Cheng Man-ch'ing's Literary Output

Professor Cheng Man-ch'ing had a love of reading, study, and writing that permeated everything he did. He was a college poetry instructor by his late teens, and as an artist, merged painting, poetry, and calligraphy into each of his works of art. He wrote poetry to mark occasions, to capture ideas and sentiments, and in honor of teachers, friends, and family. He wrote theoretical works about poetry, calligraphy, and painting, about medicine, and about tai chi ch'uan. Three compilations of his paintings were made, and he selected about five hundred poems for two volumes of his poetry. In his later years, Cheng distilled his thoughts on a number of Chinese classics: Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching (Daodejing), the Analects of Confucius, the I Ching (Yijing), the Book of Poetry, and others.

Cheng wrote "as many books as he was tall" —all told, about twenty books. Of these, the one with possibly the most impact was his Cheng-tzu's Thirteen Treatises on T'ai Chi Ch'uan (鄭子太極拳十三篇), a work of theory, philosophy, and application aimed at an experienced audience. Cheng had worked on the book in the 1940s; it was published in the 1950s in Taiwan. It has since been translated into a number of different languages. In addition, he wrote several other books, still widely available, on t'ai chi ch'uan aimed at beginners, two of them in English.

The I Ching--The Book of Changes

The I Ching or Book of Changes (Yijing) is one of China's most ancient books. It has served for over two thousand years as a source of inspiration for China and other cultures. It has been used in statecraft, philosophy, literature, history, fortunetelling, and as a book of wisdom. As part of the Confucian canon, the I Ching was memorized by youngsters as they prepared for the civil service exams.
Though the I Ching could be very cryptic, it was brought alive through the numerous interpreters and commentators, and came to form part of the foundation for all of Chinese culture. For scholars, it was typical to ponder the book for decades, and then, late in life, pen a commentary.
Cheng Man-ch'ing followed in this tradition. In the Taipei study that he called "Thatched Hut of No Regrets" (named for a line in the I Ching) Cheng wrote his last scholarly work, a commentary that drew from the writings of Lai Chih-te (來知德，Lai Zhide), a Ming dynasty scholar. Lai, whose book I-ching Lai chu t'u-chieh (易經來註圖解, Yijing Lai zhu tujie) has been in continuous print for over four hundred years, sought to break away from what had become orthodox teachings of the neo-Confucianists.

Cheng Man-ch'ing on the I Ching:
• I Ch'uan (易全，Yiquan, The Complete I). Selections translated in Cheng Man-ch'ing: Master of Five Excellences, pp.133–145 (tr. Mark Hennessy); and Cheng Man-ch'ing's Advanced T'ai-Chi Form Instructions: With Selected Writings on Meditation, the I Ching, Medicine, and the Arts, pp. 126–129 (tr. Douglas Wile).

Some books on the I Ching:
• The I Ching Richard Wilhelm (classic English translation, utilizes Song dynasty commentaries)
• The Zhouyi by Richard Rutt (translation built on earliest layer of text, analytical notes, historical and literary study)
• Fathoming the Cosmos and Ordering the World: The Yijing (I-Ching, or Classic of Changes) and its Evolution in China by Richard J. Smith (historical study) 2008
• Fortune-tellers & Philosophers: Divination in Traditional Chinese Society by Richard J. Smith (historical study)

New Book on Cheng Man-ch'ing

Douglas Wile's most recent contribution to study of Cheng Man-ch'ing, Zheng Manqing's Uncollected Writings on Taijiquan, Qigong and Health, with New Biographical Notes in addition to offering new, interesting translations of selected work of Cheng's and Cheng's students, draws on Wile's scholarly training by discussing such issues as the historical, geographical, and social influences on Cheng.
The taiji sections include eight essays by Cheng, and anecdotes by students. Translations of newspaper articles about Cheng give insight into how he was perceived in Taiwan.