Yang Chengfu
杨澄甫
Chinese taijiquan master (1883–1936), grandson of Yang Luchan, who settled the now most widespread form of the Yang style and taught in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
Quick Facts
ChinaBiography
Yang Chengfu, born Yang Zhaoqing, was a Chinese taijiquan master, a grandson of Yang Luchan and the creator of the large frame, the most widespread form of the Yang style. According to the family association's official website, he was born in 1883 and died in 1936.
His father Yang Jianhou taught him from an early age, and according to the family website he built on the revision of the middle frame by his father. Around 1914, according to the book Chen Family T'ai Chi Ch'uan, he demonstrated the long form at the annual meeting of the Beijing society for physical education research, and according to English Wikipedia then taught publicly in Beijing. In the nineteen-thirties he taught in Shanghai at the invitation of his student Chen Weiming and also in Guangzhou.
He passed on the ten basic principles of taijiquan orally and his student Chen Weiming wrote them down. In 1934 the book Taijiquan tiyong quanshu appeared, with the participation of his students Dong Yingjie and Cheng Man-ch'ing, and Louis Swaim translated it into English in 2005. The state intangible heritage portal states that the present Yang style is mostly the frame he settled.
His sons Yang Shouzhong, Yang Zhenji, Yang Zhenduo and Yang Zhenguo carried the tradition on, and the Yongnian Yang style was entered in the national list of intangible heritage in 2006. Who wrote the 1934 book is disputed. We have not been able to verify a quotation from his book in the original.
Early life
According to the official website of the International Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Association, Yang Chengfu was born as Yang Zhaoqing in 1883 and died in 1936, and the website gives neither the day nor the place. He was a grandson of Yang Luchan, the founder of the Yang style, and a son of Yang Jianhou. According to the family website, he received instruction from his father from an early age.
Training and teachers
According to the family website, he started from the revision of the middle frame made by his father and gradually created the large frame. According to the website, this is today the most widespread form of the Yang style and can be practised in high, middle and low stances. In the chapter of the 1934 book that he narrated to Zhang Hongkui, he gives five principles of practice, among them keeping the head upright and walking like a cat when distinguishing empty and full.
Contribution and innovations
Around 1914 he demonstrated the long form at the annual meeting of the Beijing society for physical education research together with Wu Jianquan, as stated in the book Chen Family T'ai Chi Ch'uan. English Wikipedia states that from 1914 to 1928 he taught the public in Beijing. In the nineteen-thirties, according to the book by his son Yang Zhenji, he taught in Shanghai at the invitation of Chen Weiming and also in Guangzhou. He passed on the ten basic principles of taijiquan orally, and his student Chen Weiming wrote them down. The book Taijiquan tiyong quanshu was published in 1934 and Louis Swaim translated it into English in 2005.
Legends and documented facts
The state portal speaks of the middle frame and the family website of the large frame, so the sources name the same form differently. On the forum of the family association, Yang Zhenji is cited as saying that, according to the words of his father, the 1934 book was written by the student Cheng Man-ch'ing, and we have not read the primary preface. We have not found the claim that Yang Chengfu taught in the imperial palace in the sources, and the forum participants attribute it rather to Yang Luchan and Yang Banhou. According to the same forum, the Yang family recognised Cheng Man-ch'ing as a student of his father, but did not accept his shortened form.
Legacy
The state portal for the intangible cultural heritage of China states that the Yang style of today is mostly the frame settled by Yang Chengfu, and it describes it as the middle frame. The Yang style of Yongnian was entered in the national list in 2006. The family website names his sons Yang Shouzhong (1911–1986), Yang Zhenji, Yang Zhenduo and Yang Zhenguo. According to the book by his second son Yang Zhenji, the family returned to Yongnian County in Hebei Province after the death of their father.
Teachers, students and family
Associated Martial Arts
A family style of taijiquan founded by Yang Luchan and settled by Yang Chengfu. The hand form of the large frame is flowing, without explosions of force, jumps or stamping.
Tai ChiMaster→A Chinese family of internal martial art styles with slow forms and tuishou, documented from the 17th century in Henan. Zhang Sanfeng is a legend, UNESCO 2020.