The Five Taijiquan Families Plus One

[Xue Sheng]

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 (陳&#27663 of Chen Wangting (1580–1660)
Yang-style (楊&#27663 of Yang Luchan (1799–1872)
Wu- or Wu (Hao)-style (武&#27663 of Wu Yuxiang (1812–1880)
Wu-style (吳&#27663 of Wu Quanyou (1834–1902) and his son Wu Jianquan (1870–1942)
Sun-style (孫&#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 (陳有&#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)

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

You have missed the Chang style Taiji.

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

 

[Xue Sheng]

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?

 

[blindsage]

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.

 

[Blaze Dragon]

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)

 

[Xue Sheng]

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

 

[Blaze Dragon]

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

 

[Xue Sheng]

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

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Who did Li Jing-lin learn from?

Yang, Jian-Hou,

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