Wu-style t'ai chi ch'uan

Wu-style t'ai chi ch'uan
(吳氏太極拳)

Wu Yanxia in the posture Grasp Bird's Tail during a form demonstration in Toronto, 1995
Also known as	Wu-style taijiquan Wu family taijiquan Wu school of taijiquan Wu-shi taijiquan Ng Style Tai Chi
Date founded	late 19th century
Country of origin	China
Founder	Wu Jianquan
Current head	Wu Guangyu 5th gen. Wu
Arts taught	T'ai chi ch'uan
Ancestor arts	Yang-style taijiquan
Practitioners	Wu Quanyou, Wu Gongyi, Ma Yueh-liang (馬岳樑), Wu Yanxia
Official website	WuStyle.com

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The Wu family style (Chinese: 吳家 or 吳氏; pinyin: wújiā or wúshì) t'ai chi ch'uan (Taijiquan) of Wu Quanyou and Wu Chien-ch'uan (Wu Jianquan) is the second most popular form of t'ai chi ch'uan in the world today, after the Yang style,^[1] and fourth in terms of family seniority.^[2] This style is different from the Wu style of t'ai chi ch'uan (武氏) founded by Wu Yu-hsiang. While the names are distinct in pronunciation (Chinese: 武氏; pinyin: wǔshì) and the Chinese characters used to write them are different, they are often romanized the same way.

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 Lu-ch'an was the martial arts instructor in the Imperial Guards, teaching t'ai chi ch'uan, and in 1850 Wu Ch'uan-yu became one of his students.^[2]

In 1870, Wu Ch'uan-yu was asked to become the senior disciple of Yang Pan-hou, Yang Lu-ch'an's oldest adult son, and an instructor as well to the Manchu military.^[1][2] Wu Ch'uan-yu had three primary disciples: his son Wu Chien-ch'uan, Wang Mao Zhai and Guo Fen.^[4]

Wu Ch'uan-yu's son, Wu Chien-ch'uan, and grandchildren: grandsons Wu Kung-i and Wu Kung-tsao as well as granddaughter Wu Ying-hua were well known teachers.^[3]

Wu Chien-ch'uan 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.^[5] He taught large numbers of people and his refinements to the art more clearly distinguish Wu style from Yang style training.^[5]

Wu Chien-ch'uan 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 Chien-ch'uan T'ai Chi Ch'uan Association (鑑泉太極拳社) in 1935.^[3]

Wu Kung-i then moved the family headquarters to Hong Kong in 1948.
His younger sister Wu Ying-hua and her husband, Ma Yueh-liang (Ma Yueliang, 馬岳樑, 1901-1999), stayed behind to manage the original Shanghai school.^[6]
Between 1983 and her death in 1996 Wu Ying-hua 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 Jiang Bao lives in the Netherlands and teaches traditional taijiquan throughout Europe.
• Her granddaughter Dr Jin Ye lives and teaches in England.
• Her adopted daughter Shi Mei Lin now lives and teaches Wu-style taijiquan in New Zealand, with students also in France and The United States.

Wu Kung-i'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 t'ai chi ch'uan in Japan after the war.^[1]
• His younger brother, Wu Ta-ch'i, 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 Yen-hsia, was known as an expert with the t'ai chi chien (sword).
• His cousin, Wu Ta-hsin, was also known as a weapons specialist, particularly with the t'ai chi tao (sabre).^[7]

T'ai chi ch'uan lineage tree with Wu-style focus

Note:

• This lineage tree is not comprehensive, but depicts those considered the 'gate-keepers' & most recognised 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.

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 t'ai chi family styles martially with Wu style's initial focus on grappling, throws (shuai chiao), tumbling, jumping, footsweeps, pressure point leverage and joint locks and breaks, which are trained in addition to more conventional t'ai chi sparring and fencing at advanced levels.^[5]

Generational senior instructors of the Wu family t'ai chi ch'uan schools

1st Generation

• Wu Ch'uan-yu (Quanyou, 吳全佑, 1834-1902), who learned from Yang Lu-ch'an and Yang Pan-hou, was senior instructor of the family from 1870-1902.

2nd generation

• His oldest son, Wu Chien-ch'uan (Wu Jianquan, 吳鑑泉, 1870-1942), was senior from 1902-1942.

3rd Generation

• His oldest son, Wu Kung-i (Wu Gongyi, 吳公儀, 1900-1970) was senior from 1942-1970.
• Wu Kung-i's younger brother, Wu Kung-tsao (Wu Gongzao, 吳公藻, 1903-1983), was senior from 1970-1983.
• Wu Kung-i's younger sister, Wu Ying-hua (Wu Yinghua, 吳英華, 1907-1997), was senior from 1983-1997.

4th Generation

• Wu Kung-i's daughter, Wu Yan-hsia (Wu Yanxia, 吳雁霞, 1930-2001) was senior from 1997-2001.
• Wu Kung-tsao's son, Wu Ta-hsin (Wu Daxin, 吳大新, 1933-2005), was senior from 2001-2005.

5th Generation

• The current senior instructor of the Wu family is Wu Ta-kuei's son Wu Kuang-yu (Wu Guangyu, Eddie Wu, 吳光宇, born 1946).

See also

• 108 form Wu family T'ai Chi Ch'uan
• Wu Style Tai Chi Fast Form
• List of t'ai chi ch'uan forms
• Silk reeling
• Wudang t'ai chi ch'uan

References

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

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Wu Kung-tsao

• 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