This is an introduction to the traditional 'dragon park' Chen first form that I learned from Huan Dahai in Shanghai. James Saper is giving me a lot of the details on the internal connections, drawing on his knowledge as a Chinese Traditional Medicine doctor. We are working on writing up the whole routine.
Lineage of this routine:
Chen Yanxi taught his son Chen Fake (1887-1957), Li Ruidong, Yuan Keding (1878- ?), Hu Yuchun, and others.
Yuan Keding was from Henan and spent time in Tianjin, Shandong, and Beijing. Yuan Keding was Yuan Shikai's (1859-1916, and the first president of China 1911-1916) son. I'm afraid that Yuan Keding wasn't famous for much of anything but trying to get political power on his father's coattails. Sifu was a bit reticent about our lineage because of this.
Li Ruidong was from Wuqing county in Hebei. He learned from Yang Luchan, among others, and was known for his skill in shaolin, taiji, weapons, and wrestling. He was a wushu instructor for Yuan Shikai. I think Yuan Keding could have also learned from Li Ruidong since they both worked for his father.
Hui Juan? learned from Yuan Keding.
Huan Dahai learned from his friend Hui Juan? and also from Hu Yuchun (Hui's martial uncle).
Sifu did not put our style into any standard catagory, he just said it was 'old', older than 'laojia'. Looking at photos of old Chenjiagou villagers, photos of xiaojia, and the illustrations of Chen Xin's 1921 book, there are a lot of similar looking moves. The zhaobao style looks tantalizing similar at first, but on looking closer is not quite it. The crisp fajin of old villagers is a lot more like our fajin than any modern Chen I've seen. The movements I've seen in video clips of xiaojia do not really move quite like our style. In the end, it does not really matter what it is, the feeling of the moves and the way they grow together is proof of its authenticity.