Chen Style 陳式太極拳

The oldest family style. Visible silk-reeling (chan si jin) spirals, alternating slow and explosive movement (fajin), stamps, jumps and low stances. Two main routines: Yilu (First Road, mostly soft) and Erlu / Pao Chui (Cannon Fist, mostly fast and hard). Frames: Laojia (Old Frame), Xinjia (New Frame, Chen Fake), Xiaojia (Small Frame).

Lineage

Chen Wangting → … → Chen Changxing (teacher of Yang Luchan) → Chen Gengyun → Chen Yanxi → Chen Fake (brought Chen style to Beijing, 1928) → Chen Zhaokui, Hong Junsheng (Practical Method), Feng Zhiqiang → today: 'Four Tigers' Chen Xiaowang, Chen Zhenglei, Wang Xi'an, Zhu Tiancai; also Chen Xiaoxing, Chen Bing, Chen Ziqiang, Chen Zhonghua.

For health & mobility

Excellent for leg strength and spinal mobility; low stances and fajin can be adapted or omitted for older beginners.

Forms

• Chen Practical Method Yilu – 81 Movements 陳式太極拳實用拳法一路
  Hong Junsheng's 'Practical Method' version of Chen Yilu, emphasizing precise mechanics and application. Listing follows practicalmethod.com.
• Chen Laojia Yilu (Old Frame First Road) – 74 Movements 陳式太極拳老架一路
  The core Chen Village routine taught by Chen Xiaowang, Chen Zhenglei and the Chenjiagou school. The order below matches two independent listings (Wikipedia 'Chen-style Laojia forms' and Earth Balance Tai Chi's 74-movement list). Some teachers count the same sequence with slightly different numbers.