Scholar Boxer: Cháng Nâizhou's Theory of Internal Martial Arts and the Evolution of Taijiquan [Paperback]

Chang Naizhou (Author), Marnix Wells (Editor, Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 7, 2005

Master Cháng, known as the “scholar-boxer,” lived and practiced in Hénán province, at the center of Chinese culture and martial arts near the Shàolín Temple and legendary Luòyáng. His extensive writings reflect many of the ideas, even the phraseology, now familiar from classic Tai Chi Chuan texts. Chinese-language authority Marnix Wells traveled to Cháng’s village, where the master’s family carries on his tradition of Cháng boxing. This resulting study of Chang’s life and teachings reveals the true origins of today’s internal martial arts.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Scholar Boxer is a must-read translation on the practical theories and interconnection between developing qi-energy and martial arts fighting technique. It explores many levels, including essence, body and spirit, yin-yang, and how the body works. This book also brings needed clarity and cultural context to the Tai Chi Classics."
- Bruce K. Frantzis, author of Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body and The Power of Internal Martial Arts

About the Author

Marnix Wells graduated in from Oxford's classical Chinese program under Professor David Hawkes in 1967. In 1968, at the height of the Vietnam war and China’s 'Great Cultural Revolution,' he arrived in Hong Kong and began to practice taijiquan, Chinese calligraphy, and musical instruments. Since Beijing was then in turmoil, Wells traveled to Taiwan, Japan, and Korea. He learned internal marital arts from Zhang Yizhong in Tokyo and later from the legendary Wang Shujin in Taiwan. He became general manager of a shipping office an helped plan the 'Way of the Warrior' feature on the Hong brothers for the BBC. In 2001 Wells earned a PhD in ancient Chinese philosophy from SOAS, London University. He teaches internal martial arts and lectures widely on Chinese art, music, and philosophy. He has one daughter and lives in London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Blue Snake Books; Tra edition (July 7, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556434820
• ISBN-13: 978-1556434822
• Product Dimensions: 5.8 x 0.9 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholar Boxer- Fascinating, Entertaining and Enlightening, August 4, 2005

By 

xingyiquan5 "xingyiquan5" (oakland, ca) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Scholar Boxer: Cháng Nâizhou's Theory of Internal Martial Arts and the Evolution of Taijiquan (Paperback)

When North Atlantic Books published Ben Lo's "Essence of Tai Chi Chuan" in the early 1980's, the book was seen as a sure failure. Who would care about these poetic and obscure teachings from a strange looking martial art? Over 20 years, and many thousands of copies later it is seen as one of the most important first steps in opening up the western world to Tai Chi, and the Chinese internal martial arts.

Marnix Wells's new book on Chang Naizhou, the Scholar Boxer, is the next such book. For those interested in the theory, history and practice of the internal martial arts, this book is going to blow your mind.

Now that the history of Tai Chi and the other internal martial arts have been investigated, translated and published in English, a certain baseline of knowledge has been established here in the west. Readers who have pondered the developments over the last few decades are ready for the revelations that Scholar Boxer brings forth. Fascinating insights into history, energy cultivation and combative practices await the reader.

This book is ahead of it's time, similar to when the "Essence of Tai Chi Chuan" first came out. In due time however, this book will be seen as the first that truly cracked open the next level of insight into the internal martial arts. This book has taken martial arts translation to a whole new level.

Now westerners, instead of debating abstruse theories of history, can more fruitfully spend their reading time discovering how boxers in the 1700's ACTUALLY wrote, taught and practiced. Now all the theory can be informed by actual fact. By looking at a book published during the formative years of todays internal styles we can gain a whole new level of insight.

I hope todays readers spend a lot of time investigating the teachings that are revealed in this book. I believe that many people will be able to improve their practice with a taste of authentic Chinese internal martial arts knowledge.

Thanks to Marnix Wells for his exhaustive efforts in researching and translating this amazing book.

