Old Yang Style Taijiquan

Supreme Ultimate Fist/Boxing

Taijiquan (Tai Chi Ch’uan) is a martial art that was born during China’s turbulent warring past and was primarily taught for self-defence purposes. The name literally translates into “Supreme Ultimate Fist/Boxing”, and is pronounced in a variety of ways depending upon which Chinese transliteration method is used.
The history of Taiji is obscure and steeped in controversy, and can vary extensively depending upon which style is being followed. There are very few documents to hand and those that we do have are considerably difficult to authenticate, especially where their authorship is concerned. Most of the so- called history is based primarily on conjecture and oral traditions of the various family styles. The one thing we can say for certain is that it is the Yang family, who, first, placed the art on the world stage and it is with them that the modern history of Taijiquan also begins.
The name Taijiquan has its origins in the latter part of the 19th century. Prior to that, the system of Yang Lu-ch’an (Yang Fu-k’uei, 1799-1872) – founder of the Yang style – was simply known as Hao Ch’uan or “Loose Boxing”. Fu Zhongwen, the renowned disciple of Yang Cheng-fu, refers to the art of Yang Lu-ch’an as Zhan Mian Quan or “Cotton Boxing”. What we can clearly deduce here is that the Yang family, at least, did not refer to their art as Taijiquan until relatively modern times. The Form of Yang Lu Ch'an......