Cheng Man-ch'ing

Cheng Man-ch'ing or Zheng Manqing (29 July 1902 - 26 March 1975) was a Chinese expert of tai chi, Chinese medicine, and the so-called three perfections: calligraphy, painting and poetry.

He was born in Yongjia (present-day Wenzhou), Zhejiang Province, during the Qing dynasty.

Around 1928 Cheng met the well-known master Yang Chengfu (1883–1936), with whom he began to study Yang-style tai chi, until Yang died.

While the exact dates of Cheng's study with Yang are not clear, one of Yang's top students, scholar Chen Weiming wrote that Cheng studied six years with Yang.

Around 1930, Cheng left the Shanghai College of Art and with Huang Binhong, and other leading artists, founded the College of Chinese Culture and Art.

The school was forced to close upon the Japanese invasion.

In his twenties, Cheng developed lung disease (believed to be tuberculosis partly from exposure to the chalk dust from the school blackboards).

Ill to the point of coughing up blood, he began to practice tai chi more diligently to aid his recovery.

Cheng retired from teaching and devoted himself for several years to the study of tai chi, traditional Chinese medicine, and literature.

His literary studies were with retired scholar Qian Mingshan.

In addition to his childhood instruction, Cheng Man-ch'ing received formal Chinese medical training.

While he was teaching art in Shanghai, one of his friends grew ill and was unable to find relief.

Cheng Man-ch'ing wrote a complex prescription for his friend, who took the medicine and recovered fully.

One story from his memorial book is that a retired traditional doctor named Song You'an 宋幼庵 came across the prescription.

He demanded to be put in contact with the person who wrote it, as the sophistication and erudition of the prescription showed exceptional talent and competence.

As war was raging across China at that time, it took several years before Cheng Man-ch'ing was able to present himself for study.

With Song, Cheng received instruction and became conversant with the Chinese pharmacopoeia.

Dr Song was the twelfth generation of physician in his family; his medical school had a formidable collection of traditional medicines.

Cheng participated in national and international exhibitions, including one in 1933 organized by Xu Beihong, and was deeply involved with a number of art societies, including the Bee Society.

These groups met to socialize, paint, and organize fundraising exhibitions.

Cheng, according to Yang's son Zhenji, ghostwrote Yang's second book Essence and Applications of Tai Chi or The Substance and Application of Tai Chi (Taijiquan tiyong quanshu, 1934), for which Cheng also wrote a preface and most likely arranged for the calligraphic dedications.

Cheng taught tai chi, practiced medicine, and continued his art practice in Sichuan Province during the Sino-Japanese war years.

In this period he taught Abraham Liu while at the Central Military Academy, China's equivalent of West Point.[Reference 1 At age 32 he taught tai chi at the Central Military Academy (formerly the Huang-po Military Academy -equivalent to West Point in the United States.)"]By 1946, he had developed a significantly abbreviated 37-move version of Yang's traditional form. He wrote the manuscript for his Thirteen Chapters during this period, and showed them to his elder classmate Chen Weiming, who gave it his imprimatur.

Cheng moved to Taiwan in 1949 with the retreating Republican Chinese government.

He continued his career as a physician and as a teacher of his new tai chi form, as well as actively practicing painting, poetry, and calligraphy.

He published Cheng's 13 Chapters of Tai Chi Boxing in 1950 which has been translated into English twice.

He started the Shih Chung T'ai Chi Association in Taipei, where many now well-known students including (Benjamin Lo, Liu Hsi-heng, Hsu I-chung, Qi Jiang Tao, Robert W. Smith, T. T. Liang, William C. C. Chen, Huang Sheng Shyan and others) trained with him.

Though he tended not to advertise it, Cheng served as one of the painting teachers of Soong Mei-ling, Madame Chiang Kai-shek, whom he taught to paint "birds and flowers" style (his colleague Huang Junbi instructed her in landscape painting. Cheng also continued to be a medical advisor to Chiang Kai-shek.

Cheng died March 26, 1975; his grave is near the city of Taipei in Taiwan.

Because of his skills in the 3 Perfections or "Excellences" – considered to be among some of the traditional skills and pastimes of a Confucian scholar – plus medicine and tai chi, he was often referred to as the "Master of Five Excellences."

Because he had been a college professor, his students in the USA called him "Professor Cheng."

Cheng's father died when Cheng was very young.

Around the age of nine, Cheng was struck on the head by a falling object, and was in a coma for a short while.

He recuperated slowly, and was apprenticed to a well-known artist, Wang Xiangchan 汪香禪, in hopes that simple jobs like grinding ink would help his health.

Wang taught Cheng's aunt Zhang Hongwei 張紅薇, as well as fellow townsmen Ma Mengrong and Ma Gongyu, all of whom became quite well-known.

Within a few years, Cheng's teacher sent him out to earn his living at painting.

During Cheng's childhood, his mother took him out to find medicinal plants and taught him the fundamentals of traditional Chinese herbal medicine.

By the age of eighteen, Cheng was teaching poetry and art in Beijing and within a few years had become a successful artist whose works were in demand.

His aunt's friend Cai Yuanpei gave him a letter of introduction that led him to Shanghai, where he became acquainted with influential figures including Wu Changshuo, Zheng Xiaoxu, Xu Beihong, and Zhang Daqian.

He took a position as the Dean of the Department of Traditional Painting at the prestigious Shanghai College of Art, which was headed by Liu Haisu.