T'ai chi ch'uan

T'ai chi ch'uan (simplified Chinese: 太极拳; traditional Chinese: 太極拳; pinyin: tàijíquán; Wade–Giles: t'ai⁴ chi² ch'üan²; literally "Supreme Ultimate Fist"), often shortened to T'ai chi or Tai chi in the West, is a type of internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and its health benefits. It is also typically practiced for a variety of other personal reasons: its hard and soft martial art technique, demonstration competitions, and longevity. As a consequence, a multitude of training forms exist, both traditional and modern, which correspond to those aims. Some of t'ai chi ch'uan's training forms are especially known for being practiced at what most people categorize as slow movement.

Today, t'ai chi ch'uan has spread worldwide. Most modern styles of t'ai chi ch'uan trace their development to at least one of the five traditional schools: Chen, Yang, Wu/Hao, Wu, and Sun.

Overview

The term t'ai chi ch'uan translates as "supreme ultimate fist", "boundless fist", "great extremes boxing", or simply "the ultimate" (note that chi in this instance is the Wade-Giles transliteration of the Pinyin jí, and is distinct from qì (or chi 氣), meaning "life energy". The concept of the Taiji ("supreme ultimate") appears in both Taoist and Confucian Chinese philosophy, where it represents the fusion or mother^[1] of Yin and Yang into a single Ultimate, represented by the Taijitu symbol. T'ai chi theory and practice evolved in agreement with many Chinese philosophical principles, including those of Taoism and Confucianism.

T'ai chi training involves five elements, nei gung, tui shou (response drills), sanshou (self defence techniques), weapons, and solo hand routines, known as forms (套路 taolu). While t'ai chi ch'uan is typified by some for its slow movements, many t'ai chi styles (including the three most popular - Yang, Wu, and Chen) - have secondary forms of a faster pace. Some traditional schools of t'ai chi teach partner exercises known as "pushing hands", and martial applications of the forms' postures.

In China, t'ai chi ch'uan is categorized under the Wudang grouping of Chinese martial arts^[2]—that is, the arts applied with internal power ^[3](an even broader term encompassing all internal martial arts is Neijia) Although the Wudang name falsely suggests these arts originated at the so-called Wudang Mountain, it is simply used to distinguish the skills, theories and applications of the "internal arts" from those of the Shaolin grouping, the "hard" or "external" martial art styles.^[4]

Since the first widespread promotion of t'ai chi's health benefits by Yang Shaohou, Yang Chengfu, Wu Chien-ch'uan, and Sun Lutang in the early 20th century,^[5] it has developed a worldwide following among people with little or no interest in martial training, for its benefit to health and health maintenance.^[6] Medical studies of t'ai chi support its effectiveness as an alternative exercise and a form of martial arts therapy.

Master Choy Hok Pang, a disciple of Yang Ching Po and the first proponent of T'ai Chi Ch'uan to teach in the United States, began teaching T'ai Chi Chuan in the United States in 1939. Subsequently, his son and student Master Choy Kam Man emigrated to San Francisco from Hong Kong in 1949 to teach T'ai Chi Ch'uan in San Francisco's Chinatown. Choy Kam Man taught until he died in 1994.^[7][8]

It is purported that focusing the mind solely on the movements of the form helps to bring about a state of mental calm and clarity. Besides general health benefits and stress management attributed to t'ai chi training, aspects of traditional Chinese medicine are taught to advanced t'ai chi students in some traditional schools.^[9]

Some other forms of martial arts require students to wear a uniform during practice. In general, t'ai chi ch'uan schools do not require a uniform, but both traditional and modern teachers often advocate loose, comfortable clothing and flat-soled shoes.^[10][11]

The physical techniques of t'ai chi ch'uan are described in the tai chi classics, a set of writings by traditional masters, as being characterized by the use of leverage through the joints based on coordination and relaxation, rather than muscular tension, in order to neutralize, yield, or initiate attacks. The slow, repetitive work involved in the process of learning how that leverage is generated gently and measurably increases, opens the internal circulation (breath, body heat, blood, lymph, peristalsis, etc.)

