陳Kansas CityChen Taijiquan

Chen Family Lineage

Grandmaster
Chen Zhenglei

陈正雷

A 19th-generation descendant of the Chen family, an 11th-generation direct-line successor of Chen family Taijiquan, and the uncle, grandmaster, and shifu of Master Chen Huixian.

Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei practicing Chen family Taijiquan
Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei
19thGeneration descendant of the Chen family
11thGeneration direct-line successor of Chen family Taijiquan
9th DuanChinese Wushu Association Duan Wei System
Four WarriorsOne of Chen Village’s celebrated “Four Buddha Warriors”

Chenjiagou

A life formed at the birthplace of Taijiquan.

Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei was born in Chenjiagou, or Chen Village, in Wen County, Henan Province, China, the birthplace of the martial art now known around the world as Taijiquan.

He began training at eight years old under his uncle, Grandmaster Chen Zhaopi. His studies included barehand forms, push hands, theory, and the traditional weapons of the Chen family, including saber, spear, sword, and staff.

After Chen Zhaopi’s death in 1972, he continued advanced study under another uncle, Grandmaster Chen Zhaokui. Through more than twenty years of direct instruction, he inherited both the practical skill and theoretical depth of the family art.

Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei demonstrating a traditional Chen Taijiquan posture

Training and inheritance

Discipline through hardship.

Orphaned in childhood and faced with repeated hardship, Chen Zhenglei treated Taijiquan not as a pastime but as the foundation of his life and future. He trained with extraordinary persistence, developing a reputation in Chen Village for both refined skill and a broad understanding of Taiji theory.

His family instruction connected him to the methods passed down through Grandmaster Chen Fake. The teaching he received combined personal example, verbal explanation, exacting physical practice, and the daily culture of Chen Village.

  • Chen ZhaopiHis first principal teacher, beginning when Chen Zhenglei was eight years old.
  • Chen ZhaokuiHis later teacher for advanced study following Chen Zhaopi’s death.
  • Chen FakeThe great family master whose theories and methods formed a central part of the inherited tradition.
Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei demonstrating Chen family Taijiquan in Chen Village
Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei practicing in Chenjiagou, the birthplace of Taijiquan.

Chen Village

The art in its native landscape.

This original photograph places Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei in Chenjiagou, where the Chen family system was created, practiced, and passed from generation to generation.

It now appears as a full section of the rebuilt page, alongside the other photographs preserved from the original website.

Recognition

Competition, leadership, and national honors.

Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei’s public career joined competitive success, institutional leadership, teaching, and the preservation of traditional Chen family Taijiquan.

10+

Provincial gold medals

Between 1974 and 1987, he won repeated gold medals in push hands, Taijiquan, and Taiji sword competition.

2×

National grand champion

He successfully defended the Grand Champion title in two consecutive National Taijiquan Competitions.

1995

Top Ten Martial Arts Master

He was selected as one of China’s “Top Ten Martial Arts Masters of the Present Day.”

40,000+

Students taught

The academy’s original biography records more than forty thousand students trained in China and abroad over several decades.

20+

Countries reached

Beginning in the 1980s, he taught and lectured throughout Asia, Europe, North America, and beyond.

9th

Duan certification

Certified at the ninth-duan level by the Chinese Wushu Association’s Duan Wei System.

Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei practicing outdoors among flying pigeons

Teacher to the world

Chen family Taijiquan beyond the village.

Foreign students began traveling to study with him in the early 1980s. From 1983 onward, he was invited to teach and lecture in the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and many other countries.

He has served as consultant, honorary chairman, president, and advisor to martial arts organizations around the world. His students have earned thousands of medals in provincial, national, and international competition.

Selected milestones

A lifetime of service to the art.

1986

Public service

Selected as a member of the standing committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

1988

National and institutional leadership

Selected as a Deputy to the National People’s Congress and appointed to leadership roles in Chen Village Taijiquan education and research.

1994

International recognition

Elected as an International Taijiquan Grandmaster.

1995

One of China’s Top Ten

Named one of the “Top Ten Martial Arts Masters of the Present Day” in China.

Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei with members of Master Chen Huixian's family

Master Chen Huixian’s shifu

Family, teacher, and grandmaster.

Master Chen Huixian is Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei’s niece. After her father, Grandmaster Chen Chunlei, passed away in 1998, Chen Zhenglei assumed responsibility for continuing her Taijiquan training.

Following five years of intensive study, she became his formal disciple in 2003 and entered a deeper phase of training in martial theory, teaching methods, and combat application. In 2011, he honored her as one of his senior “In-Chamber” disciples, the highest level of formal discipleship in this tradition.

Kansas City Chen Taijiquan is proud to represent Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei’s lineage and traditional Chen family Taijiquan in Kansas City, throughout the United States, and online.

Read Master Chen Huixian’s biography

Kansas City, 2013

A lineage made visible through community.

Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei’s teaching is carried forward not only through forms and techniques, but through the students, families, and communities gathered around the art.

Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei with Master Chen Huixian and Kansas City Taijiquan students in 2013
Grandmaster Chen Zhenglei, Master Chen Huixian, and students during the 2013 Kansas City visit.

Continue the tradition.

Study authentic Chen family Taijiquan through Master Chen Huixian and the teachers of Kansas City Chen Taijiquan.

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