The Cradle of Taijiquan

Chen Village (Chenjiagou) in Henan Province is the birthplace of Taijiquan. For generations, the Chen family guarded their martial art, teaching only within the clan. This secrecy wasn’t mere tradition—it was survival in a China where martial skill could mean the difference between life and death.

The Unbroken Line

The Chen family refined their art over centuries, each generation pressure-testing and evolving the system through real combat. Unlike martial arts preserved in forms alone, Chen Style Taijiquan remained brutally functional because it had to be.

Chen Fa-ke: The Last Standard Bearer

Born into this tradition in 1887, Chen Fa-ke represented something unprecedented: the first Chen family master to teach publicly. When he arrived in Beijing in 1928, he brought with him the unaltered Chen family system—precise, devastating, and utterly different from what the capital’s martial artists expected.

His decision to teach outside the family was revolutionary. Until Chen Fa-ke, the world had only fragmentary glimpses of true Chen Style Taijiquan. He changed that, but he never compromised the art’s functional core.

“I Only Teach What My Father Taught Me”

This became the defining principle of the authentic lineage. No innovations. No “improvements.” No softening for modern sensibilities. Chen Fa-ke taught what worked, tested by generations of real application.

When others began creating “New Frame” variations, adding theatrical movements or removing the physically demanding elements, the authentic line held firm. The standard wasn’t aesthetic—it was reality.

The Legacy Continues

Through Hong Junsheng and Liu ChengDe, this unaltered stream flows forward. Not as historical reenactment, but as living, breathing martial art that maintains the Chen family’s original standard: if it doesn’t work under pressure, it isn’t Taijiquan.