Hello everybody! I'm searching people who know the Chen Xiaojia (Small frame) style. It seems to be a very misterious style of chen taijiquan!

senbee wrote:

Hello everybody! I'm searching people who know the Chen Xiaojia (Small frame) style. It seems to be a very misterious style of chen taijiquan!

Before Chen Youben - 14th generation descendant of Chen clan and 6th generation inheritor of Chen style Taijiquan - there was only one method of Taijiquan practice transmitted, and there was no division into Large and Small Frames. Chen Youben was key personage who played epoch-making role in dividing Chen style Taijiquan into Large and Small Frames.

According to the records in "Genealogy of Chen Family" (Chen Shi Jia Cheng), Chen Gongzhao, Chen Youben's father "achieved pure and precise (Taijiquan) skill, and trained many students with deep understanding (of Taijiquan)" (in Chenjiagou there is a story about Chen Gongzhao competing in strength with a mad cow); Chen Youben and Chen Youheng, his blood brother, "were both Xiang Sheng (students of the ancient local school) and learnt Taijiquan, especially (Chen) Youben, who received "the dragon's pearl" (i.e. true transmission of Taijiquan), and trained his sons and brother's sons in the art (of Taijiquan), had a modest carriage, always as if (his skill) was inferior (to others), at that time most of people who excelled in Taijiquan were his disciples. (...) (Chen) Youben's disciples - Chen Qingping, Chen Youlun, Chen Fengzhang, Chen Sande, Chen Tingdong had certain achievements, Chen Gengyun also called him (Chen Youben) a teacher.

(Chen) Qingping passed (Taijiquan) to He Zhaoyuan, Zhang Kai, Zhang Gaoshan of Zhaobao town. (Chen) Youlun passed (Taijiquan) to Li Jingyan, Zhang Dahong".

From the above record it can be seen that both Chen Gongzhao and his son, Chen Youben, were martial artists of great attainments and had many famous disciples; Chen Youben evidently received true transmission of Taijiquan from his father. Moreover Small Frame already existed before Chen Youben.

Small Frame combines hardness with softness, there is more softness and less hardness in the First Set (Yi Lu), more hardness and less softness in the Second Set (Er Lu). Furthermore since Small Frame has a very complete theoretical system and strict, step-by-step method of practice, people in Chenjiagou praise it as "Gongfu Frame" (Gongfu Jia) or "Special Frame" (Kan Jia Quan; Kan Jia literally means "look after the house"). It is not that - as some books say - "Chen Youben, 14th generation descendant of Chen clan, made some changes to the original routines, gradually abandoning some more difficult and vigorous movements, and created New Frame (Xin Jia), also called Small Frame, as extended as Old Frame (Lao Jia)"[6].

Since Chen Changxing was escorting caravans away from home all the year round, Chen Gengyun (Chen Changxing's son and 15th generation descendant of Chen clan), in order to work together with the father, asked Chen Youben, his uncle, to teach him. In order to help Chen Gengyun achieve skill in the shortest possible time, Chen Youben, while preserving the quintessence of the First Set (in) Thirteen Postures (Tou Tao Shi San Shi), put emphasis on "Power Explosions" (Bao Fa Li), enlarged the movements, and coached Chen Gengyun for over a year. Chen Youben and Chen Gengyun through discussions and thorough studies created a certain type of frame; since then, in order to differ it from First Set (in) Thirteen Postures (Tou Tao Shi San Shi), people began to call them "Small Circles" and "Large Circles". Chen Gengyun passed this frame to his family members; it was also taught to Chen Fake - his grandson - who in 1928 was invited to Beijing to teach martial arts, and made this frame known to the public. Later generations began to refer to this frame as "Large Frame" (Da Jia), while to traditional system as "Small Frame" (Xiao Jia).

Chen Zhongshen (1809-1891) became famous fighting against Taiping rebels in 19th century



http://www.taiji-bg.com/articles/taijiquan/t35.htm