The study of t'ai chi ch'uan primarily involves three aspects:

• Health: An unhealthy or otherwise uncomfortable person may find it difficult to meditate to a state of calmness or to use t'ai chi as a martial art. t'ai chi's health training, therefore, concentrates on relieving the physical effects of stress on the body and mind. For those focused on t'ai chi's martial application, good physical fitness is an important step towards effective self-defense.
• Meditation: The focus and calmness cultivated by the meditative aspect of t'ai chi is seen as necessary in maintaining optimum health (in the sense of relieving stress and maintaining homeostasis) and in application of the form as a soft style martial art.
• Martial art: The ability to use t'ai chi as a form of self-defense in combat is the test of a student's understanding of the art. T'ai chi ch'uan is the study of appropriate change in response to outside forces, the study of yielding and "sticking" to an incoming attack rather than attempting to meet it with opposing force.^[12] The use of t'ai chi as a martial art is quite challenging and requires a great deal of training.^[13]

Name

What is now known as "T'ai chi ch'uan" only appears to have received this appellation from around the mid 1800's. There was a scholar in the Imperial Court by the name of Ong Tong He who witnessed a demonstration by Yang Luchan ("Unbeatable Yang"). Afterwards Ong wrote: "Hands holding Taiji shakes the whole world, a chest containing ultimate skill defeats a gathering of heroes." This was the time when Yang Luchan made the Chen clan's martial art known to the world through his own form ("Yang family style").

Before this time the Art had no name. It was simply an unusual martial art practiced by a few. Jiang Fa passed down the Art to Chen Qing Ping in Zhao Bao Town and Chen Zhang Xin in Chen Jia Gou. Before the time of Yang Luchan, the Art appears to have been generically described by outsiders as "Touch Boxing" (沾拳 zhan quan), "Soft Boxing" （绵拳 mian quan） or "The Thirteen techniques" （十三式 shi san shi）.

The name "T'ai chi ch'uan" is held to be derived from the Taiji symbol (Taijitu or T'ai chi t'u, 太極圖), commonly known in the West as the "yin-yang" diagram.

The appropriateness of this more recent appellation is seen in the oldest literature preserved by these schools where the art is said to be a study of yin (receptive) and yang (active) principles, using terminology found in the Chinese classics, especially the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching.^[4]

History and styles

There are five major styles of t'ai chi ch'uan, each named after the Chinese family from which it originated:

• Chen-style (陳氏) of Chen Wangting (1580–1660)
• Yang-style (楊氏) of Yang Lu-ch'an (1799–1872)
• Wu- or Wu/Hao-style (武氏) of Wu Yu-hsiang (1812–1880)
• Wu-style (吳氏) of Wu Ch'uan-yu (1834–1902) and his son Wu Chien-ch'uan (1870–1942)
• Sun-style (孫氏) of Sun Lu-t'ang (1861–1932)

The order of verifiable age is as listed above. The order of popularity (in terms of number of practitioners) is Yang, Wu, Chen, Sun, and Wu/Hao.^[4] The major family styles share much underlying theory, but differ in their approaches to training.

There are now dozens of new styles, hybrid styles, and offshoots of the main styles, but the five family schools are the groups recognized by the international community as being the orthodox styles. Other important styles are Zhaobao tai chi chuan, a close cousin of Chen-style, which has been newly recognized by Western practitioners as a distinct style, and the Fu style, created by Fu Chen Sung, which evolved from Chen, Sun and Yang styles, and also incorporates movements from Baguazhang (Pa Kua Chang).

The differences between the different styles range from varying speeds to the very way in which the movements are performed. For example, Parting the Wild Horse's Mane in Yang style does not at all resemble the very same movement in Sun style. Also, the Sun 73 forms take as long to perform as the Yang 24 forms.

All existing styles can be traced back to the Chen-style, which had been passed down as a family secret for generations. The Chen family chronicles record Chen Wangting, of the family's 9th generation, as the inventor of what is known today as t'ai chi. Yang Lu-ch'an became the first person outside the family to learn t'ai chi. His success in fighting earned him the nickname "Unbeatable Yang", and his fame and efforts in teaching greatly contributed to the subsequent spreading of t'ai chi knowledge.

When tracing t'ai chi ch'uan's formative influences to Taoist and Buddhist monasteries, there seems little more to go on than legendary tales from a modern historical perspective, but t'ai chi ch'uan's practical connection to and dependence upon the theories of Sung dynasty Neo-Confucianism (a conscious synthesis of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian traditions, especially the teachings of Mencius) is claimed by some traditional schools.^[4] T'ai chi's theories and practice are believed by these schools to have been formulated by the Taoist monk Zhang Sanfeng in the 12th century, at about the same time that the principles of the Neo-Confucian school were making themselves felt in Chinese intellectual life.^[4] However, modern research casts serious doubts on the validity of those claims, pointing out that a 17th-century piece called "Epitaph for Wang Zhengnan" (1669), composed by Huang Zongxi (1610-1695 A.D.), is the earliest reference indicating any connection between Zhang Sanfeng and martial arts whatsoever, and must not be taken literally but must be understood as a political metaphor instead. Claims of connections between t'ai chi and Zhang Sanfeng appear no earlier than the 19th century.^[14]

Family trees

These family trees are not comprehensive. Names denoted by an asterisk are legendary or semi-legendary figures in the lineage; while their involvement in the lineage is accepted by most of the major schools, it is not independently verifiable from known historical records. The Cheng Man-ch'ing and Chinese Sports Commission short forms are derived from Yang family forms, but neither is recognized as Yang family t'ai chi ch'uan by standard-bearing Yang family teachers. The Chen, Yang, and Wu families are now promoting their own shortened demonstration forms for competitive purposes.

