Yang-style tai chi
Yang style (楊氏) T'ai Chi Ch'uan in its many variations is the most popular and widely practised style in the world today and the second in terms of seniority among the primary five family styles of T'ai Chi.
The Yang family first became involved in the study of T'ai Chi in the early 1800s. The founder of the Yang style was Yang Lu-ch'an (楊露禪), aka Yang Fu-k'ui (楊福魁, 1799-1872), who studied under Ch'en Chang-hsing starting in 1820. Yang's subsequent expression of T'ai Chi as a teacher in his own right became known as the Yang style, and directly led to the development of the other three major styles of T'ai Chi (see below). Yang Lu-ch'an (and some would say the art of T'ai Chi Ch'üan in general) came to prominence as a result of his being hired by the Chinese Imperial family to teach T'ai Chi to the elite Palace Battalion of the Imperial Guards in 1850, a position he held until his death.
Yang Lu-ch'an passed his art to:
- his second son but oldest son to live to maturity, Yang Pan-hou (楊班侯, 1837-1890), who was also retained as a martial arts instructor by the Chinese Imperial family. Yang Pan-hou became the formal teacher of Wu Ch'uan-yü (Wu Quanyou), a Manchu Banner cavalry officer of the Palace Battalion, even though Yang Lu-ch'an was Wu Ch'uan-yü's first T'ai Chi Ch'uan teacher. Wu Ch'uan-yü's son, Wu Chien-ch'üan (Wu Jianquan), also a Banner officer, became known as the co-founder (along with his father) of the Wu style. Yang Pan-hou is also said to have taught a student named Wang Chiao-Yu. Wang taught Kuo Lien Ying. Kuo's method is called the Kuang P'ing (Guangping) style.
- his third son Yang Chien-hou (Jianhou) (1839-1917), who passed it to his sons, Yang Shao-hou (楊少侯, 1862-1930) and Yang Ch'eng-fu (楊澄甫, 1883-1936).
- Wu Yu-hsiang (Wu Yuxiang, 武禹襄, 1813-1880) who also developed his own Wu style, which eventually, after three generations, led to the development of Sun style T'ai Chi Ch'uan.
Yang Ch'eng-fu removed the vigorous Fa-jing (發勁 release of power), energetic jumping, heavy stepping, and other abrupt movements to emphasise Ta Chia (大架 large frame style). This style has slow, steady, expansive and soft movements suitable for general practitioners. Thus, Yang Ch'eng-fu is largely responsible for standardizing and popularizing the Yang style T'ai Chi widely practised today. Yang Ch'eng-fu moved to Shanghai in the 1920s, teaching there until the end of his life. His descendants are still teaching in schools associated with their family internationally.
Tung Ying-chieh (Dong Yingjie, 董英杰, 1898-1961), Ch'en Wei-ming (Chen Weiming), Fu Zhongwen (Fu Chung-wen, 1903-1994), Li Yaxuan (李雅轩, 1894-1976) and Cheng Man-ch'ing were famous students of Yang Ch'eng-fu. Each of them taught extensively, founding groups teaching T'ai Chi to this day. Cheng Man-ch'ing, perhaps the most famous outside of China, significantly shortened and simplified the traditional forms Yang taught him after his teacher's passing, supposedly to make them more accessible to larger numbers of students. Although Cheng's modifications are considered controversial by most other schools and are not recognized by the Yang family, Cheng Man-ch'ing was one of several Yang style masters to teach T'ai Chi Ch'üan in the West. Cheng Taught in New York City. He was predated by teachers in Hawaii and San Francisco. His most notable student was Liang Tsung-tsai who was his teaching assistant in Taiwan and later taught in Boston.
Other versions of Yang style come from the Yang Shao-hou and Yang Pan-hou lineages. Yang Shao-hou's student Hsiung Yang-ho taught in Taiwan. Hsiung's most famous students who taught in the United States were Liang Tsung-tsai (a.k.a. T.T. Laing) and Tchoung Ta-tchen. The Yang Pan-hou lineage terminates in the Wu Ch'ien Ch'uan style and the Kuang P'ing style. The Kuang P'ing style was taught in San Francisco in the mid 1960's by Kuo Lien Ying.
