"The long-awaited Tai Chi premiered first in our province, creating an effect no less powerful than the detonation of an atomic bomb. Countless adults and children have been utterly captivated by the clashing blades of its fight scenes and the unfathomable depth of its Tai Chi kung fu. Almost overnight, the streets and alleys across Henan have been filled with the song echoing everywhere: 'When hot blood is spent, turning to dust and earth...'"
"A middle school student contributed a piece to this newspaper, writing: 'Every day after class, there are 109 Prince Duans and 385 Yang Yugans circling and grappling on the playground, while the remaining 70-odd Chen Shaomeis throw pebbles.'"
"Tai Chi has been screening in our province for just one week, and attendance numbers have shattered all historical records. Cinemas across Zhengzhou are packed to capacity!"
"Two representatives from county-level film companies came to blows over priority screening rights for Tai Chi. The provincial company appeals for rational behavior, assuring that the allocation of film prints will be arranged equitably!"
"Sigh!"
During recess at a middle school in Zhengzhou, Liu Xiaowen—who usually never cared for newspapers—was reading one with rapt fascination. Then, for reasons unknown, he let out a heavy sigh.
"Xiaowen, let's go!"
"To the playground! Today I'm Yang Yugan! I've already mastered that move!"
His pal dashed over full of excitement, but Liu Xiaowen merely gave him a solemn, deep look and said, "Fatty, don't you think playing games like this is childish?"
"Didn't you have a blast playing it yesterday?"
"Yesterday was yesterday; today is different. I'm fourteen now—I'm not a little kid anymore! I thought about it all night, and I believe I've found the meaning of life..."
Liu Xiaowen's eyes shone brightly, deadly serious. "I'm going to learn martial arts!"
Hiss!
His friend sucked in a sharp breath as if he'd choked on spicy soup, and asked, "Where are you going to learn martial arts?"
"Chenjiagou, of course! Chenjiagou is in Wen County—didn't you know?"
As he spoke, Liu Xiaowen grew cautious. Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a crude hand-drawn map and said, "Look, I traced this from the atlas at home. Wen County isn't far from Zhengzhou; you can get there by bus, and the ticket is only two yuan, forty-three fen!"
"Do you have money?"
"I saved one yuan from my New Year's money, and I'll take two yuan from home. That's enough for the ticket and some food."
"Bu-but... where are you going to stay once you get there?"
"I'm going there to apprentice myself to a master! Once the master accepts me, I'll naturally live at his place, and meals will be taken care of. I heard you have to be an apprentice for three years first, doing chores for the master, and only then will he teach you kung fu. Three years later, I'll be seventeen, right in the prime of my youth and strength. Then another three years of training, and at twenty, I'll venture into the martial world as a grandmaster of my generation!"
His buddy grew excited just listening to this, but then asked, "But Chenjiagou doesn't teach outsiders with different surnames. Will they take you?"
"Then I'll do what Yang Yugan did! I'll live outside the village, build a shack, or dig a cellar pit. I've got two hands and two feet—am I going to starve to death? I'm just asking you one thing: are you coming or not?"
"Uh..."
His buddy hesitated, but then steeled his heart and gritted his teeth. "I'm going! I want to be a master too!"
"Good brother!"
Liu Xiaowen gripped his hand tightly, saying with excitement, "How about we become sworn brothers right now? We don't ask to be born on the same day of the same month of the same year, but we swear to die on the same day of the same month of the same year!"
"All right, all right! You're two months older than me, so you're Big Brother!" His friend was equally thrilled.
"Second Brother!"
"Big Brother!"
...
"Two middle school students in our city, obsessed with Tai Chi, committed an absurd act: taking money and grain coupons from their homes, they ran away together, leaving behind a letter declaring their intention to become martial arts masters.
Fortunately, their parents discovered the situation in time and intercepted them at the passenger bus station.
We hereby remind our readers that Tai Chi is merely an entertaining martial arts film and differs greatly from reality. Please do not take it too seriously!"
The appearance of the mainland's first genuine martial arts film had an unimaginable impact on ordinary people. From grown adults down to small children, it planted seeds of dreams of the martial world in their hearts, igniting the nation's passion and longing for wuxia.
