Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan
Yang Chengfu utilizing the Single Whip technique.
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| Also known as | Yang-style taijiquan Yang family t'ai chi ch'uan Yang school of t'ai chi ch'uan Yang shi taijiquan |
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| Date founded | 1st half of 19th century |
| Country of origin | China |
| Founder |
Yang Luchan (aka Yang Fukui) |
| Current head | Yang Zhenduo |
| Arts taught | T'ai chi ch'uan |
| Ancestor arts | Chen-style taijiquan |
| Descendant arts |
Guang Ping Yang taijiquan Yangjia Michuan taijiquan Wu (Hao)-style taijiquan Wu-style taijiquan |
| Practitioners |
Yeo Hock Kiat Yang Jianhou Yang Chengfu Zheng Manqing Dong Yingjie Zhang Qinlin Yang Jun Chu Guiting |
| Official website | YangFamilyTaichi.com |
Yang family-style (Chinese: 楊氏; pinyin: Yángshì) t'ai chi ch'uan (taijiquan) in its many variations is the most popular and widely practised style in the world today and the second in terms of seniority among the primary five family styles of t'ai chi ch'uan.
The Yang family first became involved in the study of t'ai chi ch'uan (taijiquan) in the early 19th century. The founder of the Yang-style was Yang Lu-ch'an (楊露禪), aka Yang Fu-k'ui (楊福魁, 1799–1872), who studied under Ch'en Chang-hsing starting in 1820. Yang became a teacher in his own right, and his subsequent expression of t'ai chi ch'uan became known as the Yang-style, and directly led to the development of other three major styles of t'ai chi ch'uan (see below). Yang Lu-ch'an (and some would say the art of t'ai chi ch'uan, in general) came to prominence as a result of his being hired by the Chinese Imperial family to teach t'ai chi ch'uan to the elite Palace Battalion of the Imperial Guards in 1850, a position he held until his death.
Yang Lu-ch'an passed on his art to:
Yang Chengfu removed the vigorous fā jìn (發勁 release of power) from the Hand (solo) Form, as well as the energetic jumping, stamping, and other abrupt movements in order to emphasise the Da jia (大架 large frame style), but retained them in the Weapons (sword, saber, staff and spear) forms. The Hand Form has slow, steady, expansive and soft movements suitable for general practitioners. Thus, Yang Chengfu is largely responsible for standardizing and popularizing the Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan widely practised today.
The Cheng Man-ch'ing (Zheng Manqing) and Chinese Sports Commission short forms are said to be derived from Yang family forms, but neither is recognized as Yang family t'ai chi ch'uan by current standard-bearing Yang family teachers. The Chen, Yang and Wu families are now promoting their own shortened demonstration forms for competitive purposes.
Yang Chengfu also developed his own shortened version of the Yang Long Form in order to have it easier to teach to modern students who are busy with modern life. Despite being shortened, Yang Chengfu managed to keep the essentials of the Yang Long form. Correctly taught and practiced, the 108 movement form still retains much of its health and self-defense benefits (the original comprises over 300 movements).
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Wikipedia