Chen Style New Frame or Old Frame – Which is Better?

By David Gaffney

Tai Chi Magazine

At the 2005 training camp in the Chenjiagou Taijiquan School in Henan,

China, organised by Chenjiagou Taijiquan GB (CTGB), Chen Xiaoxing
presented an interesting comparison of Chen style Taijiquan’s Old Frame
(Laojia) and New Frame (Xinjia) routines. He also spoke about the attitude
required by modern practitioners to make a success of their Taiji. Chen
Xiaoxing is a nineteenth generation master of Chen style Taijiquan who
learned from Chen Zhaopei, Chen Zhaokui and his brother Chen Xiaowang.

Evolution of the Old and New Frames

Chen style Taijiquan was
created in the ninth
generation by Chen
Wanting and continued for
five generations until the
time of Chen Changxin.
Chen Changxin
synthesised the routines
practiced at the time into
the Old Frame First
Routine (Laojia Yilu) and
Second Routine (Erlu, also
known as the “Cannon
Fist”) that together make up
the foundation forms from
which subsequent
generations of Chen Village
practitioners have
developed their capabilities
until the present day.

Chen Xiaoxing, a lifelong

resident of Chenjiagou,
explained that the
overriding principle of
Taijiquan is the co-ordination of soft (rou) and hard (gang) and of fast (kwai)
and slow (man) movements. The characteristic of the first routine leans more
towards soft and slow. With this basis one would practice until the body’s
posture is correct; until shape and qi are harmonized and one can physically
manifest this understanding, and not simply intellectually theorising it. The
next progression would be the Cannon Fist, the aim of which is to train and
increase stamina and explosive power (bao fali). “With the two sets together
you then fulfil the requirements of gang rou xiang ji”, that is alternating and
combining hardness and softness.
 The next significant evolution
within Chen Taijiquan was the
development of the New
Frame. “The routines devised
by Chen Changxin continued
uninterrupted until the
seventeenth generation and
my grandfather Chen Fa-ke.
He went to Beijing in 1928 to
teach Taiji. During the several
decades he was in Beijing,
based on his own
understanding, experience
and knowledge, he added new
movements onto the Old
Frame, still based upon the
principle of Taiji, to create the
Chen Changxin New Frame branch of Chen
family boxing which is
widely practiced today”.
Unique Characteristics of the New Frame
According to Chen Xiaoxing, the main characteristics of the New Frame are
the smaller circles, the extra emphasis placed upon the turning of the wrists
and the more visible folding of the chest and waist. Rotations of the waist and
dantien are also more obvious. The New Frame additionally lays greater
stress upon bringing out the spiral
energy usage in applications, with
extra fajin (energy release) and
qinna (joint locking) movements
throughout. The form also
consists of more dynamic,
springing and jumping
movements. However, Chen
Xiaoxing stressed that the
fundamental principles of the two
frames are the same with regards
to postural requirements and
movement principles. Both
require the practitioner to exhibit
movements that are continuous,
round and pliant, connecting all
movements section by section
and closely synchronising the
actions of the upper and lower
body.

Handform as Foundation
Chen Xiaoxing explained that the handform provides the foundation upon
which all the other skills of Taijiquan are subsequently built. Whether you are
 following the Old or New Frame, the most important thing is to give one
hundred percent mentally and physically. Factors such as patience,
persistence, yi (mind intent), strength, relaxation, and qi are fundamental in
increasing one’s Taijiquan skills.

Why Did Chen Fake Create the New Frame?

“In essence the Old Frame and New Frame are the same. In contrast,
however, the New Frame has more explosive movements and therefore is
more demanding physically. In this sense, the New Frame is considered
more suitable for people who are younger and fitter”. So why did Chen Fake
feel the need to create the new form? Chen Xiaoxing offered the explanation
that many of the Beijing people who initially went to Chen Fa-ke had already
practised martial arts to quite a good level and were eager to see the
applications hidden within the original routine. So he added some extra
movements with more outward expression and obvious martial functions.
Due to the requirements of the time he made changes so that it was more
suited to the temperament of the young and fit city dwellers of Beijing.

Chen Fake - creator of the Xinjia routines

In Beijing,
Figure the
1Chen Fake Newof Frame
-creator the Xinjiais taught
as the first form, whereas in Chenjiagou
routines
the Old Frame is considered the foundation form and is always taught first. In
response to this, Chen Xiaoxing said that “the Old and New Frames should
not be viewed as different entities because both are foundation forms. If you
look beyond the superficial differences, the Old Frame and New Frame are
the same style, sharing the same origin and guiding principles. However, the
latter is harder to perform well because of the complexity of the smaller
spirals, and so the former is usually taught first. In Chenjiagou, the Old Frame
is used as the foundation form because it is steady and fluid, so it is easier to
understand and realise the principle. In Chenjiagou people have the
advantage of knowing both the first routines”.

