Searching for Wan Wen De

In the summer of 2008 I spent close to two months travelling through China searching for students and disciples of grandmaster Chen Fa-ke. Having left this earth as recently as 1957, I was sure there were people still alive who could shed light on this central figure in the history of Chen Taiji.

One of the people I was most interested in finding was a man named Wan Wen De of Shanghai. Born in 1915, he was 93 at the time I began searching for him.

The Man

Wan Wen De's credentials rank with the best. He studied for many years with Chen Zhaokuai, the third son of Chen Fa-ke, and with Feng Zhiqiang, a top disciple of Chen Fa-ke. He is perhaps best known as the translator of a classic on Chen Taiji called Chen Style Taijiquan, written by Feng Zhiqiang and Chen Xiaowang. He was chosen not only for his skills with English but because of his familiarity with the subject matter. His other contributions include bringing both Chen Zhaokuai and Feng Zhiqiang to Shanghai, where both established practice groups that persist to this day.

Although a grandmaster in his own right, Wan Wen De is not well known to the general Taiji community. Like many intellectuals of his generation, he navigated political obligations that were not of his choosing. He lived and taught quietly in Shanghai, preferring his art to speak for him.

The Apartment

I found him in a tiny apartment in an alley off Beijing East Road, in the middle of Shanghai. The alley was dark — bamboo scaffolding covered the entrance and blocked what little sun remained. I felt my way up a narrow stairway to the second floor.

His apartment occupied maybe 300 square feet. A bed, a table, a small refrigerator, a hotplate, a picture of Zhou En-Lai on the wall, and shelves and shelves of books. Three of his students were present.

The Video

At a pause in our conversation Wan Wen De signalled one of his students to put on a video of a well-known Chen Taiji practitioner. We watched in silence. The two students on the bench began pointing at the screen. One mimicked raising his elbows too high. I smiled and mimicked raising my shoulders. They laughed and looked at each other as if to say, even the foreigner gets it.

The gap between what Chen Fa-ke taught and what some now practice was understood by everyone in that room without a word being spoken.

Four Feet Square

Later, Wan Wen De asked me to perform some Taiji. He pointed to the one small part of his apartment that was not occupied — approximately four feet square. I stood and walked over and tried to find the best spot to begin and quickly realized there wasn't one. However this worked it was going to involve a lot of back stepping.

I started Yi Lu and got past the first section when Wan Wen De began to say "Hong Junsheng, Hong Junsheng, I know him!" He recognized from the way I moved that my form came from the Chen Fa-ke to Hong Junsheng lineage. In a four-foot square, from a few movements, a 93-year-old master could see where the art had come from.

One of the older students rose and gestured that it was his turn to perform. Wan Wen De waved him down.

The Record

Wan Wen De independently confirmed what Hong Junsheng wrote — that Chen Fa-ke only taught what his father taught him, and did not create a new form. His proximity to both Chen Zhaokuai and Feng Zhiqiang, and his own deep knowledge of the art, make him one of the few remaining witnesses qualified to say so.