Yang family style (楊氏) tai chi chuan in its many variations is the most popular and widely practised style in the world today and the second in terms of seniority among the primary five family styles of tai chi chuan.
History: The Yang family first became involved in the study of tai chi chüan in the early 1800s. The founder of the Yang style was Yang Lu-ch'an (楊露禪), aka Yang Fu-k'ui (楊福魁, 1799-1872), who studied under Ch'en Chang-hsing starting in
1820.
Yang's subsequent expression of tai chi chuan as a teacher in his own right became known as the Yang style, and directly led to the development of the other three major styles of tai chi chuan.
Yang Lu-ch'an (and some would say the art of tai chi chuan in general) came to prominence as a result of his being hired by the Chinese Imperial family to teach tai chi chuan to the elite Palace Battalion of the Imperial Guards in 1850, a position he held until his death.
Yang Ch'eng-fu removed the vigorous Fa-jing (發勁 release of power), energetic jumping, stamping, and other abrupt movements to emphasise Ta Chia (大架 large frame style). This style has slow, steady, expansive and soft movements suitable for general practitioners.
Thus, Yang Ch'eng-fu is largely responsible for standardizing and popularizing the Yang style tai chi chüan widely practised today. Yang Ch'eng-fu moved to Shanghai in the 1920s, teaching there until the end of his life.
His descendants are still teaching in schools associated with their family internationally.
Yang Lu-ch'an passed his art to:
his second son but oldest son to live
to maturity, Yang Pan-hou (楊班侯,
1837-1890), who was also retained as a
martial arts instructor by the Chinese
Imperial family. Yang Pan-hou became the
formal teacher of Wu Ch'uan-yü (Wu
Quanyou), a Manchu Banner cavalry
officer of the Palace Battalion, even
though Yang Lu-ch'an was Wu Ch'uan-yü's
first tai chi chuan teacher. Wu Ch'uan-yü
became Yang Pan-hou's first disciple. Wu
Ch'uan-yü's son, Wu Chien-ch'üan (Wu
Jianquan), also a Banner officer, became
known as the co-founder (along with his
father) of the Wu style. Yang Pan-hou is
also said to have taught a student named
Wang Chiao-Yu. Wang taught Kuo Lien
Ying. Kuo's method is called the Kuang
P'ing (Guangping) style.
his third son Yang Chien-hou (Jianhou)
(1839-1917), who passed it to his sons,
Yang Shao-hou (楊少侯,
1862-1930) and Yang Ch'eng-fu (楊澄甫,
1883-1936).
Wu Yu-hsiang (Wu Yuxiang,
武禹襄, 1813-1880) who
also developed his own Wu style, which
eventually, after three generations, led
to the development of Sun style tai chi
chuan.
Tung Ying-chieh (Dong Yingjie, 董英杰, 1898-1961), Ch'en Wei-ming (Chen Weiming), Fu Zhongwen (Fu Chung-wen, 1903-1994), Li Yaxuan (李雅轩, 1894-1976) and Cheng Man-ch'ing were famous students of Yang Ch'eng-fu. Each of them taught extensively, founding groups teaching T'ai Chi to this day. Cheng Man-ch'ing, perhaps the most famous outside of China, significantly shortened and simplified the traditional forms Yang taught him after his teacher's passing, supposedly to make them more accessible to larger numbers of students.
Although Cheng's modifications are considered controversial by most other schools and are not recognized by the Yang family, Cheng Man-ch'ing was one of several Yang style masters to teach tai chi chuan in the West. Cheng Taught in New York City. He was predated by teachers in Hawaii and San Francisco. His most notable student was Liang Tsung-tsai who was his teaching assistant in Taiwan and later taught in Boston.
Another student of Yang Ch'eng-fu is Jiang Yu Kun (1913-1980).
Other versions of Yang style come from the Yang Shao-hou and Yang Pan-hou lineages. The Yang Pan-hou lineage is carried on in the Wu Chien-chuan style and the Kuang P'ing style. Yang Shao-hou's student Hsiung Yang-ho taught in Taiwan. Hsiung's most famous students who taught in the United States were Liang Tsung-tsai (a.k.a. T.T. Liang) and Tchoung Ta-tchen. The Kuang P'ing style was taught in San Francisco in the mid 1960's by Kuo Lien Ying.
Notes to Family tree table: Names denoted by an asterisk are legendary or semilegendary figures in the lineage, which means their involvement in the lineage, while accepted by most of the major schools, isn't independently verifiable from known historical records.
The Cheng Man-ch'ing and Chinese Sports Commission short forms are said to be derived from Yang family forms, but neither are recognized as Yang family tai chi chuan by current Yang family teachers. The Chen, Yang and Wu families are now promoting their own shortened demonstration forms for competitive purposes.
Yang Shou-chung: Yang Shou-chung (aka Yeung Sau Chung, Yang Zhen-Ming, 1910-1985) was the oldest son of Yang Ch'eng-fu by his first marriage, and started learning his family style when he was 8 years old under the strict supervision of his father.
In 1949, he escaped from the Chinese communists to Hong Kong. There he taught many students privately at his home until his death in 1985.
He had three daughters, Tai Yee, Ma Lee
and Yee Li, all continue teaching in Hong
Kong. Over the years he had taught many
people but he accepted only three people as
his disciples. These Yang family tai chi
chuan practitioners are
Master Ip Tai Tak (Yip Tai Tak,
1929-2004) in Hong Kong, who
unfortunately died during the spring
2004. Ip Tai Tak had 2 disciples, 1st -
John Ding, 2nd Robert Boyd (see link
below). Other students that continue
teaching and practice in Hong Kong
include:Hui Kuk Chan, Shui Lam, and Kok
Kuen Lau.
Master Chu Gin Soon in Boston, USA.
With the permission of his master he
founded the Gin Soon Tai Chi Club in
1969 to propagate Yang-Style Tai Chi
Chuan in North America.
Master Chu King Hung (*1945) in United
Kingdom. Chu is head of the
International Tai Chi Chuan Association
(ITCCA) which was founded by him and
Yang Shou-chung in 1971 and at present
has branches all over Europe. He already
has accepted several disciples.
Yang Zhenduo: Master Yang Zhenduo is the 4th Generation of the Yang family. He was born in Beijing in 1926 and is the son of Yang Ch'eng-fu. He started studying with his father when very young and continued studying with his elder brother after his father died. In 1960 Yang Zhenduo moved to Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Since then, Yang style tai chi chuan has gradually spread within Taiyuan and to other cities, provinces, and countries.
Since 1980 he has served as Vice-President of the Shanxi Wushu Association. In 1982 Yang Zhenduo founded the Shanxi Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association, and has served as President since. The Association has now grown to over 30,000 members throughout the Province and is the largest martial arts organization of its kind in China.
In October 1998 Yang Zhenduo founded the International Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association, serving as Chairman of the Board. Under his leadership, in just one year the International Association has grown to 18 centers in 9 countries with over 350 members. The Chinese Wushu Academy recognized Master Yang Zhenduo in 1996 as one of the top 100 Wushu Masters in China. He has also been honored by proclamations from the Mayors of San Antonio, Texas and Troy, Michigan.
