Wu (Hao)-style taijiquan
| Also known as | Wu (Hao)-style taijiquan Wu (Hao) family taijiquan Wu (Hao) school of taijiquan Wu (Hao) shi taijiquan |
|---|---|
| Date founded | mid-19th century |
| Country of origin | China |
| Founder | Wu Yuxiang |
| Current head | Liu Jishun (刘积顺) 6th gen. Wu (Hao) |
| Arts taught | T'ai chi ch'uan |
| Ancestor arts |
Chen-style taijiquan, Zhaobao-style taijiquan, Yang-style taijiquan |
| Descendant arts | Sun-style taijiquan |
| Practitioners | Li Yiyu (李亦畬), Hao Weizhen, Hao Yueru (郝月如), Hao Shaoru (郝少如) |
The Wu or Wu (Hao)-style (Chinese: 武氏 or 武/郝氏; pinyin: Wǔshì or wǔ/hǎoshì) of t'ai chi ch'uan of Wu Yu-hsiang (武禹襄, 1813–1880), is a separate family style from the more popular Wu-style (吳氏) of Wu Chien-ch'üan. Wu Yu-hsiang's style was third among the five t'ai chi ch'uan families in seniority and is fifth in terms of popularity.
Wu Yu-hsiang was a scholar from a wealthy and influential family who became a senior student (along with his two older brothers Wu Ch'eng-ch'ing and Wu Ju-ch'ing) of Yang Lu-ch'an. There is a body of writing attributed to Wu Yu-hsiang on the subject of t'ai chi theory, writings that are considered influential by many other schools not directly associated with his style. Wu Yu-hsiang also studied for a brief time with a teacher from the Chen family, Chen Ch'ing-p'ing, to whom he was introduced by Yang. His most famous student was his nephew, Li I-yü (李亦畬; 1832–1892), who also authored several important works on t'ai chi ch'uan. Li I-yü had a younger brother who was also credited as an author of at least one work on the subject of t'ai chi ch'uan, Li Ch'i-hsüan. Li I-yü taught Hao Wei-chen (郝為真; 1842–1920), who taught Li Xiang-yuan, Li Shengduan, Sun Lutang, his son Hao Yüeh-ru (郝月如) and others. Sun Lutang later on created Sun style Tai Chi. Hao Yüeh-ru in turn taught his son Hao Shaoru (Hǎo Shǎorú, 郝少如) Wu Yu-hsiang's style of training, so that it is now sometimes known as Wu/Hao or just Hao style t'ai chi ch'uan. Hao Yüeh-ru was teaching in the 1920s, a time when t'ai chi ch'uan was experiencing an initial degree of popularity, and he is known for having smoothed out (in the sense of under-emphasising jumps and snap kicks, etc.) and standardized the forms he learned from his father in order to more effectively teach large numbers of beginners. Other famous t'ai chi ch'uan teachers, notably Yang Ch'eng-fu, Wu Chien-ch'üan and Wu Kung-i, made similar modifications to their beginning level forms around the same time.
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