Legendary figures

Five major classical family styles

Modern forms

Training and techniques

The core training involves two primary features: the first being the solo form (ch'üan or quán, 拳), a slow sequence of movements which emphasize a straight spine, abdominal breathing and a natural range of motion; the second being different styles of pushing hands (tui shou, 推手) for training movement principles of the form with a partner and in a more practical manner.

The solo form should take the students through a complete, natural range of motion over their center of gravity. Accurate, repeated practice of the solo routine is said to retrain posture, encourage circulation throughout the students' bodies, maintain flexibility through their joints, and further familiarize students with the martial application sequences implied by the forms. The major traditional styles of t'ai chi have forms that differ somewhat in terms of aesthetics, but there are also many obvious similarities that point to their common origin. The solo forms — empty-hand and weapon - are catalogs of movements that are practiced individually in pushing hands and martial application scenarios to prepare students for self-defense training. In most traditional schools, different variations of the solo forms can be practiced: fast–slow, small circle–large circle, square–round (which are different expressions of leverage through the joints), low-sitting/high-sitting (the degree to which weight-bearing knees are kept bent throughout the form), for example.

The philosophy of T'ai Chi Ch'uan is that, if one uses hardness to resist violent force, then both sides are certain to be injured at least to some degree. Such injury, according to t'ai chi theory, is a natural consequence of meeting brute force with brute force. Instead, students are taught not to directly fight or resist an incoming force, but to meet it in softness and follow its motion while remaining in physical contact until the incoming force of attack exhausts itself or can be safely redirected, meeting yang with yin. Done correctly, this yin/yang or yang/yin balance in combat, or in a broader philosophical sense, is a primary goal of t'ai chi ch'uan training. Lao Tzu provided the archetype for this in the Tao Te Ching when he wrote, "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong."

T'ai chi's martial aspect relies on sensitivity to the opponent's movements and center of gravity dictating appropriate responses. Effectively affecting or "capturing" the opponent's center of gravity immediately upon contact is trained as the primary goal of the martial t'ai chi student.^[9] The sensitivity needed to capture the center is acquired over thousands of hours of first yin (slow, repetitive, meditative, low-impact) and then later adding yang ("realistic," active, fast, high-impact) martial training through forms, pushing hands, and sparring. T'ai chi trains in three basic ranges: close, medium and long, and then everything in between. Pushes and open-hand strikes are more common than punches, and kicks are usually to the legs and lower torso, never higher than the hip, depending on style. The fingers, fists, palms, sides of the hands, wrists, forearms, elbows, shoulders, back, hips, knees, and feet are commonly used to strike, with strikes to the eyes, throat, heart, groin, and other acupressure points trained by advanced students. Joint traps, locks, and breaks (chin na) are also used. Most t'ai chi teachers expect their students to thoroughly learn defensive or neutralizing skills first, and a student will have to demonstrate proficiency with them before offensive skills will be extensively trained. There is also an emphasis in the traditional schools in which one is expected to show wu te (武德), martial virtue or heroism, to protect the defenseless, and show mercy to one's opponents.^[5]

In addition to the physical form, martial t'ai chi ch'uan schools also focus on how the energy of a strike affects the other person. A palm strike that looks to have the same movement may be performed in such a way that it has a completely different effect on the target's body. A palm strike that could simply push the opponent backward, could instead be focused in such a way as to lift the opponent vertically off the ground, breaking his/her center of gravity; or it could terminate the force of the strike within the other person's body with the intent of causing internal damage.

Other training exercises include:

• Weapons training and fencing applications employing the straight sword known as the jian or chien or gim (jiàn 劍), a heavier curved sabre, sometimes called a broadsword or tao (dāo 刀, which is actually considered a big knife), folding fan also called san, wooden staff (2m. in length) known as kun (棍), 7 foot (2 m) spear and 13 foot (4 m) lance (both called qiāng 槍). More exotic weapons still used by some traditional styles are the large Dadao or Ta Tao (大刀) and Pudao or P'u Tao (撲刀) sabres, halberd (jǐ 戟), cane, rope-dart, three sectional staff, Wind and fire wheels, lasso, whip, chain whip and steel whip.
• Two-person tournament sparring (as part of push hands competitions and/or sanshou 散手);
• Breathing exercises; nei kung (內功 nèigōng) or, more commonly, qigong (氣功 ch'i kung) to develop qi (氣 ch'i) or "breath energy" in coordination with physical movement and post standing or combinations of the two. These were formerly taught only to disciples as a separate, complementary training system. In the last 60 years they have become better known to the general public.

