About Henry Wong | Gene Chen's T'ai Chi Ch'uan

A Living Transmission

Henry Wong is a San Francisco teacher of Chen-family T'ai Chi Ch'uan (Taijiquan) and a disciple of the late Gene Chen. According to Henry's own account, he became Gene's second disciple. He has continued cultivating, preserving, and teaching the uncommon method he received from his teacher.

Archival T'ai Chi training photograph — Archival training photograph, courtesy of Henry Wong.

Henry's training centers on the Yi Lu, the first road of Chen-family Taijiquan. Rather than treating the form as a sequence of isolated postures, he teaches it as a connected method for transforming how the whole body moves. Warm-up exercises and repeated attention to a single set build gong—developed skill—into the body over time.

Training with Gene Chen

Gene taught a distinctive form informed by his studies with several members of Chen Fake's family and teaching circle in China, together with Gene's earlier experience in Yang- and Wu-style Taijiquan. Henry preserves the form as a living practice: not only its visible choreography, but also its timing, continuity, spiraling, rooting, and whole-body organization.

In 2000, Henry traveled with fellow Gene Chen student Marin Spivack to study with Feng Zhiqiang in China. Feng had been one of Gene's most important teachers, and the visit gave Henry direct contact with a major source of Gene's later Chen-family training.

Qualities Henry Emphasizes

In Henry's own teaching language, the set develops:

turning the entire body into a breathing machine
ensuring each move starts from the ground, utilizes the strength of a solid horse stance, and continues through the entire body
maintaining a smooth, continuous flow of energy from start to end

Whole-Body Practice

Henry's practice emphasizes the interaction of yin and yang within the body, three-dimensional spiral movement, and smooth connectedness from one action to the next. The body is trained as a linked unit: power originates in the legs, is controlled by the waist, and is expressed through the hands.

The method joins the traditional eight energies with five directions or methods of stepping. Health practice, internal development, and martial function are trained through the same underlying principles rather than treated as unrelated subjects.

Teaching in San Francisco

Henry teaches in a small group so that each student can receive individual correction. The class currently meets Sunday mornings at 10:00 a.m. in Golden Gate Park, near the footpath leading east from the Conservatory of Flowers.