Research dossier • checked 13 September 2026 • subject: Yang-style Taijiquan teacher and author
William Chi-Cheng Chen, also represented as Chen Zhicheng / Chén Zhìchéng (陳至誠 / 陈至诚), is a Chinese-American martial artist associated with Yang-style Taijiquan. The German National Library authority record lists William C. C. Chen / William Chi Cheng Chen, life dates 1933–, activity in New York, and the subject T'ai Chi Ch'uan.
German National Library authority record · Wikidata Q8006268
| Language/project | Result | Link |
|---|---|---|
| English | Standalone article. It is short and classified as a martial-arts biographical stub; it cites the official site, an archived interview, and one 1985 book. | English Wikipedia |
| German | Standalone article, substantially longer. It covers biography, teaching system, Three Nails, publications, and German-language references. | German Wikipedia |
| Period | What the sources report |
|---|---|
| 1933 or 1935 | Born in Wenzhou/Zhejiang, China. The 1933 date appears in Wikipedia, Wikidata, and the German National Library; the archived official autobiography and a 2009 German journal PDF use 1935. |
| Post-WWII / late 1940s | Family moved from mainland China to Taiwan. He began studying with Professor Cheng Man-ching, described in interviews as a childhood friend of his father. |
| Early 1950s | Started teaching in Taiwan; sources describe him as a live-in student/assistant and translator for Cheng Man-ching. |
| 1958 | Sources consistently place a Taiwan competition result here, but disagree on whether he won the lightweight division or placed second. |
| 1962–1965 | Studied at the University of Hawaii, taught in Honolulu, then established his New York City school in 1965. |
| 1990s–2000s | Received multiple martial-arts/lifetime-achievement recognitions and appeared in martial-arts media, according to the official awards archive. |
| 2023–2025 | Official site promoted Brain Aerobics of Tai Chi Chuan; in April 2025 it documented his attendance at a Taiwan memorial for Cheng Man-ching. |
His public teaching identity centers on body mechanics, relaxed continuous movement, practical self-defense, Push Hands/Tui Shou, San Shou, sword work, and the "Three Nails" rooting concept. Interviews describe his approach as intentionally practical rather than mystical, while his health and neurophysiology explanations should be treated as his teaching claims, not automatically as clinical evidence.
Public biographical pages also identify a family teaching/competition connection: wife Priscilla, daughter Tiffany Chen, and son Maximillion Chen. These details are reported in the Taiji Forum biography and German Wikipedia, rather than independently documented here.
Google Books record · 2009 journal PDF
The official website is active and currently advertises limited private in-person sessions while saying no regular in-person classes or online classes are scheduled. Its Germany directory lists certified instructors in multiple German cities. The site also documented Chen's April 2025 Taiwan visit.
Translation of the German Wikipedia article (last edited 22 August 2024), which is substantially longer than the English stub. Original text licensed CC BY-SA.
William C. C. Chen (Chinese 陳至誠/陈至诚, Pinyin Chén Zhìchéng, Wade-Giles Ch'en Chih Ch'eng; * 1933 — an erroneous entry on his US ID card says 1935 — in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, China) is a master of the martial art Taijiquan. He was a master student of Zheng Manqing (Cheng Man-ching).
After the end of the Second World War, William C. C. Chen's family moved from the Chinese mainland to the island of Taiwan while the Communists brought China under their control. At the end of the 1940s, his father took William along to introduce him to his childhood friend, Professor Zheng. When Zheng Manqing asked whether William C. C. Chen wanted to learn Taijiquan, he answered "Yes" — and thus became the professor's youngest student.
During the 1950s, William C. C. Chen became Zheng Manqing's assistant in his inner work, which aimed at neutralizing a punch in one's sleep. From early morning until late at night he accompanied Zheng Manqing, gaining a precise insight into Zheng's way of life, his teaching, and his fighting abilities.
In 1953 William C. C. Chen began teaching Taijiquan. He was very successful in Tuishou (Push Hands), so that it was hard for his classmates and other Taiji players — who came to the professor's house every Sunday for this training — to defeat him. From 1954 he also took part in martial arts tournaments. In 1958 he won 2nd place in the lightweight division at the "Taiwan State Olympics Competition," which later brought him great recognition in Singapore and Malaysia.
In 1962 William C. C. Chen enrolled at the University of Hawaii. Just two weeks later he was chosen to teach the Honolulu T'ai Chi Ch'uan Association. In 1965 he opened his own school in New York City. Even at nearly 80 years of age he continued to give workshops in the USA and Europe — including Germany.
In 1969 William C. C. Chen married his wife Priscilla. Together they have two children: daughter Tiffany and son Maximillian. Both children are very successful in martial arts tournaments.
"Master Chen's teaching includes form training, application instruction, Push Hands (Tui Shou) and boxing training (San Shou), as well as learning and practicing the sword form with its application aspects and free sword fighting." The concepts of his training are clearly oriented toward the applicability of Taijiquan. Body mechanics, body coordination, and the flow of energy are at the center of his attention. He dedicated his book Body Mechanics of Tai Chi Chuan to the topic of body mechanics, in which he explains "the secrets of seemingly effortless, inexhaustible energy."
To learn the sequence of the form and to be able to perform the movements of Taijiquan effortlessly and suddenly — slowly or quickly — Master Chen has his students imprint the individual postures (images) into their consciousness as a memory photograph. This memory photograph is meant to flow into movement from a physically and mentally relaxed state. "In this way, ultimately every posture becomes a reflection of the mind."
The origin of movement and its energies lies in the feet:
"As Zhang Sanfeng puts it: 'In every movement the whole body should be light and agile, as if all its parts were strung together like coins on a thread. Qi (vital energy) should be kindled like a fire. Shen (spirit) should be gathered within... Jin (energy) is rooted in the feet, flows through the legs, is controlled by the hips, and acts through the fingers. From the feet to the legs, from the legs to the hips, everything should move as one unit...'"
— Zhang Sanfeng 張三豐: The Taijiquan Lun according to Zhang Sanfeng — "The theory of Taijiquan according to Zhang Sanfeng"
The feet, as the place of rooting and the starting point of energy, play a special role for William C. C. Chen. For this he developed the image of the three nails, which grip into the ground. "This creates a rooting, a kind of fixed point. Each of the three nails additionally has a different sphere of function: the big toe acts like a rudder and gives direction, the ball of the foot is the most important point for unfolding inner energy, and the heel secures the structure and controls the accuracy of the application of energy."
The position of the hands is also of decisive importance in Master Chen's style. Between postures, until shortly before the "wake up," the hand is held relaxed and natural, but not limp, in a curve. When assuming the posture ("wake up"), the hands open slightly without being stretched. This technique has the function of a pump, letting energy flow into the hand — specifically to the Laogong point.
Authority records: GND 1122599463 · LCCN no93016205 · VIAF 56182955