The new Tai Chi style he created was integrated by Chen Wangting from the existing family style with martial theories from the 36 postures described by General Qi Jiguang in the Chuan Ching section of his Military handbook and ideas from Jiang Fa – a skilled martial artist/prisoner/friend of Chen Wangting – into five routines of Tai Chi Chuan, plus 108 form Long Fist and Cannon Fist form.
So from Yang Luchan to modern day global Yang style we have seen a complete conversion in the space of around 200 years.
There have been many Yang style spin-offs over time – one well known being that of Chen Man Ching who initially trained under Yang Chen Fu and then went to the USA where his form has become very popular for it’s softness.
Wu style derives from Quan You a leading student of Yang Luchan and his son Yang Pan Hou – the Wu family style originating from Quan You’s son Wu Jianquan.
Wu style derives from Wu Yu Xiang who also studied with Yang Luchan for many years and then in the Chen village for 3 months under Chen Ching-ping.
His family style was derived from this experience and is often referred to as Hao style after the Hao Wei Zhen – the second generation successor.
The first generation successor Li I-yu also went on to form his own style now differentiated as Li style.
Hao Wei Zhen went on to meet and pass on his Tai Chi to Sun Lu-tang – an experienced practitioner of Xingyi and many other martial styles.
Sun Lu Tang was known as a proficient fighter who went on to produce his own Sun style of Tai Chi.
The University training is often quite akin to gymnastics/acrobatics with students learning first a number of “Hard” Kung Fu styles and then Xingi, Bagua and Tai Chi.
Emigrant teachers include people like Chu King-hung who came to London from Hong Kong to teach Yang style in the Yang Chen Fu tradition and Chen Xiaowang 19th generation head of the Chen family who now travels around the world as ambassador for Chen style.
In recent years perhaps the most significant development however has been the dramatic growth of the oldest style of all – Chen style – resulting from the efforts of Chen Xiaowang and the three others of the quartet referred to as the “Four Buddha Warrior Attendants” from the Chen village i.e. Chen Zhenglei, Wang Xian and Zhu Tiancai.
Having so long nurtured the traditional martial root of Tai Chi Chuan these Chen village teachers are giving us the opportunity to return to that root and fully appreciate the value of a style that being true to its core values still contains a full and balanced martial synthesis.
On reflection we can see the history of Tai Chi as a historical “Way” or “Path” of development over time in the association of ideas derived from the early natural sciences and philosophical thinking with health/medical practices, coming together with the practical fighting styles – a cross linking perhaps fuelled by the needs of injured warriors to repair and of healthy ones to strengthen their bodies and to enhance their abilities.
These practical ideas synthesised by a relatively few individuals, over quite a short period of time, went beyond the straightforward external fighting styles into something more complex and sophisticated – perhaps because many martial people were/are also intelligent thinkers.
Perhaps because we can observe a historically common path from warrior to healer, the fighting style and the contributing health/philosophical etc practices continue to be intimately intertwined, indeed it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between them.
Like Chen Wangting, Ji Long Feng also lived in the early 1600s and his style shares some ideas, such as the six harmonies and chi concepts and clearly came out of the same social/philosophical milieu, but followed a structure based much more on animalistic characteristics and traditional martial ideas around the expression of power.
Xingyi too has gone through lineage diversification of styles as it has spread geographically although it is probably true to say that like the style itself it has been more linear in adhering to a strictly martial tradition.
The Taoist input is most obviously noticeable in the circle walking based on the meditation practice of the Taoist Quan Zhen sect, which is characteristic of Baguazhang and the use of the 8 Trigram Bagua from the I-Ching as an intellectual structural concept for the style – thus defining the mental intent of the training.
Yiquan – the forth and most recent internal style comes out of the Xing Yi Quan lineage from its creator Wang Xiangzhai who trained in Xing Yi Quan and spent many years researching martial arts.
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