Tai Chi History and Development

To follow along in this section it is recommended that you obtain the following videos for your research- Chen, Xiao wang's Chen Style Tai-Chi.  China's Living Treasures Volume One. A Taste of China Friendship Demonstration for 2000. Ben Lo's 1991 Simplified Tai Chi Chaun, and The film transfer videos of Cheng, Man-ching produced by the Shr Jung school and distributed by Jo San.

In the 1600's the Chen family developed a martial art which combined Hsing-I Chuan and Red Hand Shaolin with Wudang chi kung. They were known as the "Cannon fist Chens" and produced several generations of professional martial artists. They used a rooted connection to the ground combined with a loose, relaxed upper body to develop tremendous power. If you look at video of Chen, Xiao wang demonstrating both the old frame and the Cannon Fist forms you can clearly see the link to much older Shaolin forms such as Long Fist and Cannon Fist.

The Chen family also passed down the soft close quarter drills that predate all modern push hands systems. Today some researchers feel Chen style is a mixture of hard and soft and represents a bridge between Shaolin and modern Tai Chi styles. 

Yang, Lu Shan d1799-1872, T'ai-chi Chuan, arrived in Peking around 1850 to take the job of instructing at the Imperial Court, both to the princes and to the palace guard. He had spent at least 18 years [perhaps as many as 40] as a servant in the Chen family village before returning home and teaching Wu, Yu-shiang and his brother in Yung Nien [both Yang and Wu's home village] for five years. Wu arranged for Yang to get the job at the Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City. What he taught did not resemble the Chen except in a few basic postures and in any event seems to be more than a mere modification and more of a breakthrough. Little is understood about Lu shan's breakthrough other than the basic history, which is that he went to Peking and took the highest martial arts position there and became known as "Yang the Invinsible." Yang style T'ai-Chi is the most widely practiced martial art in the world today. Yang was a famous for his weapons skills as he was for his extraordinary empty hand skills. He defeated the most famous spear expert of his day in match in front of the Emperor.

The Yang family developed their own system in the mid to late 1800's and it represents a leap forward to a true internal martial art that relies entirely on nonforce techniques. They were known as the "Cotton Fist" Yangs. Their art had a lot of content with three heights and four frames, fast, medium, and slow forms and weapons. Yang, Chen- fu, the grandson of the founder, taught each of his top students a different method and in this way passed on the art as taught by his father and uncle. Most of the other modern styles evolved from the Yang style.

In the Yang Family long form, or large gate tai chi, passed down from Yang Chen fu through his son Yang, Zhen dou -  the back knee straightens, the lead knee is pushed forward and the arms extend. There are a lot of videos of Yang, Zhen Dou but I am referring to A Taste of China Friendship Demonstration for 2000.

In the video China's Living Treasures Volume One Fu, Zhong wen who was Yang Chen fu's nephew and studied with him for twenty years, performs his version of the Yang form. He demonstrates deep sinking and beautiful form while doing Grasp the Sparrow's Tail. He also demonstrates the soft jin while doing push hands with his son. He is in his eighties here and he still demonstrates true kung-fu in his postures.

The Yang short form was taught and popularized by Cheng, man-ching, pin yin Zheng, Man- jing. The short form is not just the long form edited. It is a different method. The postures are rounded, the knees stay bent and the stance is wider. The arms are much less extended and much softer. Look at Ben Lo doing Grasp Sparrow's tale. Ben's 1991 Simplified Tai Chi Chaun instructional tape is the best example even though there are a lot of other tapes of Ben doing the first section of the form floating around. Ben did a lot to popularize Cheng Man Ching's Tai Chi in America. Cheng, Man Ching could neutralize on a point. He was smooth and sticky and his peng jin was almost invisible.

One of his top students was Hwang, sheng sian who left Taiwan and taught in Singapore. There is video of him taken during a visit by Ben Lo's push hands team in 1983 but is not commercially available. His point of application was on a circle and he often demonstrated push hands sitting in a chair. His arms were so soft and his root was so deep he didn't seem to take a stance when he is standing either. His peng jin is different than Jung's, reflecting his different level of achievement, and his push with his elbows sinking seems like a mere gesture with his hands and they are propelled back. He is similar to his classmates William C.C. Chen and Tao, Ping Sheng where he stays in his front leg and uses a small stance with his knees hardly bending.

