Tai Chi Yang Style

STORY OF ZHANG SAN FENG

According to popular folklore ; One day on Wudang mountain, Zhang San Feng, a Taoist priest, witnessed a fight between a snake and a crane. The crane attacked, stabbing at the snake, but the snake managed to evade.  The snake fought back with whip-like attacks of its own, and the crane deflected these attacks by fiercely spreading its wings.  It is believed that the legendary Chinese Taoist priest invented Tai Chi movements based on the event.

WHAT IS TAI CHI

Tai Chi is one of the best known martial arts of the internal systems from ancient China.  Based on QiGong and martial arts techniques from thousands of years ago.  Tai Chi is a cosmological term for the “Supreme Ultimate” state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potentiality, contrasted with the Wuji ( without ultimate / nothingness ).

Tai Chi adopted the philosophy of Yin Yang, an interplay of the opposite, to create balance.  Tai Chi is a series of movements based on offensive and defensive martial techniques, performed as a choreographed sequence set.  It is a slow deliberate movement, the steps are gracefully elegant with controlling balance, the upper body’s motion is circular and relaxed.

Once memorized, Tai Chi could be transformed into a moving meditation, the rewards are greatly received, like the equilibrium created,  tranquility achieved, building self-confidence and contentment.

Practicing Tai Chi involves a unique composition between mind, body, and spirit.  The brain informs the body on what to do and why in performing the movement according to the adopted principles.

The way they describe it in classics is the movement never stops… No independent movement. In other words, power originates in the feet, directed by the waist, manifests in hands, thus the Chi circulates in harmony surrounding you and the universe.

Tai Chi has finally been added to UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list in December 2020, 12 years after China first applied for recognition of the ancient martial art. 

Five major families in Tai Chi Styles that became known around the world ,and they are :

1. Chen family, founded by Chen Wan Ting
2. Yang family, founded by Yang Lu Chan
3. Wu family, founded by Wu Jian Quan
4. Wu/Hao family, founded by Wu Yu Xiang
5. Sun family, founded by Sun Lu Tang

ABOUT YANG FAMILY

Yang Lu Chan, as the founder of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan , has 2 sons , which are Yang Ban Hou and Yang Jian Hou, with grandsons Yang Shao Hou & Yang Cheng Fu. His great grandchildren are ; Yang Zhen Ming, Yang Zhen Ji, Yang Zhen Duo & Yang Zhen Guo. All have worked to continue the legacy of Yang Lu Chan.

Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Lineage :

1. Yang Lu Chan – 1st generation ( Old Frame )
2. Yang Jian Hou – 2nd generation ( Middle Frame )
3. Yang Cheng Fu – 3rd generation ( Large Frame ) , become standard practice
4. Yang Zhen Duo – 4th generation , promotes the family style into the world
5. Yang Jun – 5th generation ( 6th descendant on family tree ) , successfully continued his grandfather’s work to lead the association and spread around the globe.

Master Yang Jun is a 6th generation Yang family descendant, 5th generation successor of leading the family tai chi heritance. Born in Taiyuan, China, he grew up with his grandparents and watched his grandfather, Master Yang Zhen Duo, train students. He began training with his grandfather at age five. Later, he began assisting his grandfather at seminars in China. After graduating from Shanxi University in 1989 with a degree in physical education, he began traveling with his grandfather to help teach internationally.  At the 2009 symposium, Master Yang Zhenduo officially named Master Yang Jun the 5th generation direct-line inheritor of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan. He choreographed The Tai Chi Kung , beginners form and Tai Chi Essentials to fulfilled requirement for up dated competition.

ABOUT YANG STYLE ( 3 Sources )

1. Obviously Yang Style derived from the Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan, founded by Yang Lu Chan ( 1799 – 1872). In 1850. The Form that is practiced now is the Large Frame which is called the “Traditional 85, 103 , 108 Form” even though the counting is different but the movements are the same.  Yang Lu Chan was hired by the Imperial Family to teach his style to them and their Elite Manchu Imperial Guards Brigades Units in Beijing’s Forbidden City.  This was the beginning of the spread of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan , the family art of a small village in Hebei Province, Yongnian County , Central China to an International phenomenon.
2. Beijing Yang Style was formed in 1956, under sponsorship of the Chinese State Physical Culture & Sport Commision, further modifications has occurred including to compressed the Long Form into Simplified 24 Posture Form, used in public programs & public health promotion, making the Beijing Yang Style Simplified 24 Form the most promoted and known to public.
3. Cheng Man Ching , a student of Yang Cheng Fu ( 1930 ) created Yang Style Short Form of 37 Postures Form. He moved in 1964 from Taiwan to New York City, USA , became a professor in the university, teaching Chinese Arts.  Cheng Man Ching’s legacy includes many Tai Chi Schools around the world that follow his lineage.  The Professor passed away on March 26,1975.

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