Sun Lutang
孫福全
Chinese master and scholar (1860–1933), founder of the Sun style of taijiquan, which combined xingyiquan, baguazhang and Hao-style taijiquan.
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ChinaBiography
Sun Lutang, born Sun Fuquan (孫福全), was a Chinese master of internal martial arts, a teacher and scholar, and founder of the Sun style of taijiquan. He was born in 1860 in Hebei province and died in 1933 at the age of 72 or 73.
He first studied xingyiquan under Li Kuiyuan and, from 1882, under Guo Yunshen. From 1891 he studied baguazhang under Cheng Tinghua, who gave him the name Lutang. From 1911 he studied Wu/Hao-style taijiquan under Hao Weizhen. He was regarded as an expert in Neo-Confucianism and Taoism, particularly the Yijing.
He created the Sun style of taijiquan as a synthesis of xingyiquan, baguazhang, and Hao-style taijiquan; the traditional long form of this style is attributed to him. He wrote the books Xingyiquan xue (1915), Baguaquan xue (1916), Taijiquan xue (1921), and Baguajian xue (1927). From 1914 to 1928 he taught at the Beijing Institute of Physical Education alongside Yang Shaohou, Yang Chengfu, and Wu Jianquan. His students included Gu Ruzhang.
In 1891 he married Zhang Zhouxian. He had three sons, Sun Xingyi (1891–1929), Sun Cunzhou (1893–1963), and Sun Wuzi (1897–1922), and a daughter, Sun Jianyun (1913–2003).