Grandmaster Chen Lixian陳立憲(19th Generation of the Chen Family, 11th Generation Lineage Messenger of Chen Family Taijiquan)

Chen Lixian (1923-1983) was born in Chenjiagou village, Wenxian County, Henan Province. He was the 19th generation representative of Chen Family Taijiquan, vice-president of Wushu Association of Qinyang City (the president was the party leader), and was called “Sanjue” by the local people for his three excellences in Martial arts, traditional bone setting, and civil engineering. He was awarded as “National Instructor of Martial Arts” by the Chinese government in 1983. He served as civil engineer and architect, was selected as Delegate Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Qinyang city, and was also awarded as City’s Model Worker.

Chen Lixian studied Chen Family Taijiquan with Chen Honglie (18th generation representative, 10th Generation Lineage Messenger), and also learnt from Chen Chun-Yuan (17th generation representative, 9th Generation Lineage Messenger) and other masters. His repertoire includes the first and second routines (yilu and erlu) of Chen Family Taijiquan, push hands (tuishou), joint locking and grappling (qinna), sword (jian), broadsword (dan dao), staff (gan), pole (gun), double mace (shuang jian), and spring-autumn big broadsword (chunjiu dadao), as well as traditional bone setting and acupoint pressure of Chen family, etc.

Chen Lixian’s life was full of drama and interlaced with hardship, vicissitudes, and glories. During his adolescence years, he entered the Northwestern Industry College in Xi’an to study civil and architectural engineering. Then, he worked as a drill master teaching Guoshu (Taijiquan and Martial arts) and other lessons in the Wangqu Military Academy in Xi’an, which was known as one branch school of the Huangpu Military Academy found by the Kuomintang (KMT). In some old magazines and on the internet, one can find some stories about Chen Lixian fighting his opponents while living in Xi’an. As a member of the Chen Family, he stored several secret materials on traditional martial arts. 

During a very dangerous battle, he destroyed an important piece of “Sansanliu Quanpu (三三六拳譜).” After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, he successively held the posts of teacher, civil engineer, and architect. He recalled and rewrote the “Sansanliu Quanpu”, which became a famous story in China. During the Cultural Revolution, he suffered persecution, was badly physically abused for years, and the pain of injury remained in his body. However, he had been continually curing people with his traditional skills of acupuncture and bone setting and teaching Taijiquan together with moral etiquette for free for all of his life. In 1970s, he lead a construction team to build an electric power plant in an area nearby the Taihang mountain. He had been working there in a horribly inclement environment for years when his injured body fell down a sand bank of the work site. In 1980s, China started the new period of Opening Reform. Chen Lixian was awarded as City’s Model Worker by the government for his hard work and contribution to the infrastructure and architecture, and was selected as Delegate Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of Qinyang city. He was invited as a judge and chief coach for the Wushu completion held by the city and Henan Province. 

He was devoted to researching the history and theory of Taijiquan and passed on a book, “Chenshi Taijiquan Quanshi Jiangjie 陈氏太极拳拳势讲解,” which is enshrined by his children. Today one can find a memory stone for Chen Lixian standing in Chenjiagou village for his contribution to the development of Tajiquan and his hard work for the society.