Modern T'ai chi

With purely a health emphasis, t'ai chi classes have become popular in hospitals, clinics, and community and senior centers in the last twenty years or so, as baby boomers age and the art's reputation as a low-stress training for seniors became better known.^[15][16]

As a result of this popularity, there has been some divergence between those that say they practice t'ai chi primarily for self-defense, those that practice it for its aesthetic appeal (see wushu below), and those that are more interested in its benefits to physical and mental health. The wushu aspect is primarily for show; the forms taught for those purposes are designed to earn points in competition and are mostly unconcerned with either health maintenance or martial ability. More traditional stylists believe the two aspects of health and martial arts are equally necessary: the yin and yang of t'ai chi ch'uan. The t'ai chi "family" schools, therefore, still present their teachings in a martial art context, whatever the intention of their students in studying the art.^[17]

T'ai chi as sport

In order to standardize t'ai chi ch'uan for wushu tournament judging, and because many t'ai chi ch'uan teachers had either moved out of China or had been forced to stop teaching after the Communist regime was established in 1949, the government sponsored the Chinese Sports Committee, who brought together four of their wushu teachers to truncate the Yang family hand form to 24 postures in 1956. They wanted to retain the look of t'ai chi ch'uan but create a routine that would be less difficult to teach and much less difficult to learn than longer (in general, 88 to 108 posture), classical, solo hand forms. In 1976, they developed a slightly longer form also for the purposes of demonstration that still would not involve the complete memory, balance, and coordination requirements of the traditional forms. This became the Combined 48 Forms that were created by three wushu coaches, headed by Professor Men Hui Feng. The combined forms were created based on simplifying and combining some features of the classical forms from four of the original styles: Chen, Yang, Wu, and Sun. As t'ai chi again became popular on the mainland, more competitive forms were developed to be completed within a six-minute time limit. In the late-1980s, the Chinese Sports Committee standardized many different competition forms. They developed sets to represent the four major styles as well as combined forms. These five sets of forms were created by different teams, and later approved by a committee of wushu coaches in China. All sets of forms thus created were named after their style, e.g., the Chen-style National Competition Form is the 56 Forms, and so on. The combined forms are The 42-Form or simply the Competition Form. Another modern form is the 67 movements Combined Tai-Chi Chuan form, created in the 1950s; it contains characteristics of the Yang, Wu, Sun, Chen, and Fu styles blended into a combined form. The wushu coach Bow Sim Mark is a notable exponent of the 67 Combined form.

These modern versions of t'ai chi ch'uan (often listed as the pinyin romanization Taijiquan among practitioners, teachers and masters) have since become an integral part of international wushu tournament competition, and have been featured in popular movies starring or choreographed by well-known wushu competitors, such as Jet Li and Donnie Yen.

In the 11th Asian Games of 1990, wushu was included as an item for competition for the first time with the 42-Form being chosen to represent t'ai chi. The International Wushu Federation (IWUF) applied for wushu to be part of the Olympic games, but will not count medals.^[18]

Practitioners also test their practical martial skills against students from other schools and martial arts styles in pushing hands and sanshou competition.

Qigong vs T'ai chi

Qigong (气功 or 氣功) involves coordinated breathing, movement, and awareness used for exercise, healing, and meditation. While some scholars and practitioners consider t'ai chi to be a type of qigong,^[19] the two are more commonly distinguished as separate but closely related practices, with qigong playing an important role in training for t'ai chi, and with many ta'i chi movements performed as part of qigong practice. The focus of qigong is typically more on healing or meditation than martial applications.

Health benefits

Before t'ai chi's introduction to Western students, the health benefits of t'ai chi ch'uan were largely explained through the lens of traditional Chinese medicine, which is based on a view of the body and healing mechanisms not always studied or supported by modern science. Today, t'ai chi is in the process of being subjected to rigorous scientific studies in the West.^[20] Now that the majority of health studies have displayed a tangible benefit in some areas to the practice of t'ai chi, health professionals have called for more in-depth studies to determine mitigating factors such as the most beneficial style, suggested duration of practice to show the best results, and whether t'ai chi is as effective as other forms of exercise.^[20]

Chronic conditions

Researchers have found that intensive t'ai chi practice shows some favorable effects on the promotion of balance control, flexibility, cardiovascular fitness, and has shown to reduce the risk of falls in both healthy elderly patients,^[21] and those recovering from chronic stroke,^[22] heart failure, high blood pressure, heart attacks, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and fibromyalgia.^[23][24] T'ai chi's gentle, low impact movements burn more calories than surfing and nearly as many as downhill skiing.^[25]

