The Origins of Taijiquan
An "unsolved mystery" - this is how you could describe the origin of Taijiquan since so far no one knows when this martial art was exactly developed. In its beginnings Taiji was considered a "folk art", therefore no scientific proof or sources of its development do exist. There are, however, countless anecdotes, legends and stories that were first passed on by word of mouth for centuries and then written down since the 18th century.
The anecdote dating back the farthest tells of a man named Xu Xuanping from Anhui province who is said to have lived in seclusion during the Tang dynasty (618 - 906 A. D.). Taiji Grandmaster Gu Liuxin calls him an "explorer of the mysterious powers". According to legend Xu was a man of supernatural powers. He needed no food and was as fast as a galloping horse. He also practised a Taiji style similar to the Changquan (Long Fist) style that consisted of 37 movements. So far, however, there is no scientific proof for the fact that Xu Xuanping ever lived and that he invented Taijiquan.
The most popular story dealing with the origins of Taiji, however, tells of a Daoist itinerant preacher named Zhang Sanfeng who lived on Wudang Mountain in Hebei province at the beginning of the 14th century. According to legend he once saw a snake fighting with a bird of prey. The flowing, circular movements of the snake evading the attacks of the bird time and again until the exhausted bird finally flew off inspired Zhang to create a martial arts style based on soft, circular, defensive movements. Thus Zhang Sanfeng is generally considered the founding father of Taijiquan.
Yet, from a scientific standpoint the invention of Taiji in China is dated back to the beginning of the 17th century and is accredited to the martial artist Chen Wangting (1600 - 1680 A. D.) from Chen Jiagou in Henan province. Due to written proof he is officially considered the founder of Taijiquan.
According to these written sources Chen Wangting - after retiring from his post as a general and going into seclusion - created several soft martial arts styles that were all based on the philosophy of the "Book Of Changes", on the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine and on different Wushu techniques. Thus he also created Chen Style Taiji which was named after him. His Taiji styles were mostly made popular by Chen Changxing (1771 - 1853 A. D.) who broke with the iron rule of only passing on the knowledge to members of the Chen family and started teaching the styles created by Chen Wangting to the general public.
Until today the Chen Style is considered the oldest and most difficult Taijiquan style. It combines hard, expressive Kungfu movements with soft, continuous, flowing movements. Yang Luchan (1799 - 1872 A. D.), a former servant of the Chen family, later developed the Yang Style which is the most popular Taiji style today. It is characterized by continuous slow, elegant, calm movements that are easy to learn. In later years two different Wu styles and the Sun style were created from the Chen and the Yang Style. And to bring Taiji to a broader public, the Chinese athletics and health authorities have since the 50's ordered Taiji experts to create standardized routines for health maintenance consisting of 8, 16, 24, 32, 42, 48 etc. movements.
