Cheng Tin Hung

Who was Cheng Tin Hung?

Cheng Tin Hung or Zheng Tianxiong was an influential taijiquan master and the founder of "Wudang taijiquan". He was based in Hong Kong, China, and sometimes attracted controversy for his attitude and approach to the teaching and practice of his martial art. Also known as the "Tai Chi Bodyguard" for his enthusiastic defence of Taijiquan as a martial art, he took part in full contact competitions as a young man and also trained some of his students to do the same during the 1960s, '70s and '80s.

Though closely associated with the Wu school of taijiquan, he founded a separate organisation called the Hong Kong Tai Chi Association which is now run by his son Cheng Kam Yan.

Cheng Tin Hung produced a series of books and VCDs on the subject of Taijiquan and was also involved in the production of the 1974 Hong Kong movie called The Shadow Boxer. He appears in the opening scenes and some of his techniques were also used within the fight scenes of the movie proper.

During the 1980s, Cheng Tin Hung travelled to the UK to promote Taijiquan with one of his students Dan Docherty, and also produced a joint publication with him called Wutan Tai Chi Chuan.