31 Facts About Cheng Man-ch'ing

Cheng Man-ch'ing or Zheng Manqing was a Chinese expert of tai chi, Chinese medicine, and the so-called three perfections: calligraphy, painting and poetry.

Cheng Man-ch'ing was born in Yongjia, Zhejiang Province, during the Qing dynasty.

Around the age of nine, Cheng Man-ch'ing was struck on the head by a falling object, and was in a coma for a short while.

Cheng Man-ch'ing took a position as the Dean of the Department of Traditional Painting at the prestigious Shanghai College of Art, which was headed by Liu Haisu.

Cheng Man-ch'ing participated in national and international exhibitions, including one in 1933 organized by Xu Beihong, and was deeply involved with a number of art societies, including the Bee Society.

Around 1930, Cheng Man-ch'ing left the Shanghai College of Art and with Huang Binhong, and other leading artists, founded the College of Chinese Culture and Art.

Cheng Man-ch'ing retired from teaching and devoted himself for several years to the study of tai chi, traditional Chinese medicine, and literature.

Cheng Man-ch'ing wrote a complex prescription for his friend, who took the medicine and recovered fully.

Cheng Man-ch'ing demanded to be put in contact with the person who wrote it, as the sophistication and erudition of the prescription showed exceptional talent and competence.

Cheng Man-ch'ing, according to Yang's son Zhenji, ghostwrote Yang's second book Essence and Applications of Tai Chi or The Substance and Application of Tai Chi, for which Cheng Man-ch'ing wrote a preface and most likely arranged for the calligraphic dedications.

Cheng Man-ch'ing taught tai chi, practiced medicine, and continued his art practice in Sichuan Province during the Sino-Japanese war years.

Cheng Man-ch'ing wrote the manuscript for his Thirteen Chapters during this period, and showed them to his elder classmate Chen Weiming, who gave it his imprimatur.

Cheng Man-ch'ing moved to Taiwan in 1949 with the retreating Republican Chinese government.

Cheng Man-ch'ing continued his career as a physician and as a teacher of his new tai chi form, as well as actively practicing painting, poetry, and calligraphy.

Cheng Man-ch'ing published Cheng's 13 Chapters of Tai Chi Boxing in 1950 which has been translated into English twice.

Cheng Man-ch'ing continued to be a medical advisor to Chiang Kai-shek.

In 1964, Cheng Man-ch'ing moved with his wife, two sons, and three daughters to the United States, where he taught at the New York T'ai Chi Association at 211 Canal Street in Manhattan.

Cheng Man-ch'ing then founded and taught at the Shr Jung T'ai Chi school at 87 Bowery in New York City's Chinatown section, with the assistance of his six American senior students, known as the "Big Six": Tam Gibbs, Lou Kleinsmith, Ed Young, Mort Raphael, Maggie Newman, and Stanley Israel.

In Taiwan, Cheng Man-ch'ing's students continued running the school in his absence.

Cheng Man-ch'ing wrote numerous books and articles on a variety of subjects, including commentaries on the I Ching, the Tao Te Ching, the Analects of Confucius, his original works of poetry, essays, medicine, and several art collections.

Liang, Cheng Man-ch'ing published "T'ai Chi, the Supreme Ultimate Exercise for Health, Sport and Self-defense," which was his second tai chi book in English.

Cheng Man-ch'ing produced several tai chi films, and some of his classes and lectures were recorded and in later years released on DVD.

Cheng Man-ch'ing is best known in the West for his tai chi.

Cheng Man-ch'ing's shortened form became extremely popular in Taiwan and Malaysia, and he was one of the earliest Chinese masters to teach tai chi publicly in the United States.

Cheng Man-ch'ing's students have continued to spread his form around the world.

Cheng Man-ch'ing rejected the appellation "Yang-style Short Form" to characterize his tai chi.

Cheng Man-ch'ing left a legacy mainly in two areas: art and tai chi.

Huang Sheng Shyan, one of Cheng Man-ch'ing's most accomplished disciples, established over 40 schools in South East Asia, through which Cheng Man-ch'ing's tai chi has continued to reach over 10,000 practitioners.

At one point, when Cheng Man-ch'ing was out of the country, the Association members locked the Western students out of the Canal Street school.

Cheng Man-ch'ing was teaching in New York, he asked Fred Lehrman to help initiate schools in Milwaukee WI, Minneapolis MN, Gainesville FL, Boulder CO, and Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Cheng Man-ch'ing's students carried on his tradition of writing about tai chi, creating tai chi study material, and documenting his teaching.