There were about thirty kids who would gather in front of his door for instruction. He would lead the class in front while his wife would be in the back, making corrections. He was very patient, and took great pains to make corrections. He was never angry.

During these years, there were three years of "natural disasters" (flooding, famine, etc) as well as the beginning of the cultural revolution. During the cultural revolution, Tajiquan was considered to be old fashioned, and part of old religions and superstitions. It was forbidden to promote Taijiquan at this time. Also, because he was connected to the Nationalists in Nanjing in the 1930s, he was in a lot of trouble. during this time, if you wanted to teach or learn, it was very difficult. (editors note: Chen Kesen, Chen Zhaopei's son, wrote of this period: "During the cultural revolution, my father was persecuted and subjected to public "struggle sessions", but during the still of the night, Chen Zhenglei and several others of his prized disciples secretly went to study under him. My father, demonstrating that he was not afraid of the persecution, bravely carried on with his teaching of Taijiquan.")

So, at times, he would see his students practice seriously, other times not so seriously. I know that this made him angry, but he never showed it to us. Instead, he would tell us stories to make us understand why we needed to practice with determination. He told us many stories about heroes in history whose efforts led them from obscurity to sucess. He told us the story of the famous ancient musician who was the inventor of the 5 tones style of Chinese music. Because he wanted so badly to develop this music, he rubbed salt in his eyes to blind himself and rid himself of the distractions of sight and thus could focus his attentions on his hearing, and his music. He also told us of General Yeuh Fei who had his mother tattoo 4 characters on his back which read "give yourself wholeheartedly to your country".

He told us these stories because he wished us to follow in the example of these heroes, and so that we would be resolute and tough in our lives. Most importantly, he made us realize that we were the future successors of the art of Taijiquan, and that we must practice continuously to live up to this responsibility. If we did not, our generation would break the tradition of instruction passed down from our ancestors. Tajiquan comes from the Chen family. If we broke this tradition, we would not be able to stand before our ancestors, and our children would curse us. So, when we were very young, we were made to understand our responsibility. Regardless of how difficult our situation was at the time, we had to practice hard.

Toward the end of the cultural revolution, the Communist Party decide to begin to promote martial arts. As a result, my teachers morale and confidence improved. His teaching began to increase. He would teach with great patience. If you did not understand a movement, he would repeat it over and over for you. Not only would he explain the movement, but he would expalin the principles behind it and the applications. At that time, he was in his eighties, but he would still teach push hands.

In 1972, he died. He died as a result of overwork. He took Taiji teams all over China to compete. His living conditions were not good in the village, and could not sustain the the energy which he expended in teaching over those years. Before his death, he taught me all of the principles, techniques, barehand routines, weapons and push hands that he knew.

Chen Zhaopei has passed away, but he left a group of young people dedicated to Taiji. Teachers of the style, whether they are from Chenjiagou or not, all are in a way descended from him. He was the one responsible for promoting the art when it was in decline, and rasing the next generation of teachers in the village.

CONTINUE...