Chen Tai Chi is the original form of Tai Chi, created in the 14th Century by retired warrior Chen Wangting. Today, the Chen family still practices the art. Sifu Ken Gullette has studied with students and disciples of the Chen family, along with members of the Chen family such as Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang, Grandmaster Chen Xiaoxing, and Chen Bing.  Ken is an independent person and has no desire to become a disciple of anyone. He prefers to be free to study broadly This is a martial art, not a "soft" art for slow-motion exercise and meditation. It contains slow, graceful movements and bursts of power and energy. It is athletic and demanding, unlike the "moving meditation" that most Tai Chi teachers in America practice.

Below is a video of Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang, visiting the Chen Village and demonstrating some Chen Tai Chi principles with his nephew, Chen Ziqiang (the son of Chen Xiaoxing). This is a clip that originally aired worldwide via satellite and throughout China on network TV. We're putting it here to help people understand that Tai Chi is a martial art, not simply a calm exercise for meditation.

Tai Chi was created by Chen Wangting, of Chenjiangou Village, Wen County, China. He lived during the 17th Century and was a warrior at the end of the Ming Dynasty before retiring and becoming a scholar in the early days of the Qing Dynasty. He developed "shadow boxing," or tai chi, and it was a powerful martial art based on unique ways of moving the body -- the twisting and swirling movements of chan ssu ching (silk reeling).

Chen Wangting lived during the 9th generation of the Chen family.  Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang (pictured at left in a private lesson with Ken Gullette) is a direct descendant of Chen Wangting, and is the standard-bearer for the Chen family for his generation, the 19th generation of the Chen family.  For more information on Chen Xiaowang, go to his website at www.chenxiaowang.com.

Chen Xiaoxing, the younger brother of Chen Xiaowang, is the head grandmaster in charge of all Tai Chi training in the Chen Village. The photo at right shows Chen Xiaoxing, and Ken Gullette in California in 2005 when Ken visited for private training with Grandmaster Chen. Last year, Ken and Nancy Gullette hosted Grandmaster Chen at Kung Fu Quad Cities in Bettendorf for a two-day seminar (see photo at bottom left). Grandmaster Chen stayed at their home and provided Ken with more private training. "It was an amazing experience doing push hands with Grandmaster Chen," Ken says. "I was thrown to the floor so many times, I learned to look at my basement carpet in a whole new way."