Tai Chi
太極拳The Chinese internal art documented from the seventeenth century. Its founder is Chen Wangting; Zhang Sanfeng is a nineteenth-century legend.
Quick Facts
ChinaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Tai Chi
About Tai Chi
Tai chi, more precisely taijiquan, is a Chinese internal martial art. Its origin is one of the most frequently misstated facts in the whole field, which is why this page begins there. Tradition attributes its creation to Zhang Sanfeng, a legendary Taoist immortal of the twelfth century. The historian Douglas Wile observes that there is no record of any Zhang Sanfeng in the Song dynasty, and that neither the Ming histories nor his hagiographies connect him with the martial arts at all. The earliest text that links his name to fighting is the Epitaph for Wang Zhengnan by Huang Zongxi, from 1669 — five centuries later. Every other claim connecting tai chi with Zhang Sanfeng dates only from the nineteenth century. The documented beginning lies in the Ming–Qing transition, in the villages of Chenjiagou and Zhaobao in Henan province. Chen Wangting (1580–1660) withdrew from military service after the fall of the Ming and developed the method, evidently drawing on the Quanjing of General Qi Jiguang. What is interesting is that even the link with the philosophical concept of taiji, the doctrine of yin and yang, is late. It formed gradually in the mid-nineteenth century, probably in the circle of the founders of the Wu style, and was first stated publicly in a poem by the court scholar Weng Tonghe about a performance by Yang Luchan. The term taijiquan settled into print only with the students of Yang Chengfu and with Sun Lutang in the early twentieth century. Yang Luchan (1799–1872) trained for eighteen years with Chen Changxing in Chen Village and then established the Yang style in Yongnian and Beijing; it became the most widespread form of tai chi in the world.
Styles & Branches
The most widespread form of tai chi in the world, with large fluid movements. Today it is taught mainly for health; most schools do not train its combat content against resistance.
The oldest documented branch of tai chi, from which all other family styles derive. It alternates slow passages with fajin releases and contains stamps and jumps.
The second most widespread family style of tai chi, marked by a slightly inclined torso, compact small-frame movements and a focus on push hands.
The smallest and least widespread of the five tai chi family styles. Yet it is from its circle that the classical texts underpinning the whole field come.
The youngest of the five tai chi family styles. Its creator already knew xingyi and bagua and joined all three arts — hence the high stances and mobile step.
Traditional Chinese Tai Chi family lineage combining Wu, Yang, Baji and Shuai Jiao.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.