Confusions About the New Frame

It is often suggested that Chen Fa-ke
created the New Frame, but his son
Chen Zhaokui fixed and standardised
the form. “To be accurate, Chen
Zhoukui is the one who spread and
popularised the New Frame. After the
death of his father in 1957, he travelled
extensively in the 1960s teaching in
Shanghai, Nanjing, Zhengzhou and
other cities. In the 1970s he came back
to Chenjiagou every year. So it would
be more accurate to say that the New
Frame was created by my grandfather,
but was taught by my uncle”.

Confusion has arisen, he said, because

of the wide variation in how the New
Frame is performed even though it is a Chen Zhaokui
relatively new form. Chen Fake’s
students stayed with him at varying periods of his life and for different lengths
of time. The new form took a period of time to evolve and some students
have come during his early days in Beijing, some later. Most of them
practised for a period and then left. Chen Zhaokui is the only one who was
with him from beginning to end. That is why if you look throughout China you
can see different interpretations of Chen Fake’s teaching.

For example, practitioners in Shandong Province mostly follow Hong Jun

Sheng’s style. In Beijing, different groups can be seen practising in the styles
of Chen Zhaokui, Feng Zhiqiang, Lei Muni and Tien Xiuchen among others.
Chen Xiaoxing said that the various interpretations should not come as any
great surprise. He explained that “everybody has got their own unique body
shape, size and temperament. Just as I’m teaching the few of you here, each
individual within the group has a different physique and practises according to
his or her own level of understanding - and all go away and say they have
learned from Chen Xiaoxing.”
Over-Elaboration of Movements
It is sometimes said that it is more difficult to realise the principle when you
are starting with the New Frame as the movements are comparatively more
complex. A common mistake made by many practitioners of the New Frame
is the inclination to over-elaborate the spiralling movements. This leads to a
number of problems, the most serious being the separation of the individual
parts of the body from the waist. Individuals practising the form in this way fail
to understand the underlying silk reeling principle. Chen suggested “if you
really want to strictly separate and compare the two, the smaller spirals of the
New Frame are harder to execute and the internal feeling of the form takes
longer to experience. If incorrectly understood, this often leads to erratic,
exaggerated swaying movements, which can look very ugly”.

How to Approach the Learning Process

Whether you practise the Old Frame or New Frame routines it is more
important to know how to approach the learning process. Commenting on the
best way to practice, Chen Xiaoxing suggested that Gongfu (fundamental
skill) is really about time. “It is only from lengthy practice that you realise the
skill. It is like going to school, it has to be progressive. You have to spend
one year in primary one, another in primary two and so on. You cannot spend
half a year in primary one and expect to go to primary two and then jump to
secondary school, university etc. You have to put in the time. The most
important thing is to pay attention to the teacher when he is teaching you and
then practice according to the teaching during whatever time you have”.

Chen Xiaoxing is
uncompromising on this
point and showed little
patience with the
excuses people often
put forward that the
modern pace of life
makes it more difficult to
find enough time to train
as much as practitioners
did in the past.
“Unfortunately, that is
the route you have to
take, there are no two
ways about it. People
somehow think that in the past the teachers have a lot of time to practice and
didn’t have to work like people do today. Work nowadays is actually a lot
easier. People usually have a set time of maybe eight hours a day. When I
was doing farmwork, we didn’t have machines. Even when machines began
to be used to ease physical labour we could not afford to buy them. Work
was very hard and not limited to a few hours a day”. He is quite adamant that
if you are really serious about developing a good level of Taiji skill, it is all
about discipline and organization. If you work an eight-hour day and want to
spend two hours a day training this is really not impossible. “You can easily fit
ten repetitions of the form in two hours. Do this everyday and in 365 days,
doing the form ten times everyday, imagine how many repetitions you will
have done. It is all a matter of determination and perseverance - if you really
want it.”

Chen Xiaoxing concluded by saying that, irrespective of whether one

practices the Old or New Frame, it is this consistency that will eventually bring
results. “Repetitive practice of the form leads to complete familiarity with the
movements. Over the course of time co-ordination and flexibility are naturally
attained throughout every move contained within a form. What you must aim
for is to be able to perform every movement in a fluid and unpredictable
manner, shifting without warning from slow to fast, from soft to hard, and from
light to heavy.”