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TRADITIONAL YANG STYLE TAI CHI CHUAN
Brief Historical Background
Yang Luchan (1799 - 1872) was the founder of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan. In the 1820’s he began studying Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan and continued for over 10 years. His fighting skills became so formidable that he was known as “Yang the Invincible”. Eventually his reputation lead him to a commission to teach China’s highest level military guards in the Forbidden City. Further development of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan followed. He also taught many relatives and attendants of the Qing Dynasty’s emperor and noticed the health benefits that many people experienced. He began to modify the more dynamic moves and to slow down the form. This also better suited the aristocracy which was becoming interested. From the 1840’s the Yang family began to teach Tai Chi publicly. Each generation of the Yang family continued to research and develop the “frame” and the Long Form was standardised by the third generation Master Yang Chengfu (1893 - 1936). Master Yang Chengfu and his disciples taught the Form widely and helped popularise Tai Chi Chuan throughout China.
However, in the world today, there are many versions of the Long Form. Different masters have continued to modify the form in accordance with their own insights and interpretations of the movements and this often leads to confusion for the novice student.
Study Course
Our study of Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan is directly from the source. We return to the Yang family Tai Chi roots and in particular the lineage of Yang Chengfu - Yang Zhenduo - Yang Jun. Grand Master Yang Zhenduo (4th generation), together with his grandson Master Yang Jun (6th generation), had committed themselves to preserving Yang Chengfu’s legacy by continuing to teach his Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan both in China and internationally. The study course follows the sequence of learning as prescribed by the International Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Association..
The Forms
The 22 Movement Essential Form, the 103 Movement Hand Form, the 49 Movement Demonstration/Competition Form, the 13 Sabre Form and the 67 Movement Sword Form.
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