In China, martial arts are shrouded with a misty curtain.
— Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo
As to the taijiquan form itself, there are different origin stories. The spans of time involved, lack of historical corroboration, and frequent contradiction can make them difficult to establish. When I consider how the form changed within each generation in the 19th and 20th centuries, I wonder: how many generations back must one go until only the principles can be identified as taijiquan? Also, along what lines do we trace as we go back in time? These are practical questions. Disciplines like taijiquan develop through lateral diffusion as much as lineal transmission, and plotting a line through time and calling it “our lineage” can seem a little arbitrary. It begs the question of what we mean by lineage.
We can reliably follow the development of Yang style taijiquan from it’s beginning in Chen Village in the 17th century to the present day. Earlier than that, however, it gets hazy, so I will limit this historical sketch to that relatively recent time period, with one notable exception. Many taiji lineages, including this one, point to a single man as the creator of taijiquan. This claim is improbable, yet it points to qualities of taijiquan that its innovators wanted us to understand.
Zhang Sanfeng
Zhang Sanfeng was a Daoist hermit, who lived between the 13th and 15th centuries in eastern China. Sanfeng was a name he took late in life; before that, he was call Zhang Junbao. As a child he trained in meditation and martial arts at the Buddhist monastery of Shaolin. He was not satisfied with this training though, and he left Shaolin. From that time forward he studied with wandering Daoists, and adopted that path for himself. He was a master of internal alchemy, and an important lineal master of many Wudang contemplative traditions.
Although he is honored as the creator of taijiquan, this is a difficult claim to support. Even if a line of instruction can be drawn from him to the Chen family art, the source of the family styles of taijiquan that include the Yang style, what would that mean?
When the taijiquan discipline is examined, which aspects of it are Zhang Sanfeng’s taijiquan? If the form is what is passed down, then there is no taijiquan – the form changes a little with each generation, even within each generation. If the forms we practice today are not precisely the forms of even a few generations ago, how is possible that the form we practice now was invented six centuries ago?
An argument is made that since the 13 Postures, comprised of eight techniques and five directions, are present among all extant taiji styles, that they must comprise the original taijiquan of Zhang Sanfeng. If something can be said to be taijiquan, the 13 Postures are it. But what connects them to Zhang Sanfeng? Every style has a list of names, drawing lines from present teachers to the hermit master. but what is to demonstrate that these men all practiced the 13 Postures? Zhang Sanfeng left no evidence of it. Can it be shown that these techniques, as such, have been practiced since the Yuan dynasty? This is something no one can find. Even the name taijiquan did not exist before the Yang style.
In the absence of a written tradition, we still have to allow the possibility of an oral tradition. There are Buddhist and Daoist traditions with unbroken oral transmissions going back centuries, so why not a martial art? And whether he was directly responsible for taijiquan or not, Zhang Sanfeng is an authentic forefather of the internal martial arts.
The distinction of internal from external in martial arts is nominal but useful; briefly, an internal art is one that emphasizes the development of inner energy as the basis of martial applications. In the context of contemplative discipline, the term internal alchemy can be applied. As Eva Wong defines it in The Shambhala Guide to Taoism:
In internal alchemy, all the ingredients of immortality are found inside the body, and it is these substances that are refined and transformed; the methods of internal alchemy are therefore concerned with cultivating the energy of life in the body without the aid of external substances.
If we exchange the word ‘immortality’ for ‘health’ in the quote above, we have a succinct description of taijiquan as an inner exercise. Whatever the details of his role, there is no question that Zhang Sanfeng’s approach to internal alchemy, which effectively combined movement and meditation, was an important contribution and inspiration to the generations of internal martial artists that followed.
There are many stories of Zhang Sanfeng that describe the circumstances of his seminal insight. I will share one here, which I think reveals a glimpse of the subtle qualities of taijiquan. From Tales of the Taoist Immortals:
One day, while walking in the Wudang Mountains, Zhang Junbao looked into a valley and saw leaves whipped into a spiral by the wind. He then looked at the sky and saw clouds swirling around the jagged peaks. Finally, he realized that the forces of the Dao far outweigh the abilities of animals and humans and said to himself, “the aim of the martial arts is not to subdue and conquer opposing forces but to dissolve, deflect, and absorb them.”
