History of Tai Chi

Pre-history [i]

The martial arts style called Sanshiqi was created by a hermit named Xuxuanping during the Tang Dynasty (618-905 CE). Xu was from the Anhui province in southeast China. He lived on the Ziyang Mountains. Xu was described as being seven foot five inches with a beard to his navel and hair to his feet. Xu’s style was called Sanshiqi because it contained 37 movements. It was similar to the original 13 movements of the Chen family style Tai Chi. The postures of Sanshiqi were practiced separately and in no specific order. Once all of the postures where learned, one would practice them in any order in a continuous sequence.

Another early pysdo-Tai Chi style was created by Lidaozi and was called Xiantianquan. Xiantian translates to “the stage before the universe is created.” This is the daoist concept of Wuji. Wuji is the state prior to taiji. Lidaozi is said to have lived a thousand years from the Tang to the Ming Dynasties (618-1644 CE). Lidaozi is one of the first to use the term taiji in relationship with a martial art. He taught his student Yulianzhou a poem about Xiantianquan:

Taiji is so subtle. To embody it you must be empty as air. Its movements are innate, as the chime is to the bell…

Yu’s family would continue training in Xiantianquan for several generations. Hangongyue lived during the Liang Dynasty (907-921CE) and was an expert in pysdo Tai Chi. He is the founder of the style named Nine Little Heavens. This style has fourteen postures including lift hands, single whip, big and small punch and grasping the sparrow’s tail. Each of these postures are found in present day Tai Chi. In addition, fist under elbow and repulse the monkey are included in Nine Little Heavens but referred to as flower among the leaves and cloud on monkey’s head. Han is credited with instructing Cheng Lingxi and Cheng Lingxi. Based on Chinese documents, Cheng Lingxi and Cheng Lingxi are actual persons and not fictional characters.

The last of the psydo-Tai Chi styles is Houtian fa and was created by Hujingzi. The name of this style translates to “the stage after the universe is created, method”. Houtian fa contained 17 postures and emphasized elbow strikes. The major postures of this style was ward off, roll back, press, push, pull, split, elbow strike and shoulder strike. These postures are the eight methods, Ba Fa, that is the foundation of Chen and Yang style Tai Chi.

[i] Based on The Doa of Taijquan, by Jou Tsung Hwa

History[i]

Zhansanfeng is thought to have been born on 4 April 1247. He is described as being intelligent, a good memory and was thought to be wise. His ancestors were from the Dragon-Tiger Mountain area of the Jiangxi province in southeast China. The region is a historical Daoist site. Zhan’s grandfather moved the family to Yizhan in the Liaoning province in northeastern China.

Sometime during the Yugan Dynasty (1279-1368 CE), Zhang passed the governmental exam to become a high level official for the Emperor Taizong. He instead chose to be a hermit. The educate elite in China admired hermits at this time. To become a hermit, one had do renounce all connections with society and give up all worldly processions. Zhang departed on a 30 years quest seeking enlightenment and immortality. He ended his quest in the Baozhi Mountains in Midwestern China. The mountain range was lush and had three rugged peaks or sanfeng in Chinese.

Zhang met and trained under Jinoyuanshangren, a Shaolin warrior monk for the next ten years. He became a master of Shaolin martial arts: “The Change of Tendons”, “The Marrow Washing” and “18 Buddha’s Hands”. Zhang also mastered the six postures of the original Five Quans (five fist): Dragon, Tiger, Snake, Leopard and Crane.

Zhang was 67 when he met the daoist hermit Huolong in 1314. Huolong taught Zhang one of the psydo-Tai Chi styles as a means of reaching enlightenment and immortality. After four years of training without reaching his goal, Zhang moved to the Wudang Mountians. There he practiced and meditated for the next nine years until he became enlightened.

It was while Zhangsanfeng was in the Wudang Moutains that he founded Tai Chi. There are three common stories about the creation of Tai Chi:

It came to him in a dream.
He was inspired by watching a snake and crane fighting.
Zhang noticed that local monks were fighting with so much force that they were unbalanced and their strikes lacked strength. He thought that if the ying and yang were in balance, their bodies would not be so clumsy. Zhangsanfeng added the Daoist theory of qigong and yijng to martial arts.

Zhangsanfeng is credited with training the Tai Chi master Wangzong, Chentongzhou, Zhangsongxi, Yejimei, Wangzongyue and Jiangfa. It is Jiangfa that is credited with teaching Tai Chi to the Chen family leading to the creation of the Chen family style. From the Chen style, Yang, Wu, and Sun were created.

[i] Based on The Doa of Taijquan, by Jou Tsung Hwa