# The Five Taijiquan Families Plus One



## Xue Sheng (Jan 30, 2013)

I posted a thread The 6 Taijiquan Families way back in December of 2006 and I came across it the other day and saw some errors so this thread is to correct that and add a little more detail

*The five family styles of taijiquan*
Chen-style (&#38515;&#27663 of Chen Wangting (15801660)
Yang-style (&#26954;&#27663 of Yang Luchan (17991872)
Wu- or Wu (Hao)-style (&#27494;&#27663 of Wu Yuxiang  (18121880)
Wu-style (&#21555;&#27663 of Wu Quanyou (18341902) and his son Wu Jianquan  (18701942)
Sun-style (&#23403;&#27663 of Sun Lutang (18611932)

*Chen-style *
Chen Wangting (15801660)
Not a whole lot of historical evidence out there as to where Chen style came from beyond Chen Wangting

*Yang-style*
Chen Wangting (1580-1660)
Chen Suole
Chen Guangyin 
Chen Jixia
Chen Bingwang (1748-?)
Chen Changxing (17711853) 14th generation Chen Family
Yang Luchan (17991872)

*Wu/Hao-style *comes from two styles - Chen and Yang

_Chen_ 
Chen Wangting (1580-1660)
Chen Suole
Chen Zhengru 
Chen Jie
Chen Gongzhao (1715-after1795)
Chen Youben (&#38515;&#26377;&#26412 (credited as the creator of the Chen Style Small Frame)
Chen Qingping (1795-1868) - Also combined Chen with something at Zhaobao village to get to Zhabao He style (?)
Wu Yuxiang  (18121880)

_Yang_
Chen Wangting (1580-1660)
Chen Suole
Chen Guangyin 
Chen Jixia
Chen Bingwang (1748-?)
Chen Changxing (17711853) 14th generation Chen Family
Yang Luchan (17991872)
Wu Yuxiang  (18121880)

*Wu-style *- This one is a little foggy since there are claims Wu Quanyou learned from Yang Luchan or Yang Banhou

Chen Wangting (1580-1660)
Chen Suole
Chen Guangyin 
Chen Jixia
Chen Bingwang (1748-?)
Chen Changxing (17711853) 14th generation Chen Family
Yang Luchan (17991872)
Yang Banhou (1837-1892)
Wu Quanyou (18341902) 

_Or _

Chen Wangting (1580-1660)
Chen Suole
Chen Guangyin 
Chen Jixia
Chen Bingwang (1748-?)
Chen Changxing (17711853) 14th generation Chen Family
Yang Luchan (17991872)
Wu Quanyou (18341902) 

*Son of Wu Quanyou who I believe started calling it Wu Style
*Chen Wangting (1580-1660)
Chen Suole
Chen Guangyin 
Chen Jixia
Chen Bingwang (1748-?)
Chen Changxing (17711853) 14th generation Chen Family
Yang Luchan (17991872)
Wu Quanyou (18341902) 
Wu Jianquan  (18701942)

*Sun-style *- comes from Hao style and I am not going to put both Yang and Chen roots only Hao style here

Wu Yuxiang  (18121880)
Li l yu (1832-1892)
Hao Weizhen (18491920)
Sun Lutang (18611932)

*Zhaobao* 
this gets convoluted depending on who you listen too since they claim to go back to the same person that may or may not have taught Chen Wangting but they also claim a lineage to Zhang Sanfeng, which the Chen family does not claim.  

Zhang Sanfeng
Various Daoists
Wang Zongyue
Jing Fa (Zhaobao style)
Xing Xihuai
Zhang Chuchen
Chen Jingbo (Chen style)
Zhang Zongyu
Zhang Yan
Chen Qingping (1795-1868 and Chen style agian)
He Zhaoyuan 91810-1890 Zhaobao He style)
He Qingxi (1857-1936)


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## Kung Fu Wang (Jan 30, 2013)

You have missed the Chang style Taiji.

- Li Jing-Lin (1885-1931) 
 - Chang Dong-Sheng (1908-1986)


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 30, 2013)

Kung Fu Wang said:


> You have missed the Chang style Taiji.
> 
> - Li Jing-Lin (1885-1931)
> - Chang Dong-Sheng (1908-1986)



Thank you but I missed a lot of styles, I was focusing only on the 5 main families and the 6th that claims to be. If I track the few I know of all that are there this would be pages and pages of typing. I also missed Li, CMC, Dong, Fu, etc.

Who did Li Jing-lin learn from?


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## blindsage (Feb 1, 2013)

Kung Fu Wang said:


> You have missed the Chang style Taiji.
> 
> - Li Jing-Lin (1885-1931)
> - Chang Dong-Sheng (1908-1986)







Xue, according to one source I found, Li Jing-Lin studied under Yang Chien Hou.


