Cheng Style Taijiquan

Professor Cheng using brush and ink.

Image via MOCA (Museum of Chinese in America).

Introduction

Wutan’s version of Cheng’s form as adapted and considerably shortened from the Yang Long Form.

My own notes are here and are more detailed and potentially more confusing. This presentation might suit a more confident and/or experienced student.

Presented verbatim from The Path of the Complete Martial Artist (sometimes referred to as the ‘White Book’), Wutan KungFu International (WKI), They SoonTuan, pp 69-70, March 1991, £10.

Sequence

1. Beginning

2. Grasp The Sparrow's Tail (Ward Off Left, Ward Off Right, Pull Back, Press, Push)

3. Single Whip

4. Lifting Hands

5. Elbow Stroke

6. White Crane Spreads Wings

7. Brush Left Knee And Push

8. Donkey Kick

9. Playing Guitar

10. Brush Left Knee And Push

11. Brush Right Knee And Push

12. Brush Left Knee And Push

13. Donkey Kick

14. Playing Guitar

15. Brush Left Knee And Push

16. Deflect Downward, Intercept And Punch

17. Withdraw And Push

18. Cross Hands

19. Embrace Tiger Back To The Mountain

20. Grasp The Sparrow's Tail

21. Diagonal Single Whip

22. Punch Under Elbow

23. Step Back To Drive Away Monkey (R. L. R.)

24. Diagonal Flying

25. Waving Hands In The Clouds

26. Single Whip

27. Golden Rooster Stands On One Leg (L. R.)

28. Separate Kick (R. L.)

29. Turn And Kick

30. Brush Left Knee And Push

31. Brush Right Knee And Push

32. Brush Left Knee And Punch

33. Grasp The Sparrow's Tail (Ward Off Left, Ward Off Right, Pull Back, Press, Push)

34. Single Whip

35. Playing The Shuttles

36. Grasp The Sparrow's Tail (Ward Off Left, Ward Off Right, Pull Back, Press, Push)

37. Single Whip

38. Seven Stars Of The Dipper

39. Sweep Lotus Kick

40. Shooting Tiger With Bow

41. Deflect Downward, Intercept And Punch

42. Withdraw And Push

43. Cross Hands

Notes

1. As mentioned elsewhere, I have given up trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole and no longer call this the ‘37 posture / step short form’

2. I have always treated step #4 (Lifting Hands) as the first ‘Playing Guitar’ (Play Pipa / Lute), which means there would be a total of three Playing Guitar, so will need to look into what the difference is, if there is one

   1. Note 12-Jan-2025: Checked on this with Wutan UK HQ and Lifting Hands and Playing Guitar are different! Lifting hands is more of a scissoring action working as a lock in the vertical plane. Playing Guitar is also a lock, but in the horizontal plane, and was described to me as a squeeze of the elbows.

3. At #7 and later, other schools often refer to ‘Brush Knee Push’ as Brush Knee Twist Step

4. Steps #16 and #41 - Deflect Downward, Intercept And Punch is often described as ‘Parry, Block and Punch’. I treat the Deflect Downward / Parry as a guarding hand, and the Intercept / Block as a low intercepting kick with the toes pointed off to the right. I did recently get a nice practical application demo of this by a very experienced instructor

5. At #20 the ‘Grasp the Sparrow’s Tail’ following Embrace Tiger Back To The Mountain is reduced, including only Pull Back, Press and Push

6. At #35, you may hear ‘Playing the Shuttles’ referred to as ‘Fair Lady Weaves at Shuttles’ and simplified to the mnemonic ‘Four Corners’

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Credits.

Ownership of article preview image (portrait of Cheng) unknown.