Brief Comparison of the Chen and Yang Style Taijiquan
2008-04-R10
(Copyrighted 2008 by Don M. Tow)
There are five major Taijiquan styles: Chen
(陈式),
Yang (楊式),
Wu (吴式),
Sun (孙式),
and Wu (武式,
a different Chinese character from the other Wu Style). The two most
important styles are often considered to be the Chen Style and the Yang
Style. The Chen Style was the original Taijiquan style that gave rise
directly or indirectly to all other Taijiquan styles. The Yang Style
is the most practiced style in both
All Taijiquan styles share many common characteristics.
They include:
Nevertheless, there are some differences between
the various Taijiquan styles. In this article, we will provide a brief
discussion of the differences between the Chen Style and the Yang Style.
There are basically three differences between the Chen Style and the Yang
Style: Speed of movement, force of movement, and the “Silk Cocoon
Reeling” (纏絲功)
feature of the Chen Style.
As previously mentioned, all Taijiquan styles involve
slow movements. In the Yang Style, essentially all the movements are
basically at one speed, slow. This is not the case in the Chen Style.
Even though the Chen Style still mostly involves slow movements, there is a
mixture of fast and slow movements. It should be clear to the
spectator that the speed is not constant, but fast movements are scattered
throughout the form set. For example, in the First Lu (or Form Set) of
the Chen Style, about 20% (or roughly 20) of the 83 forms involve some
degree of fast movements. Sometimes, it may be only part of a form
that is fast, i.e., even within one form, there could be a mixture of fast
and slow movements. So some of the roughly 20 forms are not
necessarily totally fast, but sometimes only a portion of a form is fast.
Again, as previously mentioned, all Taijiquan styles
involve soft movements. In the Yang Style, essentially all the
movements are basically soft. This, again, is not the case in the Chen
Style. Even though the Chen Style still mostly involves soft
movements, there is a mixture of hard and soft movements. Again, it
should be clear to the spectator that the force of the movement is not
necessarily constantly soft, but hard movements are scattered throughout the
form set. For example, in the First Lu of the Chen Style, about 30%
(or roughly 25) of the 83 forms involve some degree of hard movements.
Just like in the case of fast and slow movements, it may be only part of a
form that is hard, i.e., even within one form, there could be a mixture of
hard and soft movements. It is important to emphasize that hard and
soft as described in this paragraph refer to the external appearance of the
form movement. Through Taiji qigong practice, a form movement may
appear to be soft externally, but internally it may be very hard.
The third difference between the Chen Style and the
Yang Style is the most complex and the most difficult to explain. It
is called the “Silk Cocoon Reeling” feature (纏絲功)
of the Chen Style. First let me explain a little bit about the name.
Although not popularly known today, Silk Cocoon Reeling is an ancient
Chinese art (about 5,000 years old) that pulls silk threads from silk worm
cocoons (those that came from mulberry trees) to make silk clothing.
Pulling the silk threads from a silk worm cocoon is a very delicate process
containing two key ingredients. One key ingredient is that the thread
must be pulled with a gentle but firm force. If the force is not firm,
the silk thread cannot be pulled out from the silk worm cocoon. If the
force is not gentle, the thread will break while it is being pulled out.
The other key ingredient is that the thread is pulled out in a circular
motion because the silk is wound around and around the silk worm cocoon.[1]
In terms of Taijiquan, this means that the movements must be gentle and
firm, and the movements must be circular. For example, in Taiji Push
Hands, when you are executing the
Wardoff[2]
movement, the arm must expand outward with a
force that is firm; otherwise, the opponent’s attacking arm will collapse on
you. At the same time, the extending arm cannot be too stiff;
otherwise, you will not be able to lead the attacking arm into a trap for a
counter-attack, such as a Rollback movement.[3]
The
circular movements refer to the rotation of the body, not just the arms, but
the whole body, especially the waist.
The Silk Cocoon Reeling motion is sometimes referred to
as the “screw rotation” motion. An analogy from astronomy is that
while the earth is rotating around the sun, the earth is also rotating
around its own axis. This means that when the arms are moving in a
circular arc motion, each arm is also rotating around an axis along the
direction of the arm. Let’s illustrate this concept with a couple of
examples. When throwing a punch at an opponent, say a right punch,
instead of moving the right arm straight out from the body, the right arm
shoots out while rotating counterclockwise (or clockwise depending on
whether the fist at its starting position is facing upward or downward) like
a screw around an axis along the direction of that arm, and at the same time
the waist and the legs (and therefore the body) rotate in a counterclockwise
direction so that the right part of the body is also rotating and moving
forward toward the opponent. This maximizes the force of the punch
because the rotating body provides an additional force to the punch.
Another example is during the Rollback motion while doing
Push Hands with the right hand in front, while the right arm is blocking
downward and moving backward and the left hand is pulling downward and
backward, the right arm is also rotating clockwise around its own axis and
the left arm is rotating counterclockwise around its own axis. At the
same time, the waist and the legs (and therefore the body and the arms) are
rotating counterclockwise. This again maximizes the Rollback force
because the rotating body provides an additional force to the Rollback.
One way of describing the Silk Cocoon Reeling motion is
to say “when one part of the body moves, the whole body moves.” A
strict Chen Stylist may even claim that “since you want your hands and head
move as part of the body and not independently, if you move your hand
arbitrarily, not following the body well, you are just doing exercise, not
really practicing Taijiquan.” One of my Chen Style teachers has
repeatedly emphasized to us that when we do the Rollback motion as described
in the previous paragraph, besides the rotation of each arm around its own
axis, the arms are just following the rotation of the waist in moving
through their circular arc motion. In other words, it is the
waist or body that moves, since the arms are attached to the body, the arms
therefore also move. The screw rotation motion is such an integral
part of the Chen Style that some degree of it is manifested in most of the
83 forms of the First Lu.
When applied as a martial art, Taijiquan does not always
implement its actions in a slow and soft way, although it always delivers
them in a relaxed way. Because of the mixture of fast and slow
movements, and hard and soft movements, Chen Style Taijiquan may be
considered to be closer to its actual usage as a martial art. However,
one should not conclude that a Chen Stylist is always a better martial
artist than a Yang Stylist. My own personal opinion is that how one
perfects the skills is probably far more important than the particular style
one deploys. Furthermore, as previously mentioned, a form that appears
to be soft externally may be very hard internally.
In summary, there are three major differences between the
Chen Style and the Yang Style. The Chen Style has a mixture of fast
and slow movements, a mixture of hard and soft movements, and frequently
exhibits the Silk Cocoon Reeling motion (also called the screw rotation
motion). As one of my Chen Style teachers told us, if you are
practicing Chen Style Taijiquan correctly, then a knowledgeable spectator
should recognize that you are practicing Chen Style Taijiquan without your
telling the spectator so.
For anyone who has experienced
only Yang Style Taijiquan, I highly recommend taking some lessons in Chen
Style Taijiquan.
[1]
For
a description of pulling silk threads from silk cocoons, see, e.g.,
http://www.wormspit.com/silkreeling.htm.
[2]
For
a discussion of Taiji Push Hands and the Wardoff movement, see the
article “The Essence of Taijiquan - Part 1: Perspective from
Taiji Push Hands” in the T-Archived page of this website:
http://www.dontow.com/7.html.
[3]
See
the reference in Footnote #2 for a discussion of the Rollback
movement.
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