Wu Style Traditional Slow Form

Quick Facts

About the kata

The slow form of Wu (吳) style — not the Wu (Hao) style, written 武 — grew from the Yang lineage. Wu Quanyou (1834–1902), an officer cadet of Manchu origin, studied from 1850 under Yang Luchan, then under his son Yang Banhou, from whom, per Hong Kong's HK01, he learned the so-called small form. His son Wu Jianquan (1870–1942) adapted the form: he smoothed its fajin, jumps, and sudden tempo changes so the public could learn it more easily. This slow form gave rise to the separate Wu style. Its most striking feature is the posture: in many positions torso and head lean forward, but the back stays straight, forming one line with the extended rear leg. Stances are higher and steps shorter than in Yang style, feet point forward in parallel, and the arms trace small circles. In his 1980 book, Wu Gongzao broke the form into 108 positions, from the opening Taiji qishi to the closing He taiji; the Shanghai branch counts the same sequence as 89 names. The Australian Tai Chi College puts a full run at about 20 minutes.

The kata in different styles

Creator and history

According to HK01, Wu Jianquan removed the repeated and jumping movements from his father's form and brought out its soft, deflecting side. In 1928 he moved with his family from Beijing to Shanghai, where in 1935 he founded the Jianquan Taijiquan Association. In 1948 his son Wu Gongyi moved the family's seat to Hong Kong, while Wu Yinghua and her husband Ma Yueliang continued running the Shanghai school. The two branches today count the same form differently: the family lineage, following Wu Gongzao's book, at 108 positions, the Shanghai branch at 89 names.

Differences between styles

According to the Canadian Ji Hong school, the order and names of the movements are very close to Yang style; Wikipedia also notes a horse stance with feet closer together than in modern Yang and Chen. The fast form of Wu style kept the fajin, jumps, strikes, and stamps that Wu Jianquan removed from the slow form; Wu Yinghua and Ma Yueliang first showed it publicly in December 1982 in Beijing. The Wu (Hao) style, written 武, is a different lineage with its own forms of 81, 49, and 96 positions.

The hardest part

The Ji Hong school describes the posture as 'slanted yet straight': the body leans forward, but the back stays straight. With each step, the forward lean alternates with a backward lean, which the school likens to a willow in the wind.