What is Tai Chi
Lineage
Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Lineage
Yang Lu Chan
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Yang Lu Chan founder of Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan
1799 - 1872
History
According to several accounts, Yang first started studying tai
chi chuan in the Ch'en family village from Ch'en Chang-hsing in
1820. He was subsequently given permission by his teacher to go
to Beijing and teach his own students, including Wu Yu-hsiang
and his brothers, who were officials in the Imperial Qing dynasty
bureaucracy. Yang Lu-ch'an became known on his arrival in the
capital as Yang the Invincible. In 1850, Yang was hired by the
Imperial family to teach tai chi chuan to them and several of
their élite Manchu Imperial Guards Brigade units in Beijing's
Forbidden City, in whose number was Yang's best known non-family
student, Wu Ch'uan-yü. This was the beginning of the spread
of tai chi chuan from the family art of a small village in central
China to an international phenomenon. Due to his influence and
the number of teachers he trained, including his own descendants,
Yang is directly acknowledged by 4 of the 5 tai chi chuan families
as having transmitted the art to them.
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Yang Chien Hou
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Yang Chien Hou 2nd Generation , Youngest son of Yang Lu Chan
1839-1917
History
Yang Jian Hou (1839-1917), also known as Jing Pu, was Yang Lu
Chan's third son. Jian Hou possessed a highly developed martial
art skill and was agile in his Tai Chi form. His Tai Chi Chuan
was a harmonious blend of hard and soft. He was especially talented
at issuing internal energy. He also had a profound knowledge of
the Tai Chi straight sword, sabre, and spear.
Jian Hou's eye and body coordination was superb
his movements were very fast. He was once among a crowd of spectators
in an opera theatre in Beijing, watching an actor perform with
a sword. The actor suddenly lost control of the weapon and it
flew out of his hands in Yang Jian Hou's direction. So quick was
Jian Hou's reaction that he not only managed to ward off the sword,
but also caused it to be flung back onto the stage.
His character was very warm-hearted. Whenever Yang Jian Hou competed
and trained with others, he never looked light heartedly upon
anyone; therefore, he too was never defeated. Unlike his elder
brother, Ban Hou , he was loved and respected by his many students
because he was a gentle and patient teacher.
Yang Jian Hou had three sons Yang Sau Hou, Yang Zou Yuan and Yang
Cheng Fu .
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Yang Cheng-Fu
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Yang Cheng-Fu, 3rd Generation, Youngest son of Yang Chien
Hou 1883-1936
History
His direct descendants, the many students he
taught and their students have spread the art around the world.
He was born into the famous Yang Taijiquan family, the son of
Yang Chien-hou and grandson of Yang Lu-chan. With his older
brother Yang Shao-hou and colleagues Wu Jianquan and Sun Lutang,
he was among the first teachers to offer Tai Chi Chuan instruction
to the general public at the Beijing Physical Culture Research
Institute from 1914 until 1928. He moved to Shanghai in 1928.
He is known for having "smoothed" out the somewhat
more vigorous training routine he learned from his family as
well as emphasising a "large frame" or "Da Jia"
with expansive movements in stepping and using large circular
motions with the arms. His smooth, evenly-paced large frame
form and its hundreds of offshoots has been the standard for
Yang style Tai Chi Chuan (and overwhelmingly in the public imagination
for Tai Chi Chuan in general) ever since.
Tung Ying-chieh (Dong Yingjie, 1898-1961), Ch'en
Wei-ming (Chen Weiming), Fu Zhongwen (Fu Chung-wen, 1903-1994),
(Li Yaxuan 1894-1976) and Cheng Man-ch'ing were famous students
of Yang Ch'eng-fu. Each of them taught extensively, founding
groups teaching T'ai Chi to this day. Cheng Man-ch'ing, perhaps
the most famous outside of China, significantly shortened and
simplified the traditional forms Yang taught him after his teacher's
passing, reportedly to make them more accessible to larger numbers
of students. Although Cheng's modifications are considered controversial
by most other schools and are not recognized by the Yang family,
Cheng Man-ch'ing is known as the first to teach T'ai Chi Ch'üan
in the West.
His sons have continued to teach their father's
Taijiquan, including his first son, the late Yang Zhenming (1910-1985)
(a.k.a. Yang Shaozhong, Yang Shao-Chung, Yeung Shao-Chung; ,
who brought Yang style Tai Chi Chuan to Hong Kong, his second
son Yang Zhenji (born 1921, current head of the family), and
his third son, Yang Zhenduo (born 1926), living in Shanxi Province,
who is widely considered the most prominent of the Yang family
Tai Chi Chuan instructors living today.
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Yang Sau
Chung
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Yang
Sau Chung, 4th Generation, eldest son of Yang Cheng Fu
History
Yang Shou-chung,
birth name Yang Zhenming, was the eldest son of Yang Ch'eng-fu.
Yang Shou-chung began training in his family's style of T'ai Chi
Ch'uan at age 8. By age 14 he had begun to work with his father
as a teaching assistant and at age 19 he was already teaching
government officials around China. In 1949 he fled to Hong Kong
where he remained for the remainder of his life teaching privately
mostly out of his home on Lockhart Road on Hong Kong Island. He
appointed three disciples: Ip Tai Tak (1st and Chief Disciple
(Hong Kong), Gin Soon Chu (2nd Disciple, U.S.), Chu King Hung
(3rd Disciple, Europe). Yang Shou-chung is survived by his three
daughters: Tai Yee, Ma Lee and Yee Li who currently also reside
in Hong Kong.
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Ip Tai Tak, 5th Generation, First
disciple of Yang Sau Chung
History
Ip Tai Tak the first disciple of Great Grandmaster Yang, Sau-Chung.
Grandmaster Ip was born in Hong Kong. He took up external martial
art as a young man due to his prevailing weak health. At the age
of 21 years, he studied Yang style Tai Chi Chuan under Master
Tung Yien Kit (Dong, Ying Chieh) for 4 years. Over the next 4
years his health improved, and due to his consistent approach
he was appointed as Instructor for Master Tung's school.
In 1949, Master Yang Sau Chung left China during
the communist revolution to settle in Yuen Long, New Territory,
Hong Kong. Master Yang gave a public demonstration exhibiting
the traditional Yang style Tai Chi Chuan in 1951. Master Ip, very
impressed by Master Yang's demonstration and in the pursuit for
greater understanding, left Master Tung to study under Master
Yang, Head of the Yang Family style. After 4 years of intense
study, he was formally accepted as the first inner disciple of
Master Yang Sau Chung. Master Ip continued to study under Master
Yang until the latter passed away in 1985. At the age of 69 years,
Master Ip is as devoted as ever to the study, practice and development
of Tai Chi Chuan, only teaching a selective number of senior students.
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Ding Teah Chean, 6th Generation, first disciple of Ip Tai
Tak
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