Editing Cheng Man-ch'ing (section)

== Legacy ==

Cheng Man-ch'ing left a legacy mainly in two areas: art and tai chi. In the arts, though he retired in his thirties from teaching, he remained an actively exhibiting artist his whole life, with frequent exhibitions in Taiwan both solo and with his group "Seven Friends of Painting" and solo shows in the United States. After his death, the [[National Palace Museum]] in Taiwan held a retrospective exhibit of his works. These were published in <cite>Special Exhibition of Painting and Calligraphic Works by Zheng Manqing</cite> in 1982. A retrospective exhibit "Zheng Manqing Calligraphy and Painting" was held in his hometown of Wenzhou (Yongjia) in 2017. 

Cheng Man-ch'ing's tai chi legacy includes many hundreds of schools around the world that follow his lineage. In Taiwan, a number of his direct students still teach, and the Shih Chung school in Taiwan still operates. [[Huang Sheng Shyan]] (Huang Xingxian), one of Cheng's most accomplished disciples, established over 40 schools in South East Asia, through which Cheng's tai chi has continued to reach over 10,000 practitioners. Grandmaster William C. C. Chen continues to teach in New York City.<ref>Patrick A Kelly (2004). Relax, deep mind: Taiji basics. {{ISBN|978-0-476-00425-2}}. Training manual in the Taiji system of Huang Xingxian (p.16).</ref><ref>Patrick A Kelly (2007). Infinite Dao. {{ISBN|978-0-473-13049-7}}. A record of 20 years training with Huang Xingxian (p.77).</ref>

A little-appreciated dimension of Cheng's legacy was his willingness to teach non-Chinese students. While he was not the first Chinese martial artist to do this in America, his warm embrace of Westerners, who ran the gamut from experienced fighters to long-haired hippies of the day, proved controversial with the Chinese Association that had initially sponsored his move to New York. At one point, when Cheng was out of the country, the Association members locked the Western students out of the Canal Street school. Informed of this, Cheng instructed Ed Young to find a new location. Upon his return to New York, Cheng taught at the new location, 87 Bowery, sending an unmistakable message of inclusiveness and rejecting the insularity that was traditional in the Chinese martial arts community.

In New York City, among Cheng's senior students, [[Ed Young (illustrator)|Ed Young]] died September 29, 2023 (aged 91). While Prof. Cheng was teaching in New York, he asked Fred Lehrman to help initiate schools in Milwaukee WI, Minneapolis MN, Gainesville FL, Boulder CO, and Halifax, Nova Scotia. Among these, the ones in Milwaukee and at Naropa Institute in Boulder have continued into the new millennium. The official program at [[Naropa_University|Naropa Institute]] was initially created by Judyth O. Weaver with the permission of [[Chögyam Trungpa]] in 1974. It had over 500 students in the first Tai Chi summer session. From 1975 it included several of the main Shih Jung teachers, including Lehrman, Tam Gibbs, Maggie Newman, Ed Young, and Wolfe Lowenthal as visiting instructors over the next period of years, in addition to resident teachers Jane and Bataan Faigao from 1977.<ref>Naropa Institute course catalogs.</ref> The Faigaos also established Rocky Mountain T'ai Chi Ch'uan in Boulder. The New York School of Tai Chi Chuan, later the T'ai Chi Foundation, was founded by Patrick Watson at the request of Prof. Cheng.<ref name="New York School of Tai Chi Chuan 2018">{{cite web |title=About The New York School of Tai Chi Chuan - New York School of T'ai Chi Chuan |website=New York School of T'ai Chi Chuan |date=2018-03-05 |url=https://www.taichichuan.org/about-the-new-york-school-of-tai-chi-chuan/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021183113/https://www.taichichuan.org/about-the-new-york-school-of-tai-chi-chuan/ |archive-date=2020-10-21 |url-status=dead}}</ref> William C. Phillips operates Patience T'ai Chi Association in Brooklyn, NY. [[Don Ahn]] founded the Ahn T'ai Chi Studio and taught thousands of students form and [[Taoism|Taoist]] techniques. Carol Yamasaki taught hundreds of students in the Detroit area including at the Birmingham Unitarian Church designed by her architect father, Minoru Yamasaki.

Cheng's students carried on his tradition of writing about tai chi, creating tai chi study material, and documenting his teaching. A feature film ''The Professor: Tai Chi's Journey West'' documents his years in New York City.