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By Dave Barrett
Association Journal Editor

Master Ma Hailong was born in 1935 into one of China’s most distinguished martial arts families. His great-grandfather, Wu Quanyou (1834-1902), was an officer of the Imperial Guards Brigade in the Forbidden City. At this time, Yang Luchan (1799-1872) was a martial arts instructor in the Yellow Banner camp and for many years Wu Quanyou studied with Yang Luchan and his eldest son, Yang Banhou. Due to the protocols of the day, he could not be accepted as a direct disciple of Yang Luchan as Master Yang had aristocratic students and a military officer could not be in the same class as these more august individuals. However, Wu Quanyou’s training was with Yang Luchan directly and over the decades of his study he became renowned for his skills in interpreting and neutralizing an opponent’s energy.

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By Dave Barrett, translated by Master Yang Jun

Master  Chen Zhenglei was  born  in 1949 into a family with over 300 years of martial arts tradition. He is widely recognized as one of the leading  exponents  of  Chen  Style  Taijiquan  in  the  world today. His Uncle, Chen Zhaopei (1893-1972), was his main instructor   along   with   another    Uncle:  Chen  Zhaokui (1928-1981), the  son of Chen Fa-ke. Chen Zhaopei left his home village, Chenjiagou, in 1914 and established himself in Beijing as a martial arts instructor.  The story goes  that  he set  up  a platform  at  one  of Beijing’s main gates  and  for seventeen days  accepted all challenges,  either  single  or multiple, and  was victorious in every fight. Displaying his deep skills and magnanimous character  in victory made his reputation and for the next 30 years he taught in a variety of places  across  China. In 1958 he returned  to Chenjiagou to find the old training halls abandoned and his relatives engaged  in a struggle  to  survive a series  of natural  and political disasters that had devastated the surrounding farmlands and reduced  the villagers to a pitiful state. Recognizing that the future of his family’s illustrious traditions hung  in the  balance,  he  moved  back  to  Chenjiagou and began to revive the training regimens that had produced  so many generations of excellent  martial artists.  Persevering through famines and political upheavals gradually the next generation began to emerge under his careful guidance. Out of this group of students came “The Four Tigers of Chenjiagou”: Chen Xiaowang, Wang Xian, Zhu Tiancai, and Chen Zhenglei; all of whom have  gone  on  to  revive and expand the prestige  of Chen Style Taijiquan.

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