See also: [[Misc./Tai Chi/Chen Style|Chen Style]] for the style this history centers on, and [[Misc./Tai Chi/Peng, Lu, Ji, An|Peng, Lu, Ji, An]] for the four primary energies built on the Yijing theory mentioned below. ## Legend vs. history Popular accounts trace tai chi chuan (taijiquan) to a semi-mythical Daoist priest, Zhang Sanfeng, said to have lived on Wudang Mountain sometime between the Song and Ming dynasties (birth dates given in the legends range wildly — 960, 1247, 1279). The story goes that he watched a crane attack a snake and was struck by how the snake won through stillness, yielding, and a single decisive strike, and from this built a 72-movement form. It's a great origin story, but there's no historical documentation tying Zhang Sanfeng to the art as it's actually practiced today. The verifiable history starts with **Chen Wangting** (1580–1660), a retired Ming-dynasty military officer and 9th-generation head of the Chen family in Chenjiagou (Chen Village), Henan province. Chen Wangting is credited with systematizing the Chen family's martial art by folding in Daoist philosophy, Yijing (Book of Changes) theory, yin-yang principles, and the meridian theory used in traditional Chinese medicine. For generations afterward, the Chen family kept the art within the family and taught it only to insiders. ## From family secret to public art: Yang Luchan That changed with **Yang Luchan** (1799–1871). Depending on which version of the story you read, he either apprenticed himself to the Chen family as a servant to learn their secret art, or was formally accepted as a student of Chen Changxing — either way, he became the first recorded non-family member taught the Chen system. Yang went on to teach in Beijing, softening and adapting the movements (removing some of the explosive stomping and jumping) to make the form more broadly accessible, including to the Qing imperial court. This became Yang-style tai chi, and it's the direct ancestor of most tai chi practiced in the world today. ## The other family styles Three more lineages branched out from Chen and Yang over the 19th and early 20th centuries, giving the five styles China now formally recognizes: - **Chen style** — the original, still practiced today: low stances, fast/slow contrast, and *fa jin* (explosive force release). See [[Misc./Tai Chi/Chen Style|Chen Style]] for more detail. - **Yang style** — Yang Luchan's more accessible adaptation; the most widely practiced style worldwide. - **Wu (Hao) style** — developed by Wu Yuxiang, who studied under Yang Banhou (Yang Luchan's son) and Chen Qingping; slow, soft, compact movements with high stances. - **Wu style** (a different Wu — Wu Chien-ch'üan/Wu Jianquan lineage, founded by his father Wu Quanyou) — blends elements of Chen and Yang. - **Sun style** — the youngest, created by Sun Lutang (1861–1932), who fused Wu (Hao) style with the internal arts baguazhang and xingyiquan. ## 20th century: popularization and export Tai chi's shift from martial art to a widely taught health practice happened largely in the 20th century. **Yang Chengfu** (1883–1936), grandson of Yang Luchan, was the most influential teacher of his generation, touring and teaching across China and further standardizing the Yang form. **Cheng Man-ching** (1900–1976) is the key figure in bringing tai chi to the West. He shortened Yang Chengfu's long form into a more compact "simplified" form, then relocated to New York, where his students helped spread tai chi through the US and beyond. Later, the Chinese government, partly to standardize the increasingly Westernized versions of the art in circulation and partly with an eye toward its eventual UNESCO recognition, promoted simplified standardized forms (e.g. the 24-form "Simplified Taijiquan") for mass practice and export. Today tai chi is practiced globally, mostly for its health and meditative benefits (balance, stress reduction, gentle mobility work) rather than as a combat art — though the martial applications are still trained and preserved within the traditional family lineages. ## Sources consulted - [History of Tai Chi: Origins, Legends, and How It Spread](https://totaltaichi.com/tai-chi-history/origins-of-tai-chi/) - [Chen-style tai chi — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen-style_tai_chi) - [Yang-style tai chi — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang-style_tai_chi) - [Wu (Hao)-style tai chi — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_(Hao)-style_tai_chi) - [Yang Chengfu — Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Chengfu) - [The History of Tai Chi and the role of Cheng Man Ching](https://www.teapotmonk.com/tai-chi-master-cheng-man-ching)