Thanks to Ken Gullette at Internal Fighting Arts I just caught wind of this new book that’s just come out called Chen Taijiquan Illustrated. I had a quick look on Amazon using the “Look Inside” feature and the illustrations look fantastic. It looks like it’s designed to be halfway between an instruction manual and a comic. It’s a very cool style that’s quite unlike any Tai Chi book I’ve seen before.
I think that often Tai Chi books, with pages after pages of printed text, can be a bit off putting for people who are learning an art that is all about feel, movement and “doing it”, not “reading about it”. And when they do have photographs in them they are often black and white and a bit dull and lifeless. So, for the visual learners out there, I think the colourful and imaginative approach found in Chen Taijiquan Illustrated will work very well.
Here’s an example:
Here’s another thing: Looking at the contents page, this is the first Tai Chi book I’ve seen that mentions the concept of Man, which translates as Slowness, apart from the book written by my Tai Chi teacher. Man is a concept my teacher talks about a lot, and it’s nice to see it mentioned in another Tai Chi book – I was starting to think that it was a concept that was unknown to the rest of the Tai Chi world!
Obviously everybody and their dog knows that Tai Chi is done slowly, but Man is more of a mental quality than a reference to the speed of the form. It can be thought of as “not rushing”. The speed you are moving at is irrelevant to the concept of Man, but if you want to acquire the ability of Man then the best way is by slowing the form down and focusing on keeping your mind on what you are doing. Whenever you find your mind wandering off you just stop the form (no matter how far through it you are) and start again. After a few weeks or months you’ll find you are much better at staying focused on your form than you were before. By adopting the qualities of “not rushing” you open up the headspace required to be aware of other things going on, things that you would simply miss otherwise. I’ve written about not rushing before.
At £16 Chen Taijiquan Illustrated is not particularly expensive for a colour book either. And I’d love it if there was a book on Brazilian Jiutjisu that was written and illustrated in the same manner because I think it would also benefit from this approach. Incidentally, there was a good book written about Brazilian Jiujitsu recently, that has colour photos (and very nice ones too) that I still dip into now and again called Nonstop Jiujitsu, by Stephan Kesting and Brandon Mullins. I reviewed it on my blog recently, so check out my review.
I’ve ordered my copy of Chen Taijiquan Illustrated so will review it at some point in the future.
The Tai Chi Notebook 
Chen Taijiquan Illustrated Review
David “Gu Liu” Gaffney (after one of the great Taijiquan historians and authors, Gu Liu Xin) and Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim
have written an excellent 5 star book titled Chen Taijiquan Illustrated. I love it and highly recommend it to everyone, beginners
and advanced alike. David and Davidine have already authored the world’s most complete and authoritative books on
Chen Taijiquan, especially Lao Jia Taijiquan. Their books including Chen Style Taijiquan:the Source of Taiji Boxing and
The Essence of Taijiquan contain almost every bit of technical information regarding the technical requirements of Chen
Taijiquan, its essential principles and historical context in the English language. They continually quote the world’s most
famous teachers and find ways and explanations to help non Chinese readers attain clarity and understanding, with
endorsement from 19th Generation Gatekeeper of Chen Family Taijiquan, Chen Xiao Wang among others. They then
published Chen Taijiquan: Masters and Methods which was composed of their personal interviews of leading Chen Family
Masters such as the so called “Four Tigers” but also included Xin Jia /Chen Fake Masters such as Feng Zhiqiang and Chen Yu.
The ask the burning questions and give us their answers in clear English. It is hard to imagine what more technical, theoretical
and historical information anyone could offer in the English language. Keep in mind, as I do, that words alone without proper
practice are useless, but tis book is perfect for those on their own in the US, Merry old England and Ireland and other
predominantly English speaking countries.
This new book is different. It is written by two Chen Taijiquan scholars who are also respected for their practice and
and accomplishments by serious practitioners and Chen Village Masters alike. This book attempts to convey the authors’
own understandings through their own words and clear illustrations. We know they have excavated almost everything
there is to say in words. This book , although still including words of the Masters, primarily is designed to share what they
have learned in their own practice and continued understanding. It’s kind of like taking a class with them. They put hard to
understand, let alone translate, concepts into plain English language with examples we are familiar with and easily understand.
Very few of us understand concepts such as ‘Silk Reeling”. We have never worked in the silk reeling industry, and most likely
never will, so are left to rely on what others may understand, because it creates no clear picture in our mind. In this book
references are made to baseball, soccer, crossbow mechanics (no darts, unfortunately) and other known activities that we
are familiar with in modern Western culture.The illustrations are great in that they are not only clear but excellent in directing
our attention to the exact point the authors are trying to make clear. We get honest information from the authors’ own experience
and studies in their own words, such as:
“ The widely quoted idiom of “using four taels to deflect a thousand catties” has caused many to view Taijiquan as either
unrealistic or fanciful.” “In practice the saying shouldn’t be taken too literally. What it means is “to achieve much with little effort.”
There it is- permission to not be too literal and to grasp the concept without getting too hung up on words.
By the way, 4 teals is comparable to 4 oz.s which if you want to get an idea of the weight is about that of one Land of Lakes
stick of butter. Your welcome.
This book is great. You have the authors after decades of research and study using their own voice and illustrations based
on their own extensive knowledge and understanding after studying with the best of the best. They are doing their best to help
us by sharing everything (including much that has been kept as “secrets” by others in the past) to help us get it right.
As a distillation of all their research, studies and practice I recommend it highly and thank them for their willingness to share.
J. Justin Meehan
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