The Standing Post Introduces Chengmanching.com

Cheng Man Ching
Fernando Bernall

Dear friends,

It is with great honor and pleasure that I announce the development of www.chengmanching.com. My first exposure to Professor Cheng dates back 15 years ago in Chicago when Douglas Wile gave a two hour talk regarding Professor Cheng. He also shared with us a movie clip and did some form corrections to those attending his talk as well as promoting his book“Cheng Man-Ch'ing's Advanced T'ai-Chi Form Instructions”

At that time, my involvement in the arts was mainly in the Korean art of Hapkido (which by then I had practiced for nearly 12 years), and my appreciation and understanding of the inner workings of Tai Chi was very limited. However, Wile's presentation and the film of Professor Cheng made a long lasting impression on me and thus my studies of Tai Chi Chuan began as a result of that memorable night.

Since then, I have had the pleasure of observing the martial skill of those who practice Cheng Man Ching's form and teachings including William Chen, Stanley Israel, Tom Baeli, Mario Napoli, David Champ, Jeff Pentz, and Don Miller to name a few. I have also had the opportunity to “Cross Arms” with some of the players mentioned above and found them to be of superior caliber.

This last April, 2000, a celebration commemorating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Professor Cheng, was held in New York City. Due to circumstances beyond my control, I was unable to attend this grandiose event. However, my close friend David Champ attended and his presence there was a key factor in the development of chengmanching.com.

During the celebration, David presented the idea to Professor Cheng's daughter of our intentions to develop a site that would be dedicated to honoring her father's legacy. Needless to say, the idea was welcomed and we, to our surprise, found that the domain, chengmanching.com, was available and immediately registered the name.

I must tell you that I am very happy with the support that we have received for the site. Some of Professor Cheng's personal students have submitted material and even as I write this page, Katy Cheng, one of Professor Cheng's daughters is writing an article about her life with her father. Also, her mother, Mrs. Cheng, is contributing scans of some of her husband's paintings that were donated to the Palace Museum in Taiwan. Boy, can we get more fortunate!

At this stage, the site is still in development. I am expecting more material which I will post as soon as I get it. I invite you to visit the site. Sign the Guestbook and post any question on the forum. If you wish, enter your email and I'll be happy to contact you with any updates to the site.

God bless,

Sincerely,

Fernando Bernall