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Legend
One: The Taoist Cheng San Fung,
Master of the Three Peaks, was inspired to create the Taiji Quan form from
observing the fighting between a crane and a snake. He noticed the
soft movement of the snake was very effective in warding off the attack
of the hard strike. Notice how soft the Taiji movement is.
Legend
Two: Cheng San Fung, of the Ming dynasty (1600 AD) has
a dream in which the immortal warrior taught him the Taiji Quan.
After one night of dream learning, he achieved mastery and used the Taiji
to defeat the bands of bandits that surrounded his monastery.
Legend
Three: Chan village originated the Taiji Quan from their
ancestor who was a small Ming general. Upon retirement he created Taiji
based on another great Ming General's booklet on the Art of War.
This claim gives rise to the idea that the oldest version of Taiji is from
the Chan village. |
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Yang
Style: It is true that master Yang was a serf with the Chan
family. and learned the art secretly until his master died and his widow
was the same age as Yang. Master Yang went to Peking (Beijing) to
seek his fortune. He was introduced to the imperial family of the
Manchu 13th prince. He was hired as the martial instructor for the prince's
personal bodyguard. Master Yang used to carry a small spear and was
honored with the title of "undefeatableYang". His family was able
to pass down the art to the present day. |
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The
Chen style is too compact and vigorous and can cause damage to beginners.The
Chen family assimilated all the arts they practiced and created their own
version of the predominant art Cannon Pounding (Pao Chui), derived from
the original Shaolin Cannon Pounding art. Sung Tai Zhu Chang Chuan formed
a major part of this new art and there were elements from Shaolin Red Fist
in it. |
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The
Wu style is also good for beginners but it tends to have a tilted
forward stance. Wu Jian Quan style Taijiquan is second in popularity only
after the Yang style of Taiji Quan. It is in fact representative of the
Yang style Small Frame which was developed and taught by Yang Lu Chan,
the founder of the Yang style, for the students in the Imperial Court |
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The
Dan Tao School's Taiji Quan is from the lineage of Master Ham
King Koo who from the age of eight had studied it with an imperial ex-official
in the 1900's. It is a proto-Taiji form which comes directly from
the very first generation of Yang Lu Chan himself. Master Koo always
referred to the form as the Primal Wudang Neigong Taiji Quan. |
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Dragon
Style Taiji Quan: one of the oldest
Taoist forms that has become like the Panda of China. Its rarity
is due to the difficulty of finding a teacher, and also competent students
to carry the lineage forward. The Dragon Style is the proto taiji,
the Great Grand Mother of all Taiji forms. Its emphasis is on the
opening of the Eight Minor Energy Channels of the body. |
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The
Wudang Taiji Quan is very complex and you would
probably not find a teacher of this style.. The Wudang style has
much jumping and stamping as well as many low crouch positions. |