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## Blaze Dragon (Feb 1, 2013)

Sweet thanks for sharing 

I did find this a while back for the origins of Chen I'm not sure how accurate it is, thoughts?


Chen Wangting (1600-1680), a warrior, a scholar, and a  ninth generation ancestor of the Chen family, invented Taijiquan after a  lifetime of researching, developing, and experiencing martial arts.  A  born warrior and a master of martial arts, Chen Wangting served the Ming  Dynasty in its war against the succeeding Qing Dynasty.  Because of the  political turbulence, natural disasters, and human calamities during  his time, Chen Wangting's ambition was not fulfilled.  In his old age,  Chen Wangting retired from public life and created a martial arts system  based on his family martial arts inheritance, his own war experiences,  and his knowledge of various contemporary martial arts styles.  In his  creation of Taijiquan, Chen Wangting combined the study of Yi Jing,  (i.e., "Scriptures of Changes"), Chinese medicine, theories of yin yang  (i.e., the two opposing yet reciprocal energies generated from Taiji,  expressed in taijiquan as the hardness vs. the softness, the substantial  vs. the insubstantial, etc.), the five elements (i.e., metal, wood,  water, fire, earth), the study and theory of Jingluo (i.e., meridian  circulation channels along which the acupressure points are located),  and methods of Daoyin (i.e., channeling and leading internal energy) and  Tuna (i.e., deep breathing exercises).  A poem written by Chen Wangting  in his old age evidenced the significance of the Daoist methods of  cultivating one's energy and body in Chen Wangting's reclusive life,  "...Once bestowed upon with imperial favor and grace but all in vain, I,  now old and feeble, was accompanied only by a scroll of 'Huang Ting'  (i.e., a Daoist scripture detailing methods of Daoyin and Tuna) by my  side...".  In addition to these ancient Chinese internal theories,  medicine, and Daoist methods, scholars (e.g., Hao Tang, Liuxin Gu) had  also discovered that the boxing art created by Chen Wangting contained  names of twenty-nine postures of the thirty-two postures recorded in Qi  Jiguang's Quan Jing Jie Yao Chapter (i.e., Chapter on the Quick and  Outlined Scriptures of Boxing, Scroll 14) in Qi's Ji Xiao Xin Shu (i.e.,  New Book of Illustrated Recordings on Effectiveness).  Moreover,  besides the connection between Qi Jiguang's Quan Jing Jie Yao Chapter  and Chen Wangting's bare-hand forms, all the long spear posture names  mentioned in Qi Jiguang's Chang Bing Duan Yong Talk (Talk on Long Weapon  in Close-Contact Use, Scroll 10) in Ji Xiao Xin Shu could also be found  completely incorporated in the posture names of the Chen Family Spear  Set.  Therefore, after other popular theories--some fabricated for  political or self-expedient purposes--regarding the origin of Taijiquan,  e.g., the Zhang Sanfeng legend, the Wang Zongyue (whose Taijiquan Lun,  i.e., Taijiquan Theory, was frequently quoted as one of the classics in  the study of Taijiquan)/Jiang Fa theory, etc., have all been refuted and  found either unsubstantiated historically or contradictory  chronologically with historical facts, scholars had concluded that Chen  Wangting was the one who created and developed totally new and different  boxing and weapon set movements, postures, and applications in his own  martial arts system possibly with the inspiration of the names from Qi's  book, which was in turn a digested record of names, forms, and postures  from many martial arts schools in Qi's time (Tang, H. & Gu, L.,  2004).  In this unique and unprecedented martial arts system, Chen  Wangting created and invented seven sets of empty-hand forms, a long  fist form of one-hundred-and-eight postures, one Paochui (i.e., Canon  Fist) set, push-hand techniques for two people, and training methods for  spear, saber, sword, truncheon, jian, spear-thrusting for two people,  and long-pole (Gu, L., 1983; Chen, Q., 2002)


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 1, 2013)

Pretty much correct as far as history goes, however even in some of the Chen family versions of how it came about you can find differences


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## Blaze Dragon (Feb 1, 2013)

Xue Sheng said:


> Pretty much correct as far as history goes, however even in some of the Chen family versions of how it came about you can find differences



I find this to be frustrating to a degree. I like to give honor and respect to the origin of my arts and the arts of others. So I like to know, I guess at the end of the day as long as you keep it alive and it works then what else can we ask for


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## Xue Sheng (Feb 2, 2013)

BlazeLeeDragon said:


> I find this to be frustrating to a degree. I like to give honor and respect to the origin of my arts and the arts of others. So I like to know, I guess at the end of the day as long as you keep it alive and it works then what else can we ask for



Welcome to CMA history  It can get rather convoluted at times


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## Kung Fu Wang (Feb 2, 2013)

Xue Sheng said:


> Who did Li Jing-lin learn from?



Yang, Jian-Hou,

http://www.wudangdanpai.com/?page_id=104


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