Wu Yanxia in the posture Grasp Bird's Tail during a form demonstration in Toronto, 1995
|
|
Also known as | Wu-style taijiquan Wu family taijiquan Wu school of taijiquan Wu-shi taijiquan Ng Style Tai Chi |
---|---|
Date founded | late 19th century |
Country of origin | China |
Founder | Wu Jianquan |
Current head |
Wu Guangyu 5th gen. Wu |
Arts taught | T'ai chi ch'uan |
Ancestor arts | Yang-style taijiquan |
Practitioners |
Wu Quanyou, Wu Gongyi, Ma Yueh-liang (馬岳樑), Wu Yanxia |
Official website | WuStyle |
The Wu family style (Chinese: 吳家 or 吳氏; pinyin: wújiā or wúshì) t'ai chi ch'uan (Taijiquan) of Wu Quanyou and Wu Chien-ch'uan (Wu Jianquan) is the second most popular form of t'ai chi ch'uan in the world today, after the Yang style, and fourth in terms of family seniority. This style is different from the Wu style of t'ai chi ch'uan (武氏) founded by Wu Yu-hsiang. While the names are distinct in pronunciation (Chinese: 武氏; pinyin: wǔshì) and the Chinese characters used to write them are different, they are often romanized the same way.
Wu Quanyou was a military officer cadet of Manchu ancestry in the Yellow Banner camp (see Qing Dynasty Military) in the Forbidden City, Beijing and also a hereditary officer of the Imperial Guards Brigade. At that time, Yang Lu-ch'an was the martial arts instructor in the Imperial Guards, teaching t'ai chi ch'uan, and in 1850 Wu Ch'uan-yu became one of his students.
In 1870, Wu Ch'uan-yu was asked to become the senior disciple of Yang Pan-hou, Yang Lu-ch'an's oldest adult son, and an instructor as well to the Manchu military. Wu Ch'uan-yu had three primary disciples: his son Wu Chien-ch'uan, Wang Mao Zhai and Guo Fen.