Wu (Hao) Style Tai Chi
武式太極拳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.
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About Wu (Hao) Style Tai Chi
Wu (Hao) style tai chi chuan is the smallest and most economical of the five family styles. It was founded by Wu Yuxiang, who lived from 1812 to 1880, an educated official from Yongnian in Hebei province. Wu first studied under Yang Luchan, who was active in Yongnian, and then went to Zhaobao, where he studied under Chen Qingping. The double root shows in the style: it has the Chen structure but the Yang continuity. The designation Hao comes from Hao Weizhen, who lived from 1849 to 1920 and passed the style on; the addition is used so that this style is not confused with the Wu style of Wu Quanyou, which is transliterated the same way but written with a different character. Technically the frame is very small. The hands stay within the width of one's own body and do not cross its axis, the feet do not cross, the steps are short, and the movement looks almost inconspicuous from outside. Outward size is not the measure: the style stresses internal work, the precise carrying of weight and the joining of intent with the breath. That is exactly why it is the hardest of the five families to practise and also the least widespread among them. This line has a particular importance for theory. Wu Yuxiang and his circle are credited with writing down and circulating the classical tai chi texts, the treatises on which the teaching of all the family styles now rests. In other words, the least practised style gave the whole field its textbook.
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