Martial Arts Of The World - Webs

620 Taijiquan (Tai Chi Ch’uan)
(push-hands, a type of sparring using light touch and redirection of force,
developing greater efficiency and sensitivity). This type of sparring allows
the development of important fighting skills without injury; it may also be
applied to weapons, for example, “sticky” spear techniques. Chen Wangting’s
other contributions are the incorporation of qigong exercises (called
“silk reeling”), the use of spiraling movement, and the application of concepts
of traditional Chinese medicine.
Some recent scholars have suggested another source for taiji’s origin
besides Chen village: nearby Zhaobao village and the mysterious Jiang Fa
from Shanxi province, whose heyday was a quarter century before Chen
Wangting’s. There has been a further attempt to link Jiang Fa back to
Zhang Sanfeng. Whether Jiang Fa’s martial arts influenced Chen Wangting’s,
or Jiang Fa had a relationship dating back to the well-known Daoist,
most scholars agree that Wenxian County is the origin of the original routines
and training methods.
At the turn of the nineteenth century, a young man named Yang
Luchan went from his home of Yongnian, Hebei province, to Chen village
as a servant. There he learned taijiquan, and later returned home, where he
became known as “Yang the Invincible.” Several of his students include the
three Wu brothers, two of whom were local magistrates and scholars, Wu
Chengqing and Wu Ruqing, and one a superior martial artist, Wu Yuxiang.
All loved martial arts, and unlike Yang, were literate. Wu Yuxiang was
briefly a student of Yang, and then, because Yang held back teaching, he
went back to Chen village and Zhaobao village for training with Chen
Qingping.
Yongnian was a breeding ground for great martial artists, and this
was a turbulent time. The eldest Wu brother found a text in a salt shop, attributed
to Wang Zongyue from the turn of the nineteenth century. It was
entitled A Treatise on Taijiquan. Prior to that time, taijiquan was referred
to as Changquan (long boxing), or the Thirteen Movements. Wu Yuxiang,
his brothers, and a nephew, Li Yiyu (and later Yang Banhou), worked on
this manuscript to produce what are now known as the Classics. This body
of work, consisting of approximately forty texts, expounds the philosophical
and practical methods that most taijiquan schools claim as basic, common,
and uniting. It includes, among other discussions, commentaries on
sparring, the eight gates and five steps, the thirteen postures, the taiji circle,
and qi circulation.
Yang later moved to Beijing, taking a post with the Qing government
teaching martial arts. He simplified some of the Chen movements. His
sons, especially Yang Banhou, continued his work, and later Yang Luchan’s
grandsons (from his son Jianhou), Yang Shaohou and Yang Chengfu, became
famous for their skills, and their additions to the art, too.