BLITZ, ISBN0-9660240-3-6
Chen Pan-ling (1891-1967) is one of those mysterious figures of the Chinese internal arts made legendary in the Western world through the writings of Robert W. Smith, who refers to him, in the foreword of this first English translation of Chen's textbook, as "perhaps the most knowledgeable person in the world on the principles, rationale and practice of Chinese boxing at the time of his death".
Chen was a radical in his approach. He refused to Bai Shi, he was selective about whom he taught and he didn't charge - the complete opposite of my own master in all three aspects. Chen's Tai Chi teachers were Wu Jian-quan, Yang Shao-hou, Xu Yu-shen and Chi De (the last three were all students of Yang Jian-hou, youngest son of Yang Lu-chan). He also visited and trained in the Chen family village though we are not told with whom.
Chen developed his own Tai Chi form which is idiosyncratic in nature with elements of Yang, Wu, Woo and Chen style in it, but this form is not widely practiced outside Taiwan. The only person in Britain practicing Chen Pan-ling's Tai Chi that I know of is Robert Simpson of the Kuo Shu Institute.
The Chinese version of this book was published in 1963 in Taiwan; my copy of the long-awaited English translation was given to me by Dr. Alan Peatfield, a lifelong student of the Chinese martial arts who actually met the translators, Col. Y.W. Chang and his wife, Ann Carruthers in Crete.
There is a lot of emphasis on facing south to begin the form, though we are not told why. In the historical section Chen adopts the conventional Chinese approach to religion of believing all truths -at least in part, accepting the legitimacy of Chen Wang-ting (not -tien as it is rendered in the book), Chang San-feng and even the absurdity of Chen Xin claiming his ancestor, Chen Pu, as the inventor of Tai Chi Chuan. A historian, Chen was not.
Chen claims that his book contains the most elegant postures and most effective fighting techniques from the Yang Chen and two Wu styles yet not a single fighting technique is shown, only some pushing hands near the end of the book. He also talks of a detecting area in advanced Tai Chi Chuan similar to radar, enabling masters to detect a surprise attack and to use invisible force to thrust the attacker away and to pick him up. He talks of practicing the solo form slowly and "someday you reach a level at which you know the meaning of understanding internal energy (tung chin). At that point you will know the real meaning of the speed of reaction, and the speed of striking. You can then possess one of the striking internal energies known as fa chin...". And, "At a certain level of practice... when you strike, your striking force will be as strong as a bullet ejecting from a barrel."
Chen is both interesting and informative in his discussions of breathing, movement, posture, health benefits etc. related to the practice of the solo form. Many of the layouts and charts, such as Chen's Twenty Essential points for Tai Chi Chuan points, Training Method and so on are effective ways of communicating his ideas to the reader and his training as an engineer is evident in the methodical structure. The glossary is necessary as some of the terms Chen uses will not be familiar to the novice, but some of the definitions given such as, "nei kung - internal style martial arts" (probably they meant nei jia chuan); or "tao yin - Taoist exercise" are not helpful.
The translations of the Classics are poor, and often sound like Charlie Chan meets the son of Fu Manchu; e.g., "Apprentice needs sagacious teacher to view him face to face" instead of "to enter the door and be led along the path oral instruction is necessary".
The conclusion I came to is that Chen Pan-ling on a theoretical level had a lot of knowledge, but that he was weak on the practical level of how to use Tai Chi Chuan as a martial art, though like many others he may have been a competent martial artist in other systems. The book contains a treasure trove of well-presented information that is likely to be of interest to novices and teachers of any Tai Chi Chuan school.