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Yang family style tai chi chuan 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 tai chi chuan.

History

The Yang family first became involved in the study of tai chi chüan in the early 1800s. The founder of the Yang style was Yang Lu-ch'an, (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 tai chi chuan became known as the Yang style, and directly led to the development of other three major styles of tai chi chuan (see below). Yang Lu-ch'an (and some would say the art of tai chi chuan in general) came to prominence as a result of his being hired by the Chinese Imperial family to teach tai chi chuan to the elite Palace Battalion of the Imperial Guards in 1850, a position he held until his death.

Yang Lu-ch'an passed his art to:

- his second son but oldest son to live to maturity, Yang Pan-hou (1837–1890), who was also retained as a martial arts instructor by the Chinese Imperial family. Yang Pan-hou became the formal teacher of Wu Quanyou, a Manchu Banner cavalry officer of the Palace Battalion, even though Yang Lu-ch'an was Wu Ch'uan-yu's first tai chi chuan teacher. Wu Ch'uan-yu became Yang Pan-hou's first disciple. Wu Ch'uan-yu's son, Wu Jianquan, also a Banner officer, became known as the co-founder (along with his father) of the Wu style.

- his third son Yang Jianhou (1839–1917), who passed it to his sons, Yang Shao-hou (1862–1930) and Yang Ch'eng-fu (1883–1936).

- Wu Yuxiang 1813–1880) who also developed his own Wu/Hao style, which eventually, after three generations, led to the development of Sun style tai chi chuan.

Yang Ch'eng-fu removed the vigorous Fa-jing (release of power) from the Hand (solo) Form, as well as the energetic jumping, stamping, and other abrupt movements in order to emphasise the Ta Chia (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 Ch'eng-fu is largely responsible for standardizing and popularizing the Yang style tai chi chuan widely practised today.

Forms

- 108 form Yang family T'ai Chi Ch'uan

- 49-form Yang family tai chi chuan

- 16-form Yang family tai chi chuan

- 13-form Yang family tai chi chuan

- 67-Movement Yang family tai chi chuan Sword Form

- 13-Posture Poem Yang family tai chi chuan Saber Form

- 24 (Simplified Form) Tai Chi Chuan

- 42 (Competition Form) Tai Chi Chuan

References

_{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_style_tai_chi_chuan}

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