Chen Qingping

Chen Qingping or Ch'en Ch'ing-p'ing (1795–1868) was a 15th generation descendant and 7th generation master of the Chen family. He is also claimed to be the 7th generation successor of the Zhaobao style of tai chi. Alternatively, many Zhaobao lineages (e.g. He Baoguo of the He family, Zhang Suisheng of Hulei) treat him as the progenitor of tai chi in Zhaobao. He was an influential martial artist and teacher of tai chi.

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He was married to a woman from the Zhaobao village, only a few miles north east of the Chen Village (Chenjiagou) — the home of the Chen Family famous for their martial arts. He has also been said to have learned the small-frame (Xiaojia) Chen style developed by Chen Youben, and the striking similarity of Chen Style Xiaojia and Zhaobao tai chi supports this assertion like nothing else.

After touristic success of Chenjiagou in the early 21st century, many Zhaobao officials and some local teachers saw the commercial opportunity in distancing themselves from Chenjiagou and claiming the local tai chi style as “original” to attract western students and tourists in general to top up local budget. Naturally, Chen Qingping could not remain as the originator of tai chi in Zhaobao in such a new “history” and he started to be claimed a student of a local teacher in addition to his proficiency in Chen style. Inability to provide any academically-reputable proof of existence of any tai chi in Zhaobao predating Chen Qingping as well as the lineage records of many local teachers tracing the origin of their style back to Chen Qingping immediately disqualified those claims. Nevertheless, similarly to the Zhang Sanfeng fairytales, they are kept alive among less-academically oriented part of the tai chi community, equally in China and the West.

According to the apologists of this theory, after moving to the Zhaobao Village, Chen Qingping learned Zhaobao tai chi from Zhang Yan (张彦), who was the 6th generation master of the Zhaobao tai chi lineage. Unfortunately, no proof of Zhang Yan's relation to tai chi has ever been demonstrated.

Chen Qingping's main disciple He Zhaoyuan passed on this art which later developed into He-style tai chi. Another disciple, Li Jingyan, created the Hulei-style tai chi by combining his art with other martial arts popular in the local area where he lived.

Chen Qingping is also credited as one of the teachers of Wu Yuxiang who later developed the Wu (Hao)-style tai chi, sometimes referred to as the "Scholar-style of tai chi". Wu Yuxiang was recommended to Chen Qingping by Wu Yuxiang's primary teacher, Yang Luchan.