Yang Lu Chan
Yang Fu Kui, later called Yang Lu Chan (the "Lu" having two different Chinese characters as accepted) was born in 1799 and died in 1872. Yang Lu Chan's family was from Hebei Province, Guangping Prefecture, Yongnian County and since childhood his family was poor. He would follow his father in planting the fields and as a teenager held temporary jobs. One period of temporary work was spent in doing odd jobs at the Tai He Tang Chinese pharmacy located in the west part of Yongnian City (the pharmacy was opened by Chen De Hu of the Chen Village in Henan Province, Huaiqing Prefecture, Wen County). As a child, Yang Lu Chan liked martial arts and started studying Chang Chuan, gaining a certain level of skill. One day he saw some hoodlums who came to the pharmacy looking for trouble. One of the partners of the pharmacy used a kind of martial art that Yang Lu Chan had never before seen to easily subdue the troublemakers. Because of this, Yang Lu Chan decided to study with the owner of the Tai He Tang pharmacy, Cheng De Hu. He saw that Yang Lu Chan came from the heart and was eager to study and sent Yang Lu Chan to the Chen Village to seek the 14th generation of the Chen Family Chen Chang Xing as his teacher.
Yang Jian Hou
Yang Jian, called Jian Hou, was nicknamed Jian Hu and called "3rd Son" until his later years when he was referred to as just "old man". Born in 1842, he started studying Tai Chi Chuan with his father at a young age. Under the strict requirements of his father he would practice hard all day. Frequently feeling that he could not endure it any longer, he tried several times to run away. It was clear that working hard daily at practicing gongfu under his father's watchful eye caused his skill to greatly improve. Finally he became a man of great talent. Jian Hou took his father's old frame and revised it into the medium frame. He also mastered the saber, spear, sword and other weapons. His sword skill was renowned for combining softness and hardness. Jian Hou even mastered using pellets (dan4). He would hold three or four in his hand at one time and when thrown simultaneously each would strike a different bird in flight. He earned the fame of not wasting one pellet when thrown.
Yang Chengfu
He was born into the famous Yang Taijiquan family, the son of Yang Chien-hou and grandson of Yang Lu-chan. With his older brother Yang Shao-hou (楊少侯) and colleagues Wu Jianquan (吳鑑泉) and Sun Lutang (孫錄堂), he was among the first teachers to offer T'ai chi ch'uan instruction to the general public at the Beijing Physical Culture Research Institute from 1914 until 1928. He moved to Shanghai in 1928.
Yang Chengfu is known for having "smoothed" out the somewhat more vigorous training routine he learned from his family as well as emphasising a "large frame" or "Da Jia (大架)" with expansive movements in stepping and using large circular motions with the arms. His smooth, evenly-paced large frame form and its hundreds of offshoots has been the standard for Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan (and overwhelmingly in the public imagination for T'ai chi ch'uan in general) ever since.
Yang Chengfu is the official author of two books on the style, Application methods of Taijiquan, published in 1931, and Essence and Applications of Taijiquan (Taijiquan Tiyong Quanshu), published in 1934. His second book was translated into English in 2005.
Students and Descendants
His direct descendants, the many students he taught, and their students, have spread the art around the world. Among Yang Chengfu's students were famous masters such as Tung Ying-chieh (Dong Yingjie, 董英杰; 1898–1961), Chen Weiming, Fu Zhongwen (Fu Chung-wen, 1903–1994), Li Yaxuan (李雅轩; 1894–1976) and Cheng Man-ch'ing. Each of them taught extensively, founding groups teaching T'ai chi to this day. Cheng Man-ch'ing, perhaps the most famous outside of China, significantly shortened and simplified the traditional forms Yang taught him after his teacher's passing, reportedly to make them more accessible to larger numbers of students. Although Cheng's modifications are considered controversial by most other schools and are not recognized by the Yang family, Cheng Man-ch'ing is known as the first to teach T'ai chi ch'uan (Taijiquan) in the West.
His sons have continued to teach their father's Taijiquan, including his first son, the late Yang Zhenming (1910–1985) (a.k.a. Yang Shaozhong, Yang Shao-Chung, Yeung Shao-Chung; 楊守中), who brought Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan to Hong Kong, his second son Yang Zhenji (born 1921, current head of the family), his third son, Yang Zhenduo (楊振鐸; born 1926), living in Shanxi Province, who is widely considered the most prominent of the Yang family T'ai chi ch'uan instructors living today, and his fourth son, Yang Zhen Guo, born in 1928, and living in Hebei Province, Handan City.
Cheng Man-ching
About Cheng Man-ching
Cheng Man-ching was a student of Yang Cheng-Fu. Cheng Man-ching, an important figure in the history of Tai Chi Chuan, has been famous for his widely recognized Tai Chi form and his experience. Among various styles of Tai Chi, the Yang-style short form represented by him is also very famous.
Cheng Man-ching was born in Yongjia, Zhejiang Province He died March 26, 1975. Cheng was trained in Chinese medicine, Tai Chi Chuan, calligraphy, painting and poetry. Because of his skills in these five areas (among some of the traditional skills and pastimes of a Confucian scholar in traditional China) he was often referred to as the "Master of Five Excellences." Because he had been a college professor, his students called him "Professor Cheng."
Characteristics of Cheng's Yang-style short form
The following are some of the characteristics of his "Yang-style short form."
It eliminates most of the repetitions of certain moves of the Yang long form.
It takes around ten minutes to practice instead of the twenty to thirty minutes of the Yang long form.
The hand and wrist are held open, yet relaxed, in what Cheng called the "Fair Lady's Hand" formation (as opposed to the straighter "Chinese tile" formation of the Yang style).
The form postures are not as expansive as Yang Ch'eng-fu's form.
Cheng postures are performed in "middle frame" style, which changes the movement of the feet from the Yang version.
Cheng's concept of "swing and return" in which the movement from one movement to another initiates the next.
The number of postures in different Tai Chi styles varies greatly. The original Tai Chi form consisted of 13 postures, based on the 8 trigrams and 5 elements. One of the most widely practiced styles of Tai Chi, Yang Style Long Form, uses a form with 108 postures and generally takes at least 20 minutes to complete.
Professor Cheng stated that one should take at least 7 minutes to perform his form for health benefits, and 10-12 minutes for "something more". The 37 form of Tai Chi designed by Professor Cheng include the preparation, beginning and several forms.
