiquan.

After completing an initial draft, Ma Hong sent the manuscript to Shanghai in 1983 for review and revision by Senior Brother Wan Wende. In 1987 it was printed as internal teaching material and circulated among Chen-style practitioners for feedback. On this basis, the text was revised repeatedly, expanded, and eventually supplemented with a full set of demonstration photographs. What emerged was not a polished theoretical treatise, but something far more revealing: a technical document rooted directly in lived transmission.

It is important to state this clearly. This book is not a scholarly reconstruction of classical texts, nor a critical historical edition. Yet precisely because of this, it offers a rare view into how Chen-style theory actually functions inside a teaching relationship—how ancient concepts are used, explained, tested, and refined through the body.

Plain Language, Dense Content

Ma Hong remarks that the language of Chen Zhaokui’s boxing manual is extremely plain. He deliberately preserved the original wording of his notes as much as possible, making only minimal adjustments for clarity and flow. At first encounter, the text can feel verbose, even repetitive. But this simplicity is deceptive. When studied carefully—especially in combination with hands-on practice and oral instruction—the material reveals a level of technical sophistication that is anything but simple.

Yin–Yang as Functional Organization

Throughout the text, classical philosophy is not treated as abstraction. Concepts drawn from the Yijing—yin and yang, opening and closing, hardness and softness—are consistently tied to functional relationships in the body.

Chen Zhaokui emphasized that Taijiquan trains balance in two inseparable senses: maintaining one’s own stability and disrupting the opponent’s. This is why he repeatedly insisted on 中正 zhōng zhèng (upright centrality) and 八面支撑 bā miàn zhī chēng (support in eight directions). The body must function like a scale—权 quán in Chen Xin’s famous phrase—constantly weighing, adjusting, and rebalancing.

Here, yin–yang is not philosophical decoration; it is the grammar of movement and an actual emodiment of ancient Chinese philosophy.

Silk Reeling as Whole-Body Logic

顺缠 / 逆缠 shùn chán / nì chán

One technical contribution of the text lies in its treatment of silk-reeling force (缠丝劲 chán sī jìn). Chen Zhaokui was explicit that silk reeling is not an arm technique, nor something confined to circles drawn by the hands. It is a whole-body movement principle.

Movements are described as 非圆即弧 fēi yuán jí hú—neither straight nor merely circular, but arcing. Whether the action is large or small, fast or slow, spiral continuity must remain intact. “Hardness and speed must not lose spiral force,” he insisted.

To make this tangible, Chen Zhaokui used mechanical images rather than poetic ones. The waist and 丹田 dāntián are likened to the axle of a wheel. Only when the axis remains upright and stable can rotation generate power. If the center wobbles—if the body sways left and right or leans forward and backward—both centripetal and centrifugal forces weaken, and balance is lost.

This logic applies equally to slow, sinking movements and to explosive issuing, especially in 二路 Èr Lù (炮锤 Pào Chuí). Even at high speed, or within jumps, spiral integrity must remain.

Dantian Rotation and Chest–Waist Folding

丹田内转，胸腰折叠 dāntián nèi zhuǎn, xiōng yāo zhédié

A central technical theme in the book is the relationship between internal rotation of the 丹田 dāntián and external folding of the chest and waist. Chen Zhaokui treated this not as esoteric internal work, but as the mechanical core of whole-body power.

He summarized it succinctly: “腰不动，手不发 yāo bù dòng, shǒu bù fā” — if the waist does not move, the hands cannot issue. Limb activity without waist-driven transformation is merely superficial swinging.

This internal rotation connects the body segment by segment—节节贯串 jié jié guàn chuàn—so that movement unfolds as a continuous spiral (运动螺旋 yùndòng luóxuán). From a health perspective, this method gently massages the internal organs and supports circulation; from a martial perspective, it allows incoming force to be absorbed, transformed, and returned without break.

Relaxation, Elasticity, and Issuing

松活弹抖 sōng huó tán dǒu

Chen Zhaokui’s explanation of elastic issuing force avoids mysticism. 松 sōng (release) is not collapse, and 活 huó (liveliness) is not looseness without structure. Elastic power emerges only when relaxation allows the body to function as an integrated unit.

He compared this to a tightly wound spring or an animal shaking dust from its body: the release is sudden, but only because the whole structure has been properly prepared. Without relaxation, there is no elasticity; without elasticity, there is no true issuing.

Breath as Structure and Strategy

Another recurring theme is the emphasis on exhalation (呼气 hū qì). Chen Zhaokui consistently stressed complete exhalation during practice, especially when issuing force. This was not merely for health, but also for coordination: aligning 意 yì (intent), 气 qì, and 力 lì.

Breathing is integrated with opening and closing, combining 丹田 dāntián breathing, lung breathing, and whole-body breathing into a single process. From a modern perspective, this also aligns with nervous system regulation, helping sustain long practice without fatigue.

Application as the Final Measure

Perhaps the most decisive aspect of the text is its insistence that every posture has a use—势势讲用 shì shì jiǎng yòng. Health cultivation is essential, but martial applicability is a defining criterion.

Chen Zhaokui’s teaching method involved breaking down postures for application, training single movements, and constantly testing structure through push-hands. Form, push-hands, and single-posture practice were treated as inseparable stages of one process.

Without this, Ma Hong makes clear, Taijiquan loses its substance and becomes performance rather than martial art.

A Living Bridge, Not a System Frozen in Time

What makes Ma Hong’s book valuable today is not that it preserves tradition unchanged, but that it shows how tradition worked. It provides (next to works by other students) another look into Chen Zhaokui's teaching methodology. Classical philosophy, traditional medicine, and modern mechanical insight are not presented as competing explanations, but as different lenses describing the same embodied process.

This is why—even with all necessary caveats—it remains a compelling technical document. It records not just what Chen Zhaokui did, but how he thought through the body.