Wu-style tai chi

Not to be confused with Wu (Hao)-style tai chi.

Wu-style tai chi (Chinese: 吳氏太极拳; pinyin: Wúshì tàijíquán) is one of the five main styles of tai chi. It is second in popularity after Yang-style,^[1] and the fourth-oldest of the five major tai chi styles.^[2] It was developed by Wu Quanyou and Wu Jianquan.

Wu-style tai chi
吳氏太極拳

Also known as	Ng-style tai chi
Date founded	late 19th century
Country of origin	China
Founder	Wu Jianquan
Current head	Wu Kuang-yu 5th gen. Wu
Arts taught	Tai chi
Ancestor arts	Yang-style tai chi
Practitioners	Wu Quanyou, Wu Gongyi, Ma Yueliang, Wu Yanxia
Official website	WuStyle.com

History

Wu Quanyou was a military officer cadet of Manchu ancestry in the Yellow Banner camp (see Qing Dynasty Military) in the Forbidden City, Beijing and also a hereditary officer of the Imperial Guards Brigade.^[3] At that time, Yang Luchan was the martial arts instructor in the Imperial Guards, teaching tai chi, and in 1850 Wu Quanyou became one of his students.^[2]

In 1870, Wu Jianquan was asked to become the senior disciple of Yang Banhou, Yang Luchan's oldest adult son, and an instructor as well to the Manchu military.^[4][2] Wu Quanyou had three primary disciples: his son Wu Jianquan, Wang Maozhai and Guo Fen.^[5]

Wu Quanyou's son, Wu Jianquan, grandsons Wu Gongyi and Wu Kung-tsao, and granddaughter Wu Yinghua were well-known teachers.^[3]

Wu Jianquan became the most widely known teacher in his family, and is therefore considered the co-founder of the Wu style by his family and their students.^[6] He taught large numbers of people and his refinements to the art more clearly distinguish Wu style from Yang style training.^[6]

Wu Jianquan moved his family south from Beijing (where an important school founded by other students of his father is headquartered, popularly known as the Northern Wu style) to Shanghai in 1928, where he founded the Jianquan Taijiquan Association (鑑泉太極拳社) in 1935.^[3]

Wu Gongyi then moved the family headquarters to Hong Kong in 1948, while His younger sister Wu Yinghua and her husband Ma Yueliang stayed behind to manage the original Shanghai school.^[7]

Between 1983 and her death in 1996 Wu Yinghua was the highest-ranked instructor in the Wu family system. Her descendants continue teaching and today manage the Shanghai school as well as schools in Europe:

• Ma Hai Long is the current head of the Shanghai Jianquan Taijiquan Association.
• Ma Jiangbao (1941-2016) lived in the Netherlands and taught traditional tai chi throughout Europe.
• Her granddaughter Dr. Jin Ye lives and teaches in England.
• Her adopted daughter Shi Meilin now lives and teaches Wu-style tai chi in New Zealand, with students also in France and The United States.

Wu Gongyi's children were also full-time martial art teachers:

• His son Wu Ta-k'uei was active in the resistance to the Japanese invasion of China, yet he later taught tai chi in Japan after the war.^[4]
• His younger brother, Wu Daqi, supervised the family's Hong Kong and southeast Asian schools for many years and opened the family's first western hemisphere school in Toronto, Canada in 1974.
• His daughter, Wu Yanxia, was known as an expert with the tai chi jian (sword).
• His cousin, Wu Daxin, was also known as a weapons specialist, particularly with the tai chi Dao.^[8]

Tai chi lineage tree with Wu-style focus

Note:

• This lineage tree is not comprehensive, but depicts those considered the 'gate-keepers' & most recognized individuals in each generation of Wu-style.
• Although many styles were passed down to respective descendants of the same family, the lineage focused on is that of the Wu style & not necessarily that of the family.

• v
• t
• e

Key:

NEIJIA

Solid lines

Direct teacher-student.

Dot lines

Partial influence /taught informally /limited time.

TAI CHI

Dash lines

Individual(s) omitted.

Dash cross

Branch continues.

