Zhang Wenguang’s Chaquan And Tantui Spring Kick Drills
This book was written by Zhang Wenguang (1915-2010), head of the wushu department of the Beijing Physical Culture Institute while I was a student there (in the early 1980s). Researched and overseen by Zhang Wenguang, the performances for the drawings were done by the wushu department staff. All my teachers were involved, so it was fun for me to translate. It describes ten routines from the Zhang branch of Chaquan.
I have also included Zhang Wenguang’s little book on the Tantui spring kick drills that we did at the college. I have learned at least five Tantui drills over the years, and time spent doing them is always time well spent.
Soft cover book ISBN 978-1-989468-31-9. 6x9 inches, 380 pages.
Hard cover book ISBN 978-1-989468-34-0.
PDF edition ISBN 978-1-989468-32-6. 8.5x11 inches for home printers.
E-reader Edition ISBN 978-1-989468-33-3.
Download an excerpt from the book.
Comments from readers
Plum Publications: "We at Plum freely admit that we are big fans of Andrea Falk, in her roles as martial artist, writer and translator. It is this last role that we celebrate today.
When we started Plum, almost 30 years ago, there were so many important texts available in Chinese that we never thought we would see in English and, of course, there still are (many of which we represent). But Falk, and a scattered few, are slowly chipping away at the canon, and this new book is a great example of her work.
Thanks to her translation, Zhang Wenguang’s book on Chaquan, and his smaller text on Tan Tui Kick Drills, (published as one volume) are now available, in English, on Plum. As is typical of Andrea’s work, it is not just a xeroxed copy, but contains additional notes, prefaces, discussions, and a glossary. The format, in English, is accompanied by both pinyin and Chinese character names for each move.
We are just so pleased that the literary martial library continues to grow with quality books like this one.”