Chen Village
Taijiquan lineages are mainly structured on family styles, and among these families the earliest agreed teacher of the art was Chen Changxing, so it is in the ground of Chen clan martial arts that this taijiquan form is rooted.
The Chen family lived in Chenjiagou, or “Chen Family Ditch”, of Henan Province in China. Family lore credits Chen Wanting as the creator of the art in the seventeenth century. Chen Wanting was a military officer, a general who served at the close of the Ming Dynasty in the 17th century. Chen Wanting was educated, a broadly trained fighter, and a traveller who had many opportunities to study. That he had a transformative influence on the Chen family martial art is undenied, yet there is vigorous debate on the nature and circumstances of his influence. He certainly poured his personal experience and knowledge into the family art. After General Chen, the family style continued to develop within the confines of the village for another five generations.
Few details of the forms taught during this time are known. Oral instruction and memorization were the norm, and documentation was both rare and terse. It can be said that two principal empty-hand forms developed: the older large frame and the newer small frame. Here, the terms large and small refer to the relative expansion of the body in the postures. Large frame is more expansive, with long steps and extended arms. Small frame is compact, with short steps and close arm movement.
The Chen style remained private until the early 19th century, when the gate to the family art was opened by clan master Chen Changxing. He emphasized the large frame style, and his form was complex and diverse. It included changes of tempo, a mixture of hard and soft muscularity, and much of the athleticism that characterizes so-called outer martial arts. Externally, his form would appear different from much of the taijiquan taught today, but the internal principles were identical.
Yang Luchan
The first clan outsider to be accepted as a student was Yang Luchan. He was born in Yongnian County, Hebei Province, in 1799. His family was poor, and at the age of 9 or 10 he became a servant to Chen Dehu, a member of the Chen clan and owner of a Yongnian pharmacy called Hall of Great Harmony. Chen Dehu brought the boy to Chen Family Village. The master Chen Changxing taught at his clansman’s home, and it was there that young Luchan was exposed to the art. There are many stories of how Luchan, who would have been forbidden to learn the family martial art, gained access to the secret Chen transmission.
This is the story my teacher told me: one night, Luchan was walking outside Chen Dehu’s property when he heard sounds inside the courtyard. He climbed the courtyard wall, and looking over it he saw Chen Changxing teaching a martial art to young men of the village. From his vantage he could not see much, but a few of the movements were clear. Excited by this, he returned to the same spot each night to spy on the class and learn. During the day, he would secretly practice what he saw. In this way, he gradually gained confidence in the sequence “Grasping the Sparrow’s Tail”, the most important movements of the form.
The inevitable day came when some of the other young men challenged him to spar. They expected to just have some fun, but Luchan defeated them. They then fought in earnest, and still he could not be bested. This got the attention of the master, who invited him to study. Chen Weiming continues the story:
The next day, Yang Luchan went to see his teacher. Chen was taking a nap in a chair, his head in a position that looked extremely uncomfortable. Yang Luchan stood at his side, arms hanging down. A long time passed, and Chen had still not woken. Then Yang held the master’s head with his hands, for so long it seemed as if his arms would break. He didn’t dare move the slightest bit. Then the master awoke and said, ‘You’ve come? I am tired and sleeping, come again tomorrow.’ Luchan left.
The next day, it happened again, just as before! Chen Weiming finishes the story:
Yang Luchan came on the third day, and Chen said, ‘This child is teachable.’ Then Chen transmitted the techniques to Yang and ordered him to go back and practice. Later, when his classmates or others competed with him, there were none who could beat him. Chen Changxing summoned the other disciples and said, ‘I have given my gongfu to all of you, yet none of you have attained it; I have not given it to Luchan, yet he has already attained it.’