-Jess O'Brien

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Academic translation for sophisticated readers, January 13, 2007

By 

V. K. Lin (Eugene, OR United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Scholar Boxer: Cháng Nâizhou's Theory of Internal Martial Arts and the Evolution of Taijiquan (Paperback)

To give you some background, I have 22+ years of experience in martial arts, including 9+ years in internal martial arts training-- the latter with a classically-oriented teacher with a direct lineage back to Yang Cheng-fu. In addition, I have an MD, and my specialty focuses on kinesiological analysis. I'm pretty familiar with biomechanics/anatomy. So, despite all that, this was a very esoteric book, not easily grasped.

Professor Wells' translation is extremely literal, and his interpretation possibly over-technical as another reviewer has stated. The organizational form is basically this: in sentence-to-paragraph level amounts, Wells provides a fairly literal translation of Master Chang's text. Then, Wells sprinkles in his own interpretation as to what Master Chang was trying to say, and tries to supply analagous concepts from the Tai Chi Classics and other known historical texts. Professor Wells appears extremely well-read in the related literature, as well as well-versed in Tai Chi/internal martial arts concepts.

There is, however, plenty of room from the step of translation to interpretation. Wells' interpretation are very strongly rooted in physiology and anatomy. If Master Chang's intent was to convey artistry and symbolic imagery, then it has been lost, certainly. But somehow, I didn't get the impression that this was significantly the case. The translations, if accurate, were fairly spartan and had a literal feel to them. From reading the English versions, I didn't get the sense that poetry was being excluded. Therefore, Wells' interpretation were equally utilitarian. I interpreted this to mean that Master Chang was trying to convey a very real sense of his martial art with the available vocabulary of the time and location, without resorting to metaphor (perhaps with the understanding that metaphor can potentially create confusion!).

Despite this tendency towards simplicity, the literal translation was somewhat inaccessible. Even with Wells' helpful notes to the effect of "Sunny is referring to extensor muscles and shady is referring to flexors..." and others, I could not easily grasp or understand IN DETAIL what Master Chang was trying to instruct his reader to do more of or less of, or whatever.

It didn't help that-- and this is important for potential readers-- Master Chang's martial art style IS NOT TAI CHI (at least not a version that I know-- and I've seen enough Wu, Hoa Wu, Chen, Yang, and Sun to easily distinguish them). Wells spends a good deal of pages detailing the history of Chang's martial art (a compendium of a good number of styles as was not atypical for the era). Nor is it any Bagua style that I am familiar with, nor even a Hsing-I system that I know of. The importance of this is that there is very little frame of reference for a practitioner to draw on. One must discern the "energy" and intent of the postures from shady/sunny analogies and pencil-like drawings. Not an easy task-- and Chang's art is different enough from the more common internal styles popular today-- that getting anything out of this book for my training was extremely difficult.

In summary, a nice history of an (historically) important text from medieval China. Written with a significant academic bent, including signiicant references and annotations-- in a style befitting an academic paper. But not easily grasped, nor accessible. I did not spend the time poring over each line of text, trying to grasp what Master Chang was referring to, playing with each posture, experimenting with various energies, until I understood. I think that's the level of reading that would be required to get anything significant out of this book. Maybe when I'm better at this, when there's nothing else to read that might be of benefit. But for now, this one goes on the shelf, and maybe I may refer to it in bits and pieces as something strikes me. But if there's that much to be had from this translation, it will take a LONG time to discern it, IMO.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Part of the foundation, August 21, 2006

By 

T. Ryan (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Scholar Boxer: Cháng Nâizhou's Theory of Internal Martial Arts and the Evolution of Taijiquan (Paperback)

This is a book for serious internal neijia practitioners only and presents what I would call internal martial art code or the koans of internal neijia power. Like Tai Chi Classics by Waysun Liao, or the translation of Yang Ban-hou in Secrets of the Yang Style by Yang Jwing-Ming, this is written in code and is not a "how to" book. These books are good for reference and for confirming what you are learning, and for crystallizing your knowledge, but not for teaching or basic learning. Its the book that you go to when you have one of those "aha" moments and you see that the information was there in front of you all of the time. If you re-read the classics like this every few years, each time another piece falls into place and over the years your depth of knowledge grows as you walk the path.