Chen Changxing

Chen Changxing also spelled Ch'en Chang-hsing 陳長興 (1771-1853) was a 14th generation descendant and 6th generation master of the famed Chen Family and considered to be an influential martial artist and teacher of Taijiquan.

Chen Changxing is a slightly mysterious character and much controversy surrounds him. He is most famously known as the teacher of the great Taijiquan master Yang Luchan, but there is much disagreement over which style of martial art Chen Changxing actually taught to the family outsider.

Some schools of thought suggest that Chen Changxing was a maverick that practiced and taught a style of martial art that was not part of the Chen Family martial arts tradition, and that was passed to him either directly or indirectly from a Taijiquan master known as Jiang Fa. Other schools of thought suggest that Chen Changxing re-worked two or more of the traditional Chen Family routines into his own style and then taught it to Yang Luchan and others. Both schools successfully explain why the Taijiquan that Yang Luchan's descendants now practice is substantially different from the modern Chen routines, but neither theory can be completely substantiated and thus much controversy remains.

Chen Changxing is said to have been of an irreverent character and was given the nickname "Mr Ancestral Tablet" due to the erectness of his posture. In the "The Genealogy of the Chen Family" he is noted as a martial arts instructor, but the detail of the style he taught is not present.