Wu Chien-ch'uan

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Wu Chien-ch'uan 吳鑑泉

Wu² Chien⁴-ch'üan² (Wade-Giles), or Wú Jiànquán (pinyin), 吳鑑泉 (1870-1942), was a famous teacher of the soft style martial art of T'ai Chi Ch'uan (Taijiquan) in late Imperial and early Republican China.

Wu Chien-ch'uan was taught martial arts by his father, Wu Ch'uan-yu (Wu Quanyuo, 吳全佑, 1834-1902), a famous student of Yang Lu-ch'an, (楊露禪, 1799-1872), and Yang Pan-hou, (楊班侯, 1837-1890). Both Wu Chien-ch'uan and his father were hereditary Manchu cavalry officers of the Yellow Banner as well as the Imperial Guards Brigade, yet the Wu family were to become patriotic supporters of Sun Yat-sen.

At the time of the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912, China was in turmoil, besieged for many years economically and even militarily by several foreign powers, so Wu Chien-ch'uan and his colleagues Yang Shao-hou (楊少侯, 1862-1930), Yang Ch'eng-fu (楊澄甫, 1883-1936) and Sun Lu-t'ang (孫祿堂, 1861-1932) felt a need for the benefits of T'ai Chi Ch'uan training on a national scale. They subsequently offered classes at the Beijing Physical Culture Research Institute to as many people as possible, starting in 1914. It was the first school to ever provide T'ai Chi instruction to the general public. Wu Chien-ch'uan was also asked to teach the Eleventh Corps of the new Presidential Bodyguard as well as at the nationally famous Ching Wu martial arts school.

As a result in the change of focus for T'ai Chi teaching in his time from a mostly secret military art to a discipline made available to the general public, Wu Chien-ch'uan modified the teaching forms he learned from his father somewhat. Wu Chien-ch'uan's changes to the initial forms shown to his students included smoothing overt expressions of fa chin, jumps and other abrupt time changes in the training routines in order to make those forms easier for the general public to learn. These modified elements were preserved and taught in various advanced forms and pushing hands, however.

Wu Chien-ch'uan moved his family to Shanghai in 1928. In 1935, he established the Chien-ch'uan T'ai Chi Ch'uan Association (鑑泉太極拳社) on the ninth floor of the Shanghai YMCA to promote and teach T'ai Chi Ch'uan. What he taught has since become known as Wu style T'ai Chi Ch'uan and is one of the five primary styles practised around the world, the others being Ch'en style T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Yang style T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Wu/Hao style T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Sun style T'ai Chi Ch'uan.

The Chien-ch'uan T'ai Chi Ch'uan Association schools have subsequently been maintained by Wu Chien-ch'uan's descendants. He was succeeded as head of the Wu family system by his oldest son, Wu Kung-i (Wu Gongyi, 吳公儀, 1900-1970), in 1942. Wu Kung-i moved the family headquarters to Hong Kong in 1949. Today the Association still has its international headquarters in Hong Kong and is currently managed by Wu Chien-ch'uan's great-grandson, Wu Kuang-yu (Wu Guangyu, 吳光宇, born 1946), with branches in Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

Several of Wu's disciples also became well known T'ai Chi teachers. Prominent in that number were the senior disciple, Ma Yueh-liang (馬岳樑), Wu T'u-nan (吳圖南) and Cheng Wing-kwong (鄭榮光).

Wu Chien-ch'uan demonstrating the posture Cloud Hands 雲手

[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
1923-1972                                                                   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.