Wu Jianquan

Quick Facts

Date of Birth12/26/1870

Date of Death1942

Country of OriginChina

Also known asWu Chien-ch'üan

Biography

Wu Jianquan was born on 26 December 1870 in China into a Manchu family; his original Manchu name was Ujiahala Aishen. He died in 1942. Together with his father, Wu Quanyou, he founded the Wu style of taijiquan.

He studied under his father, a cavalry officer of the Qing dynasty's imperial guard. Sources disagree on whether it was Wu Jianquan himself or his father who was the student of Yang Luchan and Yang Banhou. After his father's death he refined his technique together with fellow students Wang Maozhai and Guo Songting.

From 1912 he spread taijiquan across the country together with Yang Chengfu and Sun Lutang. From 1914 he was among the first to teach taijiquan publicly, at the Beijing Physical Culture Research Institute; he also worked at the Jingwu school and with the presidential bodyguard. He adapted the style's forms into a more compact shape with a medium stance frame, softened their sudden bursts of power (fajin) and jumps for wider public use, and also modified the traditional slow form.

In 1928 he moved with his family to Shanghai. According to some sources he founded the Jianquan Taijiquan Association, based in the YMCA building, in 1935, while others say it began as a school as early as 1933. Since 1949 it has been based in Hong Kong and is led by his great-grandson Wu Kuang-yu. His students included Ma Yueliang, Wu Tunan and Cheng Wing Kwong. His successor was his son Wu Gongyi (1903–1967); his son Wu Gongzao and daughter Wu Yinghua (1907–1997) also continued teaching, with the latter leading the Shanghai association together with her husband Ma Yueliang.

Teachers, students and family

Associated Martial Arts

Kata and forms

Organisations

• JIANJianquan Taijiquan AssociationFounder · 1935