In the course of the last two centuries the Chinese martial art of taijiquan has emerged from the villages of Northern China to spread across the world and during this journey it has undergone a major transformation. What was originally an efficient form of armed and unarmed combat and personal protection, has become known primarily as a health-enhancing form of gentle exercise, stress relief and meditation in motion (all of which it indeed the art is, and all of which are a vitally important part of the taijiquan taught in Zhong Ding International). The reasons for this process mainly relate to social and cultural changes as well as the introduction of firearms as a more “efficient” and easily learnt means of self-protection. It suffices to say that for various reasons many of the fighting skills, if not  lost, certainly have remained hidden and only a few lineages are actively involved in passing on the art in its martial entirety. One such lineage which remains an effective and powerful martial art, when taught and learnt correctly, is  the Zhengzi Taijiquan taught in Southeast Asia

          Ironically enough this lineage is one that in the West is often regarded as being about as far removed from a martial art as possible, that of Master Zheng Manqing. Nigel and Fong Sutton learnt these skills in the Southeast Asian region which the Chinese refer to as Nanyang, the Southern Ocean, in the countries now known as Singapore and Malaysia. The Chinese have settled in this region for centuries and with them they have  brought their culture, customs and their martial arts. At the same time, they also brought with them the clan wars and dialect group rivalries and feuds of southern China; and in order to defend themselves against each other, they also imported Masters of the systems native to their regions. Thus in these minority communities the martial arts thrived as very real and necessary skills. It was into this atmosphere, in the middle of the twentieth century, that Zheng Manqing taijiquan arrived in Malaysia and Singapore, initially taught by two of Zheng Manqing’s disciples, Masters Ye Shuting and Huang Xingxian. Around the same time the founder himself Master Zheng Manqing  visited for a short period of time as did another of his students Master Chen Zichen (William CC Chen). Later visits  were made by other of his disciples including Master Ong Ziquan. Ye Shuting settled in Penang in North Malaysia and by his own example created a fighting dynasty, one that has been inherited and carried on under the mantle of Zhong Ding International.

Much of the information presented on this website is received from the  practical advice and teaching  of  Grandmaster Zheng Manqing and his disciples Masters Ong and Ye as well as their disciples, all martial artists who have “been there and done it”. In the days when they were establishing their art in the region, even opening a class often involved fighting experts from other arts to physically prove the efficacy of their skills. This they did.