108 form Wu family T'ai Chi Ch'uan

The different slow motion solo form training sequences of T'ai Chi Ch'uan are the best known manifestation of T'ai Chi for the general public. In English, they are usually called the hand form or just the form; in Mandarin it is usually called ch'uan: 拳 (in Wade-Giles romanization: ch'üan², in the pinyin system: quán). They are performed slowly by beginners and are said to promote concentration, condition the body and acquaint students with the inventory of motion techniques for more advanced styles of martial arts training. There are also solo weapons forms, as well as much shorter and repetitive sequences to train power generation leverages as a form of ch'i kung. The various forms of Wu-style pushing hands have their own one person drill routines, as well, which fulfil some of the same functions as the power generation drills.

The following list is an English translation from Chinese of the empty hand or fist form list published in Wu Kung-tsao's Wu Family T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Different schools will use different translations. Notably, the family's Shanghai branch has a different enumeration scheme, numbering the same "long form" routine sequence with 89 posture names instead of 108. Almost all of the individual posture names are the same, however.

The 108 postures of the Wu family style of T'ai chi ch'uan are listed below. For each unique form name there is a literal translation, the Hong Kong school's translation and then the Shanghai school's translation in italics where they differ, followed by the original Chinese characters:

1. Begin T'ai Chi Form - The Beginning of T'ai Chi - The Preparation Form

2. Raise Hands Above Posture - Raise Hands - Raise Hand and Step Up

3. Hand Plays P'i P'a - Play Guitar - Hand Strums the Lute 手

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