CHEN-STYLE

Zhaobao-style

YANG-STYLE

(王蘭亭) Wang Lanting 1840–? 2nd gen. Yang

Yang Jianhou 1839–1917 2nd gen. Yang 2nd gen. Yangjia Michuan

Yang Banhou 1837–1892 2nd gen. Yang 2nd gen. Guang Ping Yang Yang Small Frame

WU (HAO)-STYLE

Zhaobao He-style

Li-style

Yang Shao-hou 1862–1930 3rd gen. Yang Yang Small Frame

Wu Quanyou 1834–1902 1st gen. Wu

(齊閣臣) Qi Gechen 2nd gen. Wu

(夏公甫) Xia Gongfu 2nd gen. Wu

Wu Jianquan 1870–1942 2nd gen. Wu WU-STYLE 108 Form

(常遠亭) Chang Yuanting 1860–1918 2nd gen. Wu

(郭松亭) Guo Songting 2nd gen. Wu

Wang Maozhai 1862–1940 2nd gen. Wu

SUN-STYLE

Dong Yingjie 1891–1960 4th gen. Yang

(齊敏軒) Qi Minxuan 3rd gen. Wu

Cheng Wing Kwong 1903–1967 3rd gen. Wu

Wu Yinghua 1907–1997 3rd gen. Wu

Wu Gongyi 1900–1970 3rd gen. Wu

Wu Kung-tsao 1903–1983 3rd gen. Wu

Ma Yueliang 1901–1998 3rd gen. Wu

Yang Yuting 1887–1982 3rd gen. Wu

(鄭天熊) Cheng Tin Hung 1930–2005 Wudang-style

Wu Ta-k'uei 1923–1972 4th gen. Wu

Wu Yanxia 1930–2001 4th gen. Wu

Wu Daxin 1933–2005 4th gen. Wu

(立群) Li Liqun 1924–2013 4th gen. Wu

Wang Peisheng 1919–2004 4th gen. Wu

Wu Kuang-yu 1946–Present 5th gen. Wu

(骆舒焕) Luo Shuhuan 1935–1987 5th gen. Wu

CHEN-STYLE

YANG-STYLE

WU-STYLE

SUN-STYLE

WU (HAO)-STYLE

Training

The Wu style's distinctive hand form, pushing hands and weapons trainings emphasize parallel footwork and horse stance training with the feet relatively closer together than the modern Yang or Chen styles, small circle hand techniques (although large circle techniques are trained as well) and differs from the other tai chi family styles martially with Wu style's initial focus on grappling, throws (Shuai jiao), tumbling, jumping, footsweeps, pressure point leverage and joint locks and breaks, which are trained in addition to more conventional tai chi sparring and fencing at advanced levels.^[6]

Generational senior instructors of the Wu family tai chi schools

1st Generation

• Wu Quanyou (吳全佑, 1834-1902), who learned from Yang Luchan and Yang Banhou, was senior instructor of the family from 1870–1902.

2nd generation

• His oldest son, Wu Jianquan (1870-1942), was senior from 1902–1942.

3rd Generation

• His oldest son, Wu Gongyi (1900-1970), was senior from 1942–1970.
• Wu Gongyi's younger brother, Wu Gongzao (1903-1983), was senior from 1970–1983.
• Wu Gongyi's younger sister, Wu Yinghua ({1907-1997), was senior from 1983–1997.

4th Generation

• Wu Gongyi's daughter, Wu Yanxia (1930-2001) was senior from 1997–2001.
• Wu Gongzao's son, Wu Daxin (1933-2005), was senior from 2001–2005.

5th Generation

• The current senior instructor of the Wu family is Wu Ta-k'uei's son Wu Kuang-yu (born 1946).

See also

• 108-form Wu family tai chi
• Wu-style tai chi fast form
• List of tai chi forms
• Silk reeling
• Wudang tai chi

References

1. Yip, Y. L. (Autumn 2002). "Pivot". Qi: The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health and Fitness. 12 (3). Insight Graphics Publishers. ISSN 1056-4004.
2. Wile, Douglas (1995). Lost T'ai-chi Classics from the Late Ch'ing Dynasty (Chinese Philosophy and Culture). State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0791426548.
3. Wu, Kung-tsao (2006) [1980]. Wu Family T'ai Chi Ch'uan (吳家太極拳). Chien-ch’uan T’ai-chi Ch’uan Association. ISBN 0-9780499-0-X.
4. Yip, Y. L. (Autumn 1998). "A Perspective on the Development of Taijiquan". Qi: The Journal of Traditional Eastern Health and Fitness. 8 (3). Insight Graphics Publishers. ISSN 1056-4004.
5. Zhang, Tina (2006). Classical Northern Wu Style Tai Ji Quan. Berkeley, California: Blue Snake Books. ISBN 978-1583941546.
6. Philip-Simpson, Margaret (June 1995). "A Look at Wu Style Teaching Methods". T'AI CHI the International Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. 19 (3). Wayfarer Publications. ISSN 0730-1049.
7. Li, Liqun (October 1998). "A Remembrance of Ma Yueh-liang". T'AI CHI the International Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan. 22 (5). Wayfarer Publications. ISSN 0730-1049.
8. Cai, Naibiao (2006). "In Memory of Wu Daxin". Journal of Asian Martial Arts. 15 (1). Via Media Publishing. ISSN 1057-8358.

• Tina Chunna Zhang, Frank Allen (2006). Classical Northern Wu Style Tai Ji Quan. Blue Snake Books. ISBN 978-1-58394-154-6

External links

• http://www.wustyle.com/ International Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan Federation website
• Taijiquan and the search for the little old Chinese man 2003 by Adam Dean Frank, Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, University of Texas Digital Repository^{[dead link]}