Tung, Ying Chieh-pin yin Dong, Ying Jue originally studied Wu,Yu Hsiang style and then studied with Yang, Chen fu. Tung developed with Yang, Chen fu's help, a pair of fast Tai Chi sets based on small gate Yang style. There is one of those Tung fast sets performed on tape by Dan Lee at at A Taste of China Friendship Demonstration for 2000 and also on tapes by Alex Dong. You can see the small stances and the explosive circular movements as well as the changes in speed. There is also video of Tung, Fu Ling doing push hands in Hawaii that is available from Alex Dong. He clearly demonstrates nonforce technique using the postures and footwork from the fast set.    

Wu, YuHsiang lived from 1821 to 1880 and was one of Yang, Lu Shan's first students when Yang returned to his home village around 1845 and began teaching his unique art. Wu also studied small frame Chen with Chen, Qing Ping in 1852 at Zhao Bao Zhen. He studied with the two most knowledgeable masters of his generation and wrote down much of what he learned and created his own form. Today Master Chang teaches Chen Qing Ping's small gate Chen form in Maryland. A Taste of China Friendship Demonstration for 2000 has his demonstration of this extraordinary form.

Zhao Bhao style is a separate lineage from Chen family arts and was unseen until 1994. Traditional Zhaobao He (pronounced like "Jow-bow Her") style tai chi chuan was created by He Zhaoyuan, an eighth generation disciple of tai chi chuan in Zhaobao village, almost a hundred fifty years ago. Each movement of the form has a collection of large and small, flowing and reversed circular movements. Because of this characteristic, He Style is often called the circular fist form. The current grandmaster is Kei Cheong-Sau (Ji Chang-Xiu), originally from Xi'an and now in Hong Kong.

This unusual form claims a Wudang lineage and the way push hands is practiced on Wudangshan today looks a lot like Zhao Bao style. There is continuing disagreement as to whether Chen, Qing Ping created Zhao Bao style or studied it. He did marry a native of ZhaoBao and lived and taught there instead of at nearby Chen village.

The Wu, Yu Hsiang form is one of the rarest and the most unusual forms of tai-chi still practiced. In this form the arms are emptied and then moved by the chi. This was considered the highest form of tai chi and the most difficult to learn. Beyond this style of Tai chi lies formlessness. He, Yin Lu is the lineage holder of this style and teaches in Shanghai today. He demonstrates non-force techniques in push hands with his student on the video China's Living Treasures Volume One.

Wu, Yu Hsiang's art was also passed through Li, I Yu to Hao,Wei Chen, who lived from 1849- 1920. The characteristics of Hao style are slow and even, the stance is small and high and the fast set retains fa chin. The form has a very different flavor from the way the Wu, YuHsiang form is practiced today. Yao, Zhi Zu was the modern era master.

Hao later taught Sun,Lu tang,1861-1932 and it became part of Sun's style.[active step small form with elements of Pa Kua and Hsing-i.]

When looking at Sun style, notice the open/ close chi kung and the active stepping. This is a very long form that incorporates the silk reeling of Hsing-I, the stepping of Pa Kua in a small Yang tai ji frame. This type of Wu/Hao/Sun has more than a little resemblance to the other Wu form that we will see next. A shortened form has helped to popularize Sun style around the world by Dr. Paul Lam.

The Wuu style popularized by Wuu, Jian Chuan 1870-1942 is based on the Yang small frame taught to the Imperial Guards. This can be confirmed because Gong, tian ren, who was a student of Yang, Lu shan at the Imperial Court, taught a form that looked very similar. Wuu, Quan yu was one of the Imperial Guards who "obtained the knack" form Yang. The Yang and Wuu families were close, Wuu, Jian Chuan's son Wu, Kong Yi was sent to study with Yang, Shao Hou and as a result his form was a little different. Shao Hou was raised by Pan Hou and did small and medium frame Tai chi. There are newly available videos of Imperial Yang forms that show a direct connection to the Wuu style.

Again look at Master Ma, Yu Liang on the video China's Living Treasures Volume One.  demonstrating nonforce technique in Wu style push hands. Notice his small gate and deep root, his light touch and strong jin. His peng jin is nearly invisible but always present.

There have been many attempts since the 1930's to shorten each of the traditional forms and there have several "modified" or synthetic forms that mix elements of other arts into the sequence and perform the postures equally on left and right sides. The modern Wu shu forms, including but not exclusive to 24 step and 48 step forms are not traditional Tai Chi, the 24 step being created by committee in 1956.The forms are dry and empty with no root. Because of this lack of fundamentals in the form the push hands degenerates into pushing and shoving and wrestling, all of which is obvious force. Their center is somewhere in the chest with no ground force evident in the postures. This wrestling should not be mentioned in the same breath with the real thing.

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