Chen Style Forms

There are a few of them ( for now weapon not included)


Lao jia – old frame

The Chen lao jia (old frame; 老架) consists of two forms yi lu (1st routine) and er lu (2nd routine) It was taught privately in Chen Village from the time of Chen ChangXing - the 14th generation creator of these routines. These were the very first Chen tai chi routines to be publicly revealed. This happened in Beijing from 1928 onwards - being taught by Chen Fake and his nephew.

Yi lu (the first empty hand form) at the beginner level is mostly done slowly with large motions interrupted by occasional expressions of fast power (Fa jing) that comprise less than 20% of the movements, with the overall purpose of teaching the body to move correctly. At the intermediate level it is practiced in very low stances (low frame) with an exploration of clear directional separation in power changes and in speed tempo. The movements become smaller and the changes in directional force become more subtle. At the advanced level the leg strength built at the previous level allows full relaxation and the potential for Fajing in every movement.

The second empty hand form, "er lu" or "cannon fist" is done faster and is used to add more advanced martial techniques such as advanced sweeping and more advanced fajing methods. Both forms also teach various martial techniques.

Comments from me :
I would say that normally people learn the lao jia yi lu first as it has mostly all the movements that is required by the Chen Style Tai Chi.


lao jia er lu ( second form) will come in a bit later as when people familiar with the yi lu and they trying to go more advanced and to improve their fajing method.

Xin jia – new frame

The Xin Jia (New Frame; 新架) style was first seen practiced by Chen Fake in his later years (1950s) and some regard him as the author of the style. Credit for actual public teaching/spread of these two new routines probably goes to his senior students (especially his son, Chen Zhaokui).

When Chen Zhaokui returned to Chen Village (to assist and then succeed Chen ZhaoPei) to train today's generation of Masters (e.g. the "Four Buddhas") he taught Chen Fake's, unknown adaptation of old frame. Zhu Tian Cai claims, as a young man at the time, they all started calling it "xin jia" (new frame) because it was adapted from classic old frame.

The main difference from old frame (lao jia) is that the movements are smaller and more obvious torso twisting silk reeling and twining of the arms/wrists is employed. This form tends to emphasise manipulation, seizing and grappling (qin na) and a tight method of spiral winding for both long and shorter range striking.

Zhu Tian Cai has commented that the xinjia (new frame) emphasises the silk reeling movements to help beginners more easily learn the internal principles in form and to make application more obvious in relation to the Old big frame forms.

In Chen Village xin jia is traditionally learned only after lao jia. Like lao jia, xin jia consists of two routines, yi lu and er lu (cannon fist). The new frame cannon fist is generally performed faster than the other empty hand forms, at the standardized speed its 72 movements finish in under 4 minutes.^{[citation needed]}!

In Beijing a leading proponent of this style, Chenyu, son of Chen Zhaokui does not practice or teach 'laojia' at all, and the practice appears to have a very different method from that promoted by the Chen village residents. Xinjia has become a standard offering at schools in Chen Jiagou, but looking at the history, Chen Zhaokui taught it there in visits of about a month each over a few years adding up to a total amount of time of about 2 years in all. This short span of time of instruction after according to Chen Zhenglei, about a decade of previous instruction by Chen Zhaopei, is likely to have produced some differences in the way it may have been absorbed by the residents, compared to the long term local students or descendants of Chen Zhaokui.

Comments from me:
This form i do play a bit last time, there are a lot of small twisting and required the waist to follow together in order to get the smooth movement. So i  think that this form is quite hard to manage for new learners but when you familiar with the Chen Style Tai Chi, I believe that any form would be manageable, it just a matter of time

Small Frame tradition (xiao jia)

The small frame (xiao jia; 小架) style was until recently not publicly known outside of Chen Village. DVD material has been made available in more recent times though authentic, public teaching is still hard to find. The reasons for this may be more to do with the nature of small frame tradition itself rather than any particular motivation of secrecy.

Although it recently had the term "small frame" attached to it "xiao jia" was previously known as "xin jia" (new frame). Apparently the name change occurred to differentiate it from the new routines that Chen Fake created (from big frame tradition's "old frame" routines) in the 1950s which then became called "Xin Jia" (by the young men of Chen Village).

Even today some people confuse Chen Fake's altered routines (from big frame tradition's "old frame" routines) with small frame tradition and believe he revealed the secret teaching of small frame tradition as well.

Zhu Tian Cai comments that small frame tradition routines also used to be practiced by "retired" Chen villagers. It seems this was because the more demanding leaping, stomping, low frame, and intensive fa jing of the advanced big frame tradition routines have been eliminated and the retained movements emphasize use of the more subtle internal skills, which is a more appropriate regimen for the bodies of elder practitioners. He also observed that young children used to imitate Small Frame routines by watching older villagers practising and this was encouraged for health reasons.

Xiao Jia is known mainly for its emphasis on internal movements, this being the main reason that people refer to it as "small frame"; all "silk-reeling" action is within the body, the limbs are the last place the motion occurs.

Comments from me:
This form I never played before, but I do saw Grandmaster Zhu Tian Cai play once and the movements is really small and smooth which is good for elders 

(Credit from Wikipedia)