Master of Five Excellences

Master of Five Excellences is a wonderful book for anyone who wishes to learn more about the tai chi master Cheng Man-ch'ing. Cheng has always been an interesting figure to me, for his skill in tai chi, as well as for his skills as an artist and scholar. Hennessy's translation is smooth and easy to read. It gives readers a taste of Cheng's abilities in poetry, painting, calligraphy, tai chi and medicine. The work also includes color prints of some of Cheng's paintings as well as reproductions of his calligraphy. Perhaps most interestingly for me, as someone who has worked to mesh my academic studies with my practice of tai chi, it shows how Cheng incorporated all of his arts into a coherent world view.