Chenjiagou Taiji Museum

On Saturday morning, my first day, the school was scheduled to give a demonstration in the park of the Taiji museum.  It appears that the various schools take-turns in this task to support tourism.

So we walked through town to the Tai-chi Museum.   The above photo shows 'main street' and the entrance to the wide street that runs east-west from the Main Street to the Chen ditch, where the  entrance to the largest taichi-school and the Taiji museum are located.   The wide street now has impressive ornamental gates both ends.  

Above:  Looking west down 'wide street' from outside museum entrance, towards the ornamental gate opening onto Main Street.   The red pagoda-like structure is the largest Taiji school.

Above:  My teacher Chen Jun (in posture 'white ape presents fruit')

Below:  Entrance to Taiji Museum.

The Taiji Museum and Park seems to have been built fairly recently on former fields to the north of town, significantly expanding the former Chen family temple.

There is now an impressive new temple area with colonnades memorializing former and current Chen Taiji greats.

Including Chen Zhousen, the grandmaster of my school (fortunately still very much alive).

While we were there another stone memorial was being installed.

Further into the complex was a nice new temple which I intended to return to look-at but never found time.

And statue of Chen Wangting (1580–1660) the founder of Chen Taiji (wiki link)

Behind the temples is a lovely park, a big ying-yang sign and a large pagoda-like structure housing the Taiji Museum.

The museum is seems pretty informative (if you read chinese), and I intended to come back to have a closer look.    And there is a good view from the top of the museum  

This is looking south back toward the temples and the buildings of the large Taiji school buildings at the back-right

And this is looking west towards the newly-built stadium and the buildings of the large hotel-shopping complex, which is not yet occupied.

On the way out we visited the graves area next to the temple and paid respects to Chen Wanting.

In the street outside the museum there was a lot go work going-on developing the area for tourism.   New trees and paving of the street, electronic information screens, and 'upgrading' the facades of the buildings.    

I had wanted to visit the historic Chenjiagou village before it changed forever under tourism-related development, and it seems I was just in time (or which more in later posts).