I have never been trained in Chen Taiji so I am not sure about the relation but I can say that they could be similar. Dragon Crane like Tai chi is an internal type of martial art, which stresses about chi and body coordiantion, internal fajin, Soft Vs Hard philosophy and etc. "The Five Great Cranes" are the five white crane styles Grand master Tong deemed the best out of many white crane styles in China. (of course that is just his own personal opinion) Different from the traditional white crane(short wing), these five styles are categorized as the "long wing crane", that the arms usually extend longer in combat and the power of strike usually results from the shoulder and the body rather than from the first two joints(wrist and elbow). The most important feature is that these five styles really stress on the coordination between breathing and movement, and the ultimate goal is to be able to master the unique "vibrational" fajin, which is different from the inch punch.