Wu Ch'uan-yu

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This is a Chinese name; the family name is Wu.
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Depiction of a Manchu Imperial Guards Bannerman wearing similar uniform and gear to that worn by Wu Ch'uan-yu as a military officer
Depiction of a Manchu Imperial Guards Bannerman wearing similar uniform and gear to that worn by Wu Ch'uan-yu as a military officer

Wu Ch'uan-yu or Wu Quanyou (吳全佑) (1834–1902) was an influential teacher of T'ai Chi Ch'uan in late Imperial China. He is credited as the founder of the Wu style T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Wu Quanyou was not his birth name as he was of Manchu descent and would have been named by his family in Manchu, which Quan You is a Chinese transliteration of. Late in his life, he was awarded the name "Wú" (吳) by the Imperial Court, which approximated the pronunciation of the first syllable of his Manchu family name. The name has been used by his descendants ever since and subsequently he was known as Wu Quanyou.

Wu Quanyou was a military officer in the Yellow Banner camp (see Qing Dynasty Military) in the Forbidden City, Beijing and also an officer of the Imperial Guards Brigade during the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Yang Luchan (楊露禪) (1799–1872) was the martial arts instructor in that banner camp, teaching T'ai Chi Ch'uan. In the camp, there were many officers studying with Yang Luchan, but only three men, Wan Chun (萬春), Ling Shan (凌山) and Quan You (全佑) (Wu Quanyou) studied diligently and trained hard enough at T'ai Chi Ch'uan to become disciples. They received a true transmission of Yang Luchan’s martial art. However, they were unable to become Yang Luchan's disciples, because Yang Luchan taught T'ai Chi Ch'uan to two men of very high status in the military; they were Shi Shaonan and General Yue Guichen.

These two men officially asked Yang Luchan to teach them and this post for Yang Luchan would have been considered very prestigious indeed. The practice of T'ai Chi Ch'uan was also very popular amongst the princes and courtiers for its therapeutic qualities, but many of these students did not have the required discipline to reach a level where they could become disciples. They are likely, however, to have represented the majority of Yang Luchan’s students.

At that time Wan Chun, Ling Shan and Quan You were middle grade officers in the banner camp and because of their rank, they could not be seen as fellow classmates with nobility and high grade officers. As a result, they were asked to become disciples of Yang Banhou (楊班侯) or Yang Pan-hou, Yang Luchan’s oldest adult son and an instructor as well to the Manchu military.

When Quan You retired from the military, he set up a school in Beijing. Ling Shan wrote down a history and Wan Chun was never known to have had any students.

Wu Quanyou’s Beijing school was quite successful and there were many who studied with him, he was popularly known as Quan Sanye (全三爺) as a term of respect. His disciples were Guo Songting (郭松亭), Wang Maozhai (王茂齋), Xia Gongfu (夏公甫), Chang Yuanting (常遠亭), Qi Gechen (齊閣臣) (see Wudang Tai Chi Chuan Lineage) etc. Quan You’s skills in T'ai Chi Ch'uan were trained to a very high level and as a result he was considered to be a leading exponent of Yang's T'ai Chi Ch'uan. Wu's skills were said to be exceptional in the area of softly "neutralising" (化勁, hua jin) hard energy when attacked, which is a core skill of good T'ai Chi Ch'uan practice as a martial art.

Wu Quanyou's son, Wu Jianquan (吳鑑泉) (1870–1942) also became a cavalry officer and T'ai Chi Ch'uan teacher, working closely with the Yang family and promoting what subsequently came to be known as Wu style T'ai Chi Ch'uan in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.


Contents

[edit] Family tree

This family tree is not comprehensive.

LEGENDARY FIGURES
   |
Zhang Sanfeng*
circa 12th century
NEI CHIA
   |
Wang Zongyue*
T'AI CHI CH'ÜAN
   |
THE 5 MAJOR CLASSICAL FAMILY STYLES
   |
Chen Wangting
1600–1680 9th generation Chen
CHEN STYLE
   |
   +-------------------------------------------------------------------+
   |                                                                   |
Chen Changxing                                                     Chen Youben
1771–1853 14th generation Chen                                     circa 1800s 14th generation Chen
Chen Old Frame                                                     Chen New Frame
   |                                                                   |
Yang Lu-ch'an                                                      Chen Qingping
1799–1872                                                          1795–1868
YANG STYLE                                                         Chen Small Frame, Zhao Bao Frame
   |                                                                   |
   +---------------------------------+-----------------------------+   |
   |                                 |                             |   |
Yang Pan-hou                      Yang Chien-hou                   Wu Yu-hsiang
1837–1892                         1839–1917                        1812–1880
Yang Small Frame                     |                             WU/HAO STYLE
   |                                 +-----------------+                      |
   |                                 |                 |                      |
Wu Ch'uan-yü                      Yang Shao-hou     Yang Ch'eng-fu          Li I-yü
1834–1902                         1862–1930         1883–1936               1832–1892
   |                              Yang Small Frame  Yang Big Frame            |
Wu Chien-ch'üan                                        |                    Hao Wei-chen
1870–1942                                           Yang Shou-chung         1849–1920
WU STYLE                                            1910–1985                 |
108 Form                                                                      |
   |                                                                        Sun Lu-t'ang
Wu Kung-i                                                                   1861–1932
1900–1970                                                                   SUN STYLE
   |                                                                          |
Wu Ta-kuei                                                                  Sun Hsing-i
1923–1970                                                                   1891–1929

Note to Family tree table

Names denoted by an asterisk are legendary or semilegendary figures in the lineage, which means their involvement in the lineage, while accepted by most of the major schools, isn't independently verifiable from known historical records.

[edit] References

  • Wile, Douglas Lost T'ai-chi Classics from the late Ch'ing Dynasty State University of New York Press, Albany, 1996. ISBN 0-7914-2653-X
  • Wu Kung-tsao. Wu Family T'ai Chi Ch'uan (吳家太極拳), Hong Kong, 1980.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

  • [1] Wu family website with a link to a biography of Wu Ch'uan-yu (listed as "Wu Chuan Yau")
  • [2] a possibly apocryphal story of Wu Quanyou
  • [3] Source for relevant Chinese characters in text