Abstract: It is well known that Zheng Manqing 郑曼青 (1902-1975) was the first person who reduced the 128-posture Taijiquan he had learned from Yang Chengfu 杨澄甫 (1883-1936) down to 37 postures. He called this shortened form " Jianyi taijiquan 简易太极拳" or the "Simple and Easy Taijiquan." This paper is intended to discuss the theoretical foundations of Zheng's Taijiquan as a form of exercise for health and self-defense. My purpose is accomplished through a close reading of the relevant key points in the "Commentary on the Appended Statements" of the Yijing (Yijing xicizhuan 易经系辞传), traditionaly attributed to Confucius, 551-479 BCE, from which Zheng derived the idea of "simple and easy," his brilliant "Song of Substance and Function" ( Tiyong ge 体用歌) and Master Zheng's Thirteen Treatises on Taijiquan (Zhengzi taijiquan shisan pian 郑子太极拳十三篇), the Daoist philosophical classic Daode jing , and several important texts in the Daoist occult tradition of alchemy. Central to Zheng's theory is the cultivation of matter-energy ( qi 气) in the human body that can enhance both the physical health and the self-defense skills of a practitioner.
Shuen-Fu Lin (Thu,) studied this question.