I actually learned ruler from a Yang style Tai Chi Chuan master.
I am skeptical
that he got a full transmission. He did, however, claim that
grandmaster Chen Fake knew and taught ruler, bang and ball.
Certainly, the late Grandmaster Chen Qingzhou taught them as
well as bent bang. I have no idea (yet) if Grandmaster
Chen Qingzhou learned the tools from Grandmaster Chen
Zhaopi or someone else.
Master Jesse Tsao of San Diego
California wrote to say
that
Grandmaster Chen Fake did indeed teach tai chi bang (but not
ruler): it was based on
a gan-mian-zhang which
is
a wooden stick to make dumpling wraps (see below - the purple
disks featured in the rightmost image allow different
thicknesses of wraps to be made).
A legend I (Peter) heard was that around 1912 after the
birth of their second son, Chen
Zhaoxu (陈照旭), Chen
Fake (still living in the Chen Village) saw his wife making
wraps and realized that
instead of expending energy to make the wraps she was
actually gaining energy. There was apparently some concern
about her health as the second pregnancy and birth had both
been difficult. I've not seen much about the first-born son Chen
Zhào Guān (陈照冠), and
only know that he died young. I have not seen anything that
indicates that Chen Fake's wife received any training before
or during her marriage.
As far
as I can tell, Chen
Zhaopei (陈照丕;
1893–1972) did not teach bang or ruler when he
taught in Beijing in 1928 or later in Nanjing.
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