Yang Family Tree
LEGENDARY FIGURES | Zhang Sanfeng* circa 12th century NEI CHIA | Wang Zongyue* TAI CHI CHUAN | THE 5 MAJOR CLASSICAL FAMILY STYLES | Chen Wangting 1600-1680 9th generation Chen CHEN STYLE | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | Chen Changxing Chen Youben 1771-1853 14th generation Chen circa 1800s 14th generation Chen Chen Old Frame Chen New Frame | | Yang Lu-ch'an Chen Qingping 1799-1872 1795-1868 YANG STYLE Chen Small Frame, Zhao Bao Frame | | +---------------------------------+-----------------------------+ | | | | | Yang Pan-hou Yang Chien-hou Wu Yu-hsiang 1837-1892 1839-1917 1812-1880 Yang Small Frame | WU /HaoSTYLE | +-----------------+ | | | | | Wu Ch'uan-yü Yang Shao-hou Yang Ch'eng-fu Li I-yü 1834-1902 1862-1930 1883-1936 1832-1892 | Yang Small Frame Yang Big Frame | Wu Chien-ch'üan | Hao Wei-chen 1870-1942 Yang Shou-chung 1849-1920 WU STYLE 1910-1985 | 108 Form | | Sun Lu-t'ang Wu Kung-i 1861-1932 1900-1970 SUN STYLE | | Wu Ta-kuei Sun Hsing-i 1923-1970 1891-1929 MODERN FORMS from Yang Ch`eng-fu | | | +--------------+ | | Cheng Man-ch'ing | 1901-1975 | Short (37) Form | | Chinese Sports Commission 1956 Beijing 24 Form . . 1989 42 Competition Form (Wushu competition form combined from Sun, Wu, Chen, and Yang styles)
Notes to Family tree table
Names denoted by an asterisk are legendary or semilegendary figures in the lineage, which means their involvement in the lineage, while accepted by most of the major schools, isn't independently verifiable from known historical records.
The Cheng Man-ch'ing and Chinese Sports Commission short forms are said to be derived from Yang family forms, but neither are recognized as Yang family T'ai Chi Ch'üan by current Yang family teachers. The Chen, Yang and Wu families are now promoting their own shortened demonstration forms for competitive purposes.
Yang Shou-chung
Yang Shou-chung (aka Yeung Sau Chung, Yang Zhen-Ming, 1910-1985) was the oldest son of Yang Ch'eng-fu by his first marriage, and started learning his family style when he was 8 years old under the strict supervision of his father.
In 1949, he escaped from the Chinese communists to Hong Kong. There he taught many students privately at his home until his death in 1985.
He had three daughters, Tai Yee, Ma Lee and Yee Li, all continue teaching in Hong Kong. Over the years he had taught many people but he accepted only three people as his disciples. These Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan practioners are
- Master Ip Tai Tak (Yip Tai Tak, 1929-2004) in Hong Kong, who unfortunately died during the spring 2004. However the remaining students continue their practice of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Ip Tai Tak also has 2 disciples, 1st - John Ding 2nd Robert Boyd
- Master Chu Gin Soon in Boston, USA. With the permission of his master he founded the Gin Soon Tai Chi Club in 1969 to propagate Yang-Style Tai Chi Chuan in North America.
- Master Chu King Hung (*1945) in United Kingdom. Mr. Chu is head of the International Tai Chi Chuan Association (ITCCA) which was founded by him and Mr. Yang Shou Chung in 1971 and at present has branches all over Europe. He already has accepted several disciples.
Yang Zhenduo
Master Yang Zhenduo is the 4th Generation of the Yang Family. He was born in Beijing in 1926 and is the son of Yang Ch'eng-fu. He started studying with his father when very young and continued studying with his elder brother after his father died. In 1960 Yang Zhenduo moved to Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Since then, Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan has gradually spread within Taiyuan and to other cities, provinces, and countries.
Since 1980 he has served as Vice-President of the Shanxi Wushu Association. In 1982 Yang Zhenduo founded the Shanxi Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association, and has served as President since. The Association has now grown to over 30,000 members throughout the Province and is the largest martial arts organization of its kind in China. In October 1998 Yang Zhenduo founded the International Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association, serving as Chairman of the Board. Under his leadership, in just one year the International Association has grown to 18 centers in 9 countries with over 350 members. The Chinese WuShu Academy recognized Master Yang Zhenduo in 1996 as one of the top 100 WuShu Masters in China. He has also been honored by proclamations from the Mayors of San Antonio, Texas and Troy, Michigan.
Reference
- Wile, Douglas Lost T'ai-chi Classics from the late Ch'ing Dynasty State University of New York Press, Albany, 1996. ISBN 0-7914-2653-X