In those days, running away from home was practically a trend.
Back then, who knew how many people watched The Shaolin Temple and ran off to Mount Song to learn kung fu? Most were intercepted halfway, but some slipped through, and a few even had their families' blessing—one of whom was Wang Baoqiang.
Of course, Wang Baoqiang wasn't even born yet, and The Shaolin Temple had been usurped by Tai Chi.
Chenjiagou in Wen County, Henan, became a pilgrimage site that young people yearned for. Children might have had a hard time running away, but adults certainly could. Especially locals in Henan who lived nearby—they simply grabbed a bag and set off.
...
Chenjiagou was located in Zhaobao Town, Wen County, Jiaozuo.
Nearby stood a mountain called Qingfeng Ridge. A deep gully ran north to south through the village. Because the Chen clan flourished here, it was named Chenjiagou—Chen Family Ditch—though other surnames lived here as well.
In later generations, a 4A-rated tourist scenic area themed around Tai Chi would be built here, but right now there was nothing of the sort. It was just an ordinary, impoverished village, where people drank sweet potato leaf soup and ate coarse steamed cornbread made of bran flour and wild greens.
Chen-style Tai Chi had an authentic lineage; there was no question about that.
During the great famine of 1942, almost all of Chenjiagou's four thousand-plus residents fled to survive. After Liberation, they gradually trickled back to their hometown, but among those who returned, very few still knew Tai Chi.
At the time, there was a man named Chen Zhaopi, born in 1893. When Nanjing fell, he had taught broadsword techniques in the local anti-Japanese force led by Fan Tinglan. After Liberation, he held a government post, but in order to pass down the martial art, he took early retirement and returned to the village.
He selected four children, who became the "Four Diamond Guardians" of Chen-style Tai Chi. They were all real historical figures, so their names won't be listed here. Suffice it to say that the son of one of those Guardians, named Wang Zhanhai, was close friends with Jack Ma, and together they opened a company dedicated to promoting Tai Chi.
Led by Jack Ma, tycoons like Guo Guangchang and Liu Chuanzhi took up practice as well. Whenever they had free time, a bunch of corporate moguls would don white Tai Chi uniforms and perform Cloud Hands for health and wellness...
In later generations, Chen-style Tai Chi would become heavily commercialized too, fifty paces to Shaolin Temple's hundred.
Right now, however, it was genuinely dirt-poor, though great efforts had been made to keep the martial art alive. For instance, to encourage people to practice, training was once tied directly to work points; villagers rushed over to practice punches just to earn work points.
The uproar in the outside world hadn't disturbed this quiet little village in the least.
Chenjiagou aside, even the cinemas in Wen County hadn't screened Tai Chi yet. But Jiaozuo already had, and that had stirred up a massive commotion.
It was just an ordinary day. The young and able-bodied had gone to work the fields, while the elderly sat by their doorsteps weaving bamboo baskets, stitching shoe soles, and gossiping about everyday life—this was the true face of the vast rural countryside in the 1980s. The life Chen Qi lived in Beijing was already a world away from this reality.
All of a sudden, two young men in their twenties entered from the village entrance, travel-stained and carrying large backpacks.
They looked around as they approached, and then, with two loud thuds, dropped to their knees and began kowtowing without a word.
"Good grief! What on earth are you doing?!"
"What are they saying? What did they say?"
"Apprentice... apprentice to whom? To learn Tai Chi?!"
The old folk jumped up in fright, exchanging bewildered glances. The villagers had only just picked Tai Chi back up; why were outsiders running here to learn it? How did they even know?
Right as they were caught in suspicion and confusion, a rumbling engine roared. A rare jeep raced along the dirt road, trailing a cloud of dust. Entering the village, it pulled up right in front of them. The doors swung open, and several men stepped out.
"Good grief!"
"What's going on now?!"
"The city... city leaders?!!"
To say nothing of the old folks' bewilderment, the city leaders looked over the dilapidated village as if in a dream. They had been minding their own business when a meat pie suddenly dropped right out of the sky!
They might not have had the modern experience of manufacturing political achievements, but as officials, they possessed sharp political instincts. They knew this was an immense windfall dropped right into their laps!
Chapter 186