Yang Luchan studied with Chen Changxing and served Chen Dehu for approximately 30 years. During that time he mastered the art, married, and had two sons. When Luchan was about 40, Chen Dehu passed away. Luchan was released from service, and he returned to Yongnian County with his family to live in the Hall of Great Harmony and teach.
Luchan trained his sons, Banhou and Jianhou, intensively from an early age. His martial art became the family business, and this pressure was very difficult for the two boys. Family lore records that Banhou tried to run away from home, and Jianhou attempted suicide. As difficult as their training was, though, they both eventually embraced their father’s art and became renowned practitioners.
Wu Yuxiang
The landlord of the pharmacy, Wu Yuxiang, was one of Yang Luchan’s earliest students. The Wu clan was well educated, well connected, and would produce many accomplished masters. Yuxiang’s principal teacher was Yang Luchan, but he also enriched his practice by studying briefly with a Chen master. He connected with Chen Chingping, a younger contemporary of Chen Chanxing, and studied the new small frame. He then combined the two approaches into a distinctive family style of his own. Yuxiang’s nephew, Li I-yu, had a student who spread this form widely. This master was Hao Weichen, who added his name to the Wu/Hao style. The Sun style, developed by the great Sun Lutang, is based on this form.
Although the Wu and Wu/Hao style endures, perhaps the greatest legacy of the Wu family for taijiquan is the Taiji Classics. The central texts of the taiji tradition were either discovered or composed by Wu Yuxiang and Li I-yu. For this, contemporary practitioners of all styles owe a debt to the scholar-warriors of this clan.
The Yang tradition
Initially, Wu Yuxiang’s contribution to taijiquan was through his family connections. Yang Luchan was a highly skilled fighter, but he was poor, uneducated, and teaching in a small village. His fame was developed in Beijing, where he was introduced by Wu Yuxiang’s brother, Juching. He fought his way to prominence, and became known as Yang the Invincible. He and his sons were patronized by ruling princes and the military elite, and they became the first taijiquan masters to teach widely.
The forms he taught and practiced would have been similar to those of Chen Changxing, yet the outer softness that characterizes the Yang style had already begun to manifest. At that time, it was called Cotton Boxing, or Long River Boxing. As to the sons, each developed an approach to the form harmonious with their temperament. Banhou was fierce with his opponents and students alike, and taught a small frame style that was fast and somewhat hard. He did not teach widely, but his style is influential to this day. Relative to his father and brother, Jianhou was a little more approachable. He emphasized a middle frame form with smoother movement than his father’s.
Yang Banhou had a son, but he did not practice the family art. Yang Jianhou’s sons, Shaohou and Chengfu, trained from early childhood and became masters. Shaohou’s approach favored his uncle. Chengfu favored his grandfather’s large frame style, yet of the Yang family masters he departed furthest from the Chen roots. Toward the end of his teaching, the abrupt changes, stomps, and jumps had disappeared, and he taught the slow, fluid, continually rooted form that is recognized today as Yang style taijiquan.
The innovations of each of these Yang masters, and the masters of other family lines, continue to be transmitted. However, it was Yang Chengfu’s approach that first become widespread, within China and then throughout the world. There were many factors, beyond his remarkable ability, that contributed to the spread of Chengfu’s form. First, it was at this time that taijiquan began to promote itself primarily as a system for health. Chengfu’s development of the style, with slower and even movements that can be practiced by almost anyone, was well suited to this approach. Second, Yang Chengfu was one of the first taijiquan masters to document his postures with photography and publish a practice manual, due in large part to his scholarly students. These factors, joined with the renown of his uncles and grandfather, broadened the dispensation of his art.
Additionally, many of his students taught, and some of them published practice manuals of their own, spreading their teacher’s tradition even further. Prominent among them were Chen Weiming, Zheng Manqing, and Fu Zhongwhen. Chen Weiming and Fu Zhongwen hewed closely to Chengfu’s style, and their manuals are reliable sources of his form and instruction.