A perfect interview with the Beijing Chenjiagou Tai Chi Training Center by a French TV station

On February 22, 2021, France 1 TV visited the Chenjiagou Tai Chi Training Center in Beijing to deeply explore the ancient appearance of traditional Chinese Tai Chi. Master Yang Songquan, the 11th generation inheritor of Chen-style Tai Chi, and his disciples were interviewed.

Master Yang Songquan first led his disciples to practice the authentic Chen-style old Frame One.

Chen-style Tai Chi encompasses various cultivation methods such as the first and second forms of Tai Chi, the sword, spear, and staff, as well as five types of pushing techniques. It emphasizes the harmony between man and nature and follows the natural way. It contains profound philosophical connotations and extremely high artistic cultivation.

The old frame stretches out gracefully and naturally along the way, moving as smoothly as flowing water. When exerting force, it is loose, lively, elastic and quivering, with a perfect balance of hardness and softness, presenting a complete and harmonious atmosphere. It left foreign journalists in awe, marveling at the profoundness and vastness of Chinese culture!

Master Yang Songquan said to all of our disciples, “Practicing boxing is like reading books, while pushing hands is like writing articles.” The master guided all the disciples to practice the third pushing technique of the Chen family’s Old Tai Chi.

While imparting the boxing classics, the master demonstrated: “The third push hand is the essence of the Chen family’s Old Tai Chi.” “Push and squeeze as needed, follow closely from top to bottom to draw people in, let others strike me with great force, and use me to achieve a great result with a little effort.”

Pushing hands with the master, one truly feels the mystery of Tai Chi. I only felt that my master’s hands were empty, completely without a trace, bending and stretching back and forth, changing between reality and illusion. But everyone was swaying left and right, unable to cope and rolling all over the ground. The master remained upright and proper.

Tai Chi Health Preservation and Sports medicine

More and more studies show that Tai Chi is the most perfect exercise in the world and has the most perfect health preservation effect. Nature is the big universe and the human body is the small universe. Practicing Tai Chi enables people to adapt to nature and fundamentally improve their health.

For many diseases, such as insomnia, respiratory diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, gastric ulcers, hypertension, etc., practitioners can generally recover through concentrated practice.

Therefore, the reporter conducted on-site interviews with some Tai Chi practitioners and asked them about their feelings and changes after practicing Tai Chi.

Subsequently, the reporter conducted an in-depth interview with the master.

Reporter’s question: Master, your students and disciples say that many of the small exercises you teach can cure diseases. How do they do it?

The master replied: “This is the philosophical culture in traditional Chinese medicine from the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic of China.” For exampleThe three Yin and three Yang meridians of the two legs in the human body are related to the three internal organs of the kidney, spleen and liver. The small exercises I teach them include standing on tiptoe and squatting, which directly affect the two calf bellies.According to the ancient Chinese Huangdi Neijing, the two lower legs of a person are their second heart. Nowadays, people all think that the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems are insufficient because the second heart is not functioning properly. People in the past have been developing these two hearts by squatting in pits, so they have always kept three hearts. The full pacing of the three hearts opens up the left and right brains of the human body, which is called “three hearts generating two intentions”. But nowadays, people are using one heart and one left brain, especially the right brain is not activated at all. As a result, people are more or less in a sub-healthy state. The Three Yin and three Yang meridians of the arm nourish the heart and lungs.Some people, I would teach them to round their arms and shake their hands, with the aim of unblocking the six meridians. In this way, the basic construction of the heart and lungs, these two internal organs, will be fully activated.

Reporter’s question: What is the basis for treating diseases with small exercises?

The master replied:All kinds of small exercises are aimed at opening up the meridians on the body to varying degrees and in different ways of movement, influencing various acupoints and meridian pathways, thereby achieving extraordinary therapeutic effects on a wide range of diseases.As the saying goes:A small martial art can drive a famous doctor crazy.Practicing small exercises in a planned way rather than blindly can treat all kinds of diseases. This is the medical practice of Tai Chi. Our ancient ancestors said:Life lies in movement.Exercise generates a healthy life; exercise gives birth to life. The therapeutic approach of traditional Chinese medicine is to thoroughly treat the person rather than merely cure the disease. What is treated is the root cause, not the symptoms.The minor exercises have developed the deep-seated functions of the five internal organs and six viscera, treating very serious and fundamental diseases.

Reporter’s question: What is the difference between small exercises and Tai Chi?

The master replied: The small exercises are simple and easy to learn, making them convenient for the elderly, the seriously ill, and those who are lazy to learn. Tai Chi is more difficult to learn than small exercises. Once a person has restored their basic physical fitness through small exercises, practicing Tai Chi can ensure a longer period of health, happiness, joy and longevity in the future.

Reporter’s question: When I pushed hands with you, as soon as your hand was placed on me, I fell down. But I felt that this was definitely not a contest of force. So, what’s the reason for this?

The master replied:This is the five-thousand-year-old Dao culture of China. The elders in Chenjiagou said, “Tai Chi doesn’t hit people, but when Tai Chi is practiced to a certain extent, even gods and ghosts will be afraid.” Practicing Tai Chi is about cultivating the Yin and Yang energies of heaven and earth.The spiral entanglement of the Yin and Yang energies completely crushed the rigid and contradictory force within the person who came, and the other party naturally fell to the ground.

The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out: “Culture is the soul of a country and a nation.” A prosperous culture leads to a prosperous nation, and a strong culture makes a strong nation.

Tai Chi is an important symbol of China’s fine traditional culture, the essence of Chinese culture, and the crystallization of traditional Eastern wisdom.It is a gift of life that China presents to all mankind in the world.

Nowadays, international exchanges are becoming increasingly frequent. Cultural exchange is an important part of it. More and more foreigners love Chinese culture. Tai Chi demonstrates the unique connotations of China’s fine traditional culture, enabling foreigners to better understand Chinese philosophical thoughts. Tai Chi culture emphasizes harmony and unity, as well as the combination of hardness and softness. It transcends national boundaries and is in harmony with races, religions, etc. It is completely in line with the concepts of a “community with a shared future for mankind” and the “Belt and Road Initiative”, and is a spiritual wealth shared by all mankind and an important form for promoting global cultural exchanges.