There are a lot of Cheng Manching videos on Youtube. However, I found that they often show the same video only with different music or voice in it.

(If you don’t know who Cheng Manching is: It is said that Cheng Manching (also Zheng Manqing, student of Yang Chengfu) is the one who brought Taijiquan to the West. He moved to New York in 1964 and taught intensely until his death in 1975. Some of his students are still alive and actively promoting his Tai Chi in the USA and all around the world.)

In the videos below you will not only find Cheng Manching showing the 37 form or his sword form, but there are also videos from his Tai Chi classes as well as interviews with some of his students.

Cheng Manching 37 form videos

This is Cheng Manching showing his 37 postures form.

In this video, the 37 form is shown mirrored:

Then there is one more interesting form video (which I cannot embed). It seems to be a video from 1955.

Cheng Manching classes

Luckily, some of the classes were filmed. So even after all the years we can get an impression of the studio in New York. These are three videos of beginner classes and a video about body position:

The next one is with form instructions. This video is from The Master Tapes, which is a Cheng Manching DVD set with more than four hours of Cheng Manching pushing hands, teaching, fencing, laughing, and telling stories – filmed in the early 1970s. If you are interested, you can order them here.

 

Cheng Manching sword videos

Cheng Manching’s weapon of choice was the sword. Thus there are some really interesting Tai Chi sword videos. This one includes the Chinese names of the sword form!

And there are even sword videos including his students.

Cheng Manching Push Hands & Applications

What I find the most interesting are the push hands videos. I mean, I really wish I could have been there and do Tuishou with Cheng Manching!

Interviews with Cheng Manching students

Cheng Manching had many students in New York and Taiwan, some of them are very known for Taijiquan themselves. I’ve found these three videos with Robert Smith, William C.C. Chen and Ken VanSickle:

Other Cheng Manching videos

In this next video, Cheng Manching talks about Qi:

And now comes a really unusual thing: Katy Cheng (Cheng Manching’s daughter) sings a song about the Tai Chi principles (she starts talking at 1:19):

If you’re still hungry for Cheng Manching videos, I really recommend this documentary:

The Professor: Tai Chi’s Journey West*

I enjoyed watching it, especially as it shows old footages and a lot of Cheng Manching students have been interviewed for this movie. Have a look at the trailer:

If you want to know more about the Cheng Manching movie, I actually had the chance to interview the director Barry Strugatz.

If you still can’t get enough of Cheng Manching, have a look at this list of books written by him and his students!

Happy Qi!

Angelika

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