T'ai chi, along with yoga, has reduced levels of LDLs 20–26 milligrams when practiced for 12–14 weeks.^[26] A thorough review of most of these studies showed limitations or biases that made it difficult to draw firm conclusions on the benefits of t'ai chi.^[20] A later study led by the same researchers conducting the review found that t'ai chi (compared to regular stretching) showed the ability to greatly reduce pain and improve overall physical and mental health in people over 60 with severe osteoarthritis of the knee.^[27] In addition, a pilot study, which has not been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal, has found preliminary evidence that t'ai chi and related qigong may reduce the severity of diabetes.^[28] In a randomized trial of 66 patients with fibromyalgia, the t'ai chi intervention group did significantly better in terms of pain, fatigue, sleeplessness and depression than a comparable group given stretching exercises and wellness education.^[24]

A recent study evaluated the effects of two types of behavioral intervention, t'ai chi and health education, on healthy adults, who, after 16 weeks of the intervention, were vaccinated with VARIVAX, a live attenuated Oka/Merck Varicella zoster virus vaccine. The t'ai chi group showed higher and more significant levels of cell-mediated immunity to varicella zoster virus than the control group that received only health education. It appears that t'ai chi augments resting levels of varicella zoster virus-specific cell-mediated immunity and boosts the efficacy of the varicella vaccine. T'ai chi alone does not lessen the effects or probability of a shingles attack, but it does improve the effects of the varicella zoster virus vaccine.^[29]

Stress and mental health

A systematic review and meta-analysis, funded in part by the U.S. government, of the current (as of 2010) studies on the effects of practicing t'ai chi found that, "Twenty-one of 33 randomized and nonrandomized trials reported that 1 hour to 1 year of regular t'ai chi significantly increased psychological well-being including reduction of stress, anxiety, and depression, and enhanced mood in community-dwelling healthy participants and in patients with chronic conditions. Seven observational studies with relatively large sample sizes reinforced the beneficial association between t'ai chi practice and psychological health."^[30]

There have also been indications that t'ai chi might have some effect on noradrenaline and cortisol production with an effect on mood and heart rate. However, the effect may be no different than those derived from other types of physical exercise.^[31] In one study, t'ai chi has also been shown to reduce the symptoms of Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in 13 adolescents. The improvement in symptoms seem to persist after the t'ai chi sessions were terminated.^[32]

In June, 2007 the United States National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine published an independent, peer-reviewed, meta-analysis of the state of meditation research, conducted by researchers at the University of Alberta Evidence-based Practice Center. The report reviewed 813 studies (88 involving t'ai chi) of five broad categories of meditation: mantra meditation, mindfulness meditation, yoga, t'ai chi, and qigong. The report concluded that "the therapeutic effects of meditation practices cannot be established based on the current literature," and "firm conclusions on the effects of meditation practices in healthcare cannot be drawn based on the available evidence.^[33]

Tai chi chuan's fighting effectiveness

One of the most recurrent and controversial topics among tai chi chuan practitioners is which of the various tai chi chuan styles is the most effective one in fighting. The discussion is usually topicalised around Chen and Yang styles, as the oldest and most widely practised styles nowadays. It is generally acknowledged that Chen's proponents argue in favour of their style, not least because the rigorous and explosive way that the Chen forms are to be done makes the link between their moves and their potential fighting applications much more directly and clearly extrapolated than what is the case in the other styles.

Yang style practitioners seem to reply that their forms are not propounded but slow and relaxed for the only reason that done this way it is more beneficial when learning how to get used to all what has to be collectively orchestrated, such as the correct posture, the appropriate breathing, the seamless transitions, etc, aspects on the mastery of which one can be working indefinitely indeed. In addition, Yang practitioners bring in favour of their argument the alleged victory of Yang Lu Chan, the founder of Yang style tai chi chuan, over a martial artist who had fought and defeated all the senior members of the Chen village (Chenjiagou) and who insisted on also fighting Chen Chang Xing, the head of the Chen village.

In any case, all the tai chi chuan styles seem to join forces when they have to argue for the effectiveness of tai chi chuan in general. Tai chi chuan's effectiveness is nowadays sometimes not acknowledged for a variety of reasons. One of these reasons is some people's difficulty to see any fighting elements in tai chi chuan. A lot of instructors are ignorant of what tai chi chuan really is, but they continue teaching it taking advantage of the fact that the legislation in their countries allows them to do so since there is not any one overseeing official international body or an individual keeper to ratify instructors and their knowledge and skills. Then, as is the case in acupuncture, homeopathy, astrology, palmistry, and other disciplines of the 'alternative scene', there are many self-appointed gurus, whose sessions give zero if not negative results and should be avoided.

Or the so-called 'walking meditation' and the health benefits thereof are obfuscated, especially when it comes to Yang tai chi chuan, minimasing or even negating the fighting focus. The parody films with tai chi chuan masters flying around or having supernatural strength or speed or reflectives do not help either (see section Tai Chi Chuan in Popular Culture below), and that is also the case with the modern sport-oriented point-gathering standardised or creative tai chi chuan forms (taolu) such the ones of the modern wushu competitions. All these spread tai chi chuan, but also perpetuate the vicious circle of ignorance about tai chi chuan's fighting elements.

Others acknowledge the fighting elements of tai chi chuan, but they argue that these are not effective enough. One could counter-argue this by referring them to the hard facts that tai chi chuan has been used even in real life battlefields from its inception in the 13th century and throughout China's history ever since, and has thus proven its real nature. Lately, in its 37 move form version shortened by Zheng Man Qing, it also became the martial art taught to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army during World War II. Also, it is worth referring to the tai chi chuan classic texts known as tai chi chuan classics, e.g. Yang Ban Hou's Forty Tai Chi Chuan Treatises,^[34] in which there are extensive discussions about the inclusion of striking with the hands, the elbows, the shoulders, the knees, kicking with the feet, air chokings, blood blockings, muscle tearings, bone breakings and joint misplacements or joint locks (chin na), maximising effect by aiming at specific vulnerable points (dim mak), wrestling throw aways and take downs (shuai jiao), specific advice of how all these should be executed and when they should be executed in fighting, as well as how to deal with the opponents' upcoming attacks using what later came to be known as pushing hands (tui shou), how to draw from your internal resources too with this putting tai chi chuan in the so-called 'internal' martial arts (neijia), and many more.

It is then transpired that tai chi chuan is not only fight-related but also that its syllabus is a well-rounded one. It is on these premises that the famous martial arts author and monk Wong Kiew Kit, fourth generation successor from the Southern Shaolin Monastery, although he himself teaches shaolin gong fu styles and not tai chi chuan, and perhaps this adds to the objectivity of his words, in his Complete Book of Tai Chi Chuan^[35] (2001: pp. 1–2), he writes:

Karate specializes in hitting, so a Karate exponent meeting someone who uses Taekwondo or Siamese Fighting, which specialize in kicking, would be handicapped, because the Karate repertoire does not include many kicking techniques. If a Taekwondo exponent meets a Judo expert, the former would have difficulty overcoming the latter's throws, because in Taekwondo, throws are seldom used. Conversely, the Judo expert would be hard pressed to defend against Taekwondo kicks or Karate punches, because the normal Judo training provides little practice against such combat situations. One way to prepare yourself to handle any fighting situation is to learn all these different martial arts. A better alternative is to learn Tai Chi Chuan; it not only saves time and effort, it also gives advantages not found in these other martial arts.

In addition to the arguments on a theoretical level, it is also worth mentioning two very famous real life sparring instances between tai chi chuan masters and practitioners of other martial arts. The founder of the Kyokushinkai karate, Masutatsu 'Mas' Oyama, in his 1977 book Karate Baka Ichidai (Karate for life) ^[36] himself admitted that he only experienced one defeat in his entire life as a karareka and that this defeat was by a tai chi chuan master. According to his own narration, after defeating the allegedly formidable Muay Thai fighter "Black Cobra" in Thailand, Oyama travelled to Hong Kong to challenge a certain Mr Chen, a man who was rumoured to be a great tai chi chuan master at that time. Although Mr Chen proved to be an old frail man who did not look like being a famous martial artist, he accepted the challenge. Mr Chen was diverting and thus neutralising all the karate attacks that Oyama was delivering. In turn, when Mr Chen was counter-attacking, it was with such force and speed and accuracy that Oyama mentions that he could not believe that they were coming from a man of this age and physique. Eventually, having exhausted all his techniques and seeing no sign of fatigue in the old man, Oyama gave up admitting that he could win over Mr Chen.

As Oyama continues in his book, Mr Chen laughed and thanked him for giving him such a great workout. He also invited him to stay with him for a few days to learn more, and Oyama was learning quickly being the genius that he was. He also started adding a certain flavour of tai chi chuan in his Kyokushinkai after he returned to Japan, but this stopped when he passed away. One of the students who took these additions on board was Hideyuki Ashihara, who formed his own Ashihara karate. Another karateka who learned under Oyama and Ashihara and who still uses these tai chi chuan principles in his karate is Jōkō Ninomiya. He formed his own Enshin karate (with Enshin meaning 'heart of the circle'), and he organises the yearly Sebaki Challenge in Colorado, USA.

There are also similar stories about fights and victories of other students of Yang Chengfu's, notably Chen Wei Ming, who might even have been the person referred to in Oyama's book, and Fu Zhong Wen, whose contribution to tai chi chuan in particular and Chinese martial arts in general gave him a position among the 'One hundred living treasures of China' before passing away.

Another famous sparring moment is known to have taken place in 1945. The latest disciple of Yang Cheng Fu, Hu Yuen Chou (known in Hong Kong as Woo Van Cheuk or Wu Van Cheuk, but having no relationship with the Wu family tai chi chuan), accepted the challenge of a Russian boxer for a full-contact match in Fut San, China, and he won the match with a TKO on the second round. Although this did not mean to be a match to test the effectiveness of tai chi chuan against boxing and vice versa, but rather a match motivated by the wider tension between the West and the East back then and the desire of these two worlds to size up each other on every occasion, Hu Yuen Chou nevertheless managed to honour the name of his master and to make a name on his own, as well as of course to sustain the belief in tai chi chuan, in the other martial arts that he practised and in Chinese martial arts in general. The most famous disciple of Hu Yuen Chou in the West is Doc-Fai Wong.

Through Hu Yuen Chou's lineage especially in Hong Kong, it is also said that Hu Yuen Chou was once contacted by Bruce Lee when Lee wanted to advance his wing chun's sticky hands (chi sao) with the help of tai chi chuan's pushing hands (tui shou). But Hu Yuen Chou turned down Lee, on the basis that he was not interested in teaching anyone who would take tai chi chuan aspects in order to feed them into another martial art as it was known that Bruce Lee was trying to develop jeet kune do at that time and on top of that he would make these skills known to a much wider audience as a martial arts movie star that he used to be. It should be noted however that Lee never mentioned something like this in his books and interviews. What is sure though is that Bruce Lee started his gong fu at the age of six or seven by learning Wu style tai chi chuan by his father, Lee Hoi Chuen, who was a Wu style tai chi chuan practitioner, until the age of thirteen that he shifted to wing chun. Later on in Hong Kong his father's tai chi chuan shifu, Liang Zi Peng, helped him to elaborate more on the philosophy of tai chi chuan and the other so-called 'soft' martial arts he taught and to thus expand his philosophical and martial arts horizons. Bruce Lee also talked about tai chi chuan’s fighting effectiveness, albeit focusing only on its form practice, in his last interview, in the Pierre Burton Show in 1971.

Some philosophical aspects of tai chi chuan have found their way into Ed Parker's American kenpo karate too. After coming in contact with various martial artists mainly of Chinese origin and exposed to what were for him new Chinese training theory and practice, Parker wrote a second book, Secrets of Chinese Karate^[37] first published in 1963 and then in 1975, drawing comparisons between karate as it was taught in the United States at that time and the Chinese elements that he adopted in his Kenpo karate. Interestingly enough, even on the cover page of this book, the following is written: A leading Karate instructor reveals the amazing techniques of Karate as developed and practiced by the Chinese – the true pioneers of this martial art of self defense. These were gaining more and more prominence as Parker was working with various celebrities and was becoming more famous himself too. Parker used to organise the annual Long Beach International Karate Championship. After his invitation in 1964 and 1967 Bruce Lee showcased the one-inch punch and the 'unstoppable punch' as well as his two-fingers push-ups, and Chuck Norris participated winning the championship many times. Parker also served as the bodyguard of Elvis Presley whom he also taught, and among his system's famous practitioners are included celebrities like the Perfect Weapon actor Jeff Speakman, the Blade actor Wesley Snipes, the former Japanese World Wresting Federation fighter and actor known as Professor Tanaka and the retired American MMA UFC light heavyweight fighter and champion Chuck Liddell.

Even if that is the case regarding the acknowledgement of tai chi chuan, it is still argued that it is difficult today to draw an equivalence between the attested quality of other more comprehensive martial arts' professional athletes who are famous worldwide and the vast majority of tai chi chuan's practitioners these days. For instance, in MMA organisations such as UFC and Strikeforce, there has never been a fighter using exclusively or primarily tai chi chuan and becoming famous. For that matter, a fundamental difference should be considered. Professional fighters such those in the organisations mentioned above attain such a high quality partly at least as a result of being part of wider teams which include sparring coaches, personal trainers, kinesiologists, doctors, biomedical scientists, biomechanics specialists, physiotherapists, psychologists, dieticians, cooks, etc, and their training takes place in cutting-edge training facilities, gyms and labs.

On the contrary, the vast majority of the fighting-oriented tai chi chuan practitioners nowadays comprise only individual law enforcers or aficionados who have it just as a hobby. But with such important variables in training mode and training aim, it is pointless and unfair to make any comparison and contrast, or to consider individual fighters and to make generalisations for their martial arts which they practise. This state of affairs would not be the same if somehow comparability could be ensured. For example, it would be interesting to see the results if on the one hand there were committed tai chi chuan fighters who were systematically supervised by authoritative people catering for all their needs over an extensive period of time, and on the other hand MMA practitioners attending classes at a local school or exercising alone only with the idea to keep in some kind of relatively good physical condition.

But, even if respectively top fighters were found and asked to spar, there would be the need to decide on which martial art's rules would be adopted in that match, and of course they would not like to put their life to the line as this used to be tai chi chuan's idea back then. There would also still be no way to check how well those indiviuduals would represent their martial art and therefore this would still be a match of a fighter against another fighter and not a match of a martial art against another martial art. Then, the most objective way to compare and contrast a martial art against another martial art would be to consider one martial art's syllabus against another martial art's syllabus. But then again that would yield only theoretical hypotheses and claims without empirical investigation and validation.

Tai chi chuan in popular culture

Tai chi chuan plays an important role in many martial arts and fighting action movies, series, novels, especially in those ones which belong to the wuxia genre, as well as in video games, trading cards games, etc. Fictional portrayals often refer to Zhang San Feng, who is reported to be the first one harnessing and operationalising the benefits of the 'internal' and the 'soft', and to the Taoist monasteries of Wudang Mountains, where he lived.

Movies

• As early as 1972, in Lady Whirlwind (aka Deep Thrust) starring Sammo Hung, one of the protagonists (Chang Yi in a rare good guy role) is initially severely beaten by Japanese Yakuza gangsters and left for dead, but afterwards he is taught tai chi chuan by an old man and it is this martial arts edge that enables him to take his revenge against the leader of the gang.
• In 1984, in Drunken Tai Chi, the protagonist (Donnie Yen in his first major role whose stardom culminated lately when he starred as Ip Man) befriends a puppeteer and is taught tai chi chuan by him and he combines it with his previous hard style, thus being able now to defeat a contract killer who was hired and sent against him and who used only a hard style. It should be noted that the title's 'drunken' refers to the wine-loving protagonist and not to any variant of tai chi chuan.
• Ang Lee's first Western movie in 1992, Pushing Hands, features as its leading character a traditional Chinese tai chi chuan master moving to New York and having to get used to a different way of life and to a different group of there. A critical eye is laid upon whether tai chi chuan and martial arts in general can benefit or even fit someone in modern society, but the leading character seems to be safeguarding the need for this physical and cultural capital.
• In 1993, in a reproduction of a series mentioned below, the Kung Fu Cult Master (aka Kung Fu Master, The Evil Cult and The Lord of Wu Tang) starring Jet Li, Sammo Hung and Sharla Cheung, Jet Li with the help of Sammo Hung resembling Zhang San Feng in appearance realises and accepts the benefits of the 'internal' and the 'soft' and their complementarity if not their superiority to the 'external' and the 'hard' and manages to deal with opponents of various other martial arts.
• Also in 1993, The Tai Chi Master (aka Twin Warriors) starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, Jet Li leaves behind the hard aspects of the Shaolin practices to which he was used when he was learning martial arts in the Shaolin Monastery and develops and even mentions explicitly the name of his new martial art, tai chi chuan, thus fighting and winning his old friend from the Shaolin Monastery but current evil military general.
• In 1994, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie showed Chun-Li's tai chi chuan in a much more obvious manner than seen in the video game video game mentioned below. In another reproduction in 2009, Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, the protagonist (Kristin Kreuk), is shown to practise barehand and sword tai chi chuan forms with her father (Edmund Chen) in their garden and to be using it extensively in her fights throughout the movie.
• In the semi-documentary film in 1996 The Tai Chi Master, Wu Jing enacts Yang Luchan showing how he managed to become the founder of the Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan, although in this film Wu Jing's tai chi chuan style actually seems to be Chen rather than Yang.
• Various aspects of the fighting style and philosophy of tai chi chuan and of neijia in general are also dispersed although not explicitly acknowledged in Ang Lee's 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and in the 2004 one House of Flying Daggers starring Michelle Yeoh and Zhang Ziyi.
• In 2007, in Fatal Contact starring Wu Jing again, his best friend and co-fighter (Ronald Cheng) is a tai chi chuan master and Wu Jing realises and mentions it when he sees him fighting against many members of a gang in the underground. Jet Li is currently preparing his next film, again titled Tai Chi Master and again intended to provide a semi-documentary account of Yang Luchan, the founded of Yang-style tai chi chuan.
• In the opening scenes of the 2008 block-buster Ip Man (martial arts choreographed by Sammo Hung and starred by Donnie Yen as Ip Man), a young guy credits to the tai chi chuan's 'moving 1000 catties with only 