Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan
Yang Lu-Chan, the originator of the Yang style of Tai Chi Chuan, was born in 1799 in the province of Hopeh, China. There are many stories about his early life and how he ultimately ended up at Chen village, the home of Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan. It is thought that he learned other styles of martial arts while young, at which time he also learned about Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan. At the time it was well known that the Chen family would only teach family members. In spite of this knowledge, he set out to learn the Chen family martial art secrets.

Yang traveled to Hunan province where he was able to get employment as a servant of Chen Chan-hsing. Chen was a warrior and a famous teacher of the Chen family art. The story now takes and interesting twist in that his main method of learning from master Chen was through spying while master Chen taught his regular students. What makes this interesting is that the Chen family art is difficult enough to learn even with detailed personal instruction. It would have been most difficult to learn it from brief clandestine observations. It is then rather obvious that either this story is not completely accurate or Yang Lu-Chan was a gifted student.

The next part of the story is often contested. One version has it that somehow Chen caught a glimpse of Yang practicing Chen style and after seeing his excellence invited him to become a student. Another version details how Yang had a contest with many of the Chen style students and after easily defeating them was accepted as a real student. A third, and not the last version, has all of the Chen style students being defeated by a nasty bad guy from a rival school. After the defeat, just as the Chen family was about to lose face, Yang came into the picture he easily defeated the enemy, and saved the day for the Chen family. Following the contest Yang Lu-Chan was accepted as a student. I would guess that the Chen family does not endorse the last of the three stories.

After studying the Chen family art , Yang moved back home for a time. Eventually, he ended up in Bei-Jing where he set up a Tai Chi school and taught at the Imperial Court. After many challenge matches, he came to be known as Yang the Unsurpassable. He was rumored to have never lost a challenge match in a city where hand to hand combat was absolutely serious business. Many different stories have been written about his exploits. Yang Lu-Chan had three sons. One died as a youngster and the other two became famous martial artists. Yang Pan-hou was the oldest and did not leave many disciples to continue his teachings. Some say that this was due to his harsh teaching style. Many of his students were injured while learning from him. Yang Chien-hou had a gentler style of teaching and left many disciples to carry on his work.

Yang Pan-hou left few students, two stand outs were Kuo Lin-ying and Wu Quan-you. Wu taught a few students and he also taught his son Wu Chien-chuan. Wu Chien-chuan later developed the Wu style of Tai Chi Chuan. This latter style was based on the Yang and the Chen family styles and is the second most practiced Tai Chi style in the world following the Yang Style.

Yang Chien-hou had three sons, the middle son died at an early age. Both surviving sons learned the family art from their father, but it was the youngest Yang Cheng-fu(1883-1936) that made the family art what it is today. Yang Chen-fu taught his four sons and also had many accomplished students.

Yang Cheng-fu has been credited with making Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan more accessible to the masses. He used the larger circular movements to increase circulation, range of motion and muscular endurance. The movements were made to flow in a rhythmic fashion in order to promote relaxation and decrease tension. The ballistic aspects of the original Chen Style were removed, these changes decreased muscular tension and increased body control. The difficult movements of the Chen Style such as the jump kicks and the splits were also removed. These and many other changes allowed people of all ages, sizes and abilities to participate, and in many cases master this fist art.

Yang Style Tai Chi can be practiced by anyone willing to take the time to learn. It is a style that is used most effectively by seniors in order to improve their daily lives. It can improve balance, endurance, strength, body alignment and postural control. In addition, it can be used for self defense or self protection. The smooth flowing movements and the beautiful postures can be pursued solely for their aesthetic value. It is only necessary to find a qualified teacher who is willing to impart his/her knowledge and for us to take the time to learn.