In October 2011 I had the unexpected pleasure of meeting Grand Master Feng Zhiqiang at his home in Beijing. The visit was an epic story of Homeresque proportions and started on a Saturday morning with me turning up for my 6.30am Tai Chi class as usual and getting home the following Sunday evening. That tale deserves to be told but I will save it for another post.
The video you see here is of GM Feng Zhiqiang outside his apartment block demonstrating his Xinyi Hunyuan Taiji to some of his disciples and senior students. This must have been shot in 2011 at some point though I can’t be sure exactly when as I wasn’t there in person and this video clip was given to me by one of the GM’s disciples Master Xiang (more of him elsewhere). At this point in his life the GM was 85 years old and had been battling with cancer for many years. Sadly he passed away in May 2012 so I do consider myself extremely honoured to have met him even if only for a few brief moments. He, and his Tai Chi/Qigong have touched me very deeply and I am very grateful for that.
I see little point in writing a long piece concerning GM Feng Zhiqiang’s history instead I will link to websites where they have already accomplished this in ways I could not replicate. Suffice to say though that as a senior student of Chen Fake and one of the last of an old school of Grandmasters who, to quote another teacher of mine “went deeply into the Neigong”. He was legendary as a martial artist and not only developed his own lineage of Tai Chi but also wrapped that up with some very powerful Qigong systems.
I will post more about Feng Zhiqiang over the coming months, some of it will be retrospective but hopefully much will be looking to the future.
China Tai Chi Guide
Five Elements Academy
Long Tou Shan Tai Chi School
Seven Stars Internal Arts
Traditional Tai Chi School
Wandering Dao, China
