Cheng man ching 37 form list
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Cheng Man Ching
Having been born into an academic family, Cheng’s study of the Chinese classics began with his father and aunt when he was only four years old. This love of learning continued throughout his life. He became a master in the ‘Five Excellences’ – Tai Chi, poetry, calligraphy, Chinese art and Chinese medicine. In Taiwan, a government minister said of him: ‘In modern China, he is a special man, a strong man. Others find things difficult, but for him, it is all easy.’
By the time he was 18, Cheng had begun teaching art, history and philosophy at Yu Wen University. And the College of Beaux-Arts in Peking. In the summer of 1925, he returned to Shanghai and accepted teaching posts at the Shanghai College of Arts and Chi-Nan University. Later he founded the Chinese Arts College there.
He contracted tuberculosis, and in a few years, it became so severe that he almost died. Relatives and friends were unable to find a way to help him. Shortly after this, Cheng was introduced to his first Tai Chi teacher, Professor Yang Cheng-fu. Within a few mon
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WRITINGS
Cheng Man-ch’ing’s books and other publications span all of his specialties: poetry, painting, calligraphy, medicine, taijiquan, culture, and philosophy. One of his earliest books was his influential Thirteen Treatises of Taijiquan; his last was a commentary on the Yijing, the Chinese Book of Changes.
Cheng wrote exclusively in Classical Chinese. A number of his books have been translated into other languages. A number of the Chinese-language books have been reprinted by the Shih Chung T’ai Chi Ch’uan Association in Taiwan.
Books:
Chinese Medicine
• Eight Important Points On Cancer (Tan ai bayao), 1966. Pamphlet. Excerpts trans. in Master of Five Excellences, Hennessy, 1995.
• Essence of Gynecology (Nuke xinfa). 1961. Trans. Wile, 2011, and excerpts trans. in Master of Five Excellences, Hennessy, 1995.
• Subtleties of Orthopedics (Guke jingwei). Not extant.
Taijiquan (T’ai-chi ch’uan)
• T’ai Chi. With collaboration of Robert W. Smith, 1967. When Cheng Man Ching unexpectedly died in 1975, he was buried with a traditional ceremony, which included the writing of a so-called funerary biography. For the benefit of his fellow American students, Tam Gibbs translated Cheng Man Ching’s funerary biography a few years later into American english. This online publication serves to honour Tam’s work and to preserve his effort for future generations of Cheng Man Ching Tai Chi. Introductory remarks about the text (by Gabi Kannenberg)
• T’ai Chi Ch’uan: A Simplified Method of Calisthe •
What is a Chinese funerary biography?
The historical use of funerary biographies
Cheng Man Ching – A Confucian ideal
Tam Gibbs’ original translation
Preliminary remark by Tam Gibbs
Cheng Man Ching’s Funerary Biography
Cheng Man Ching: Master of Five Excellences
Professor Cheng’s names
Cheng’s childhood and upbringing: Painting
Cheng’s Youth: Poetry
As a young adult: Teaching Chinese Arts
Cheng in his 30s: Studying the Classics and the Sages
Cheng’s Mid-life: Well-connected in Taiwan
Cheng’s medical education
Cheng’s medical career: Advocating to preserve ways of traditional healing
Cheng
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