The 6 Taijiquan Families

[Xue Sheng]

The 6 Tai Chi families now recognized by the Peoples Republic of China are Chen, Yang, Wu, Hao, Sun, Zhaobao and what I am posting here is not earth shattering information, actually it is pretty easy to find. But I have been looking into this lately and felt it may be of interest to others.

This is not information as to the true origin of Tai Chi but more to the origin of the Tai Chi we all do today. Currently there is a dispute of the true lineage of Zhaobao, I believe there are some trying to claim that the Chen family had nothing to do with it, but that is as far as I have got in any research I am doing on the subject.

I may do something on Origins later but the origin is a hard to trace and in order to do that topic justice it appears I would need to post 4 to 6 different paths (all disputable and all based on speculation to varying degrees) however they all seem to, at least so far, go to Chen. And if you talk to the Chen family they all start with Chen since they are the origin. And if you think about it they are not far from being correct if you are looking for the origin of the Tai chi we all do today. However if you are looking for all of the bits and pieces that came together to make Chen style that is a different story.

Tai Chi family Origins

Chen Style
Chen Wang-Ting
Chen Chang-Xing
Chen Gen-Yun
Chen Yan-Xi
Chen Fa-Ke

Zhaobao Style
Chen Wang-Ting
Chen Youben
Chen Qingping

Yang Style
Chen Wang-Ting
Yang Lu-Chan
Yang Jian Hou
Yang Cheng-Fu

Wu Style
Chen Wang-Ting
Yang Lu-Chan
Yang Ban-Hou
Wu Quan-yu
Wu Jian-Quan

Hao (Wu) Style
Chen Wang-Ting
Chen You-Ben
Chen Qing-Ping
Wu Yu-Xiang
Li Yi-yu
Hao Wei-Zhen
Hao Yue-ru

Sun Style
Chen Wang-Ting
Chen You-Ben
Chen Qing-Ping
Wu Yu-Xiang
Li Yi-yu
Hao Wei-Zhen
Sun Lutang

Additionally Sun Style also has the following in it's lineage

Xingyiquan
Li Nengjan
Kuo Yunshen
Sun Lutang

Baguazhang
Dong Hai Chuan
Chen Tinghua
Sun Lutang

 

[Xue Sheng]

Thought it would help if I added videos of the different styles

Chen Style

Zhao Bao Taijichuan

Yang Style

Yang Shou Zong (Yang Sau Chung)

Tung Hu Ling

Yang Jun
Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Chen Manching Style

Wu Style
Part 1

Part 2

Northern Wu Style

Hao Style
Hao Shaoru (1907-1983) [1of2]

Hao Shaoru (1907-1983) [2of2]

Sun Style
Sun Jianyun

Sun Jianyun

Note: There are other styles, but these are best known.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Chen Taijiquan 陳家、陳氏 or 陳式 太極拳

Zhaobao Taijiquan &#36249;&#22561;&#24573;&#38728;&#26550;&#22826;&#26997;&#25331;</SPAN>

Yang Taijiquan &#26954;&#27663;

Wu Taijiquan &#21555;&#27663;

Wu/Hao Taijquan &#27494;&#27663;

Sun Taijiquan &#23403;&#27663;

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

I always wondered where the Lee family Taichi comes from and

Also Wudang style comes from.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I always wondered where the Lee family Taichi comes from and

Also Wudang style comes from.

I was thinking about looking into the origins of various other styles that the PRC does not recognize as Taiji family styles. Lee/Li and Chang are on that list.

As for Wudang, it depends on who you talk to. Most Taoists will tell you it comes from Zhang San-Feng others (non-taoists) will tell you it comes for Chen Zhenglei

I think it will be really difficult pinning down an origin for Wudang because of the firm belief of its practitioners in Zhang San Feng

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

Most Taoists will tell you it comes from Zhang San-Feng others (non-taoists) will tell you it comes for Chen Zhenglei

See thats the problem right there!!:boing2:

 

[Xue Sheng]

Standard Competition 73 Movements Form

http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/sun73.htm

 

[Formosa Neijia]

Zhaobao Taijiquan &#36249;&#22561;&#24573;&#38728;&#26550;&#22826;&#26997;&#25331;

What you have in Chinese there will be controversial in certain circles. In Chinese it says Zhaobao hulingjia taijiquan. The hulingjia is also known as huleijia and is associated with zhaobao taijiquan as practiced in Taiwan by certain groups.

As practiced in mainland China, the two groups zhaobao and huleijia usually see themselves as separate. And in fact the arts usually look quite a bit different, although that depends on who's doing them.

Just food for thought as you're searching since plugging that specific term into Chinese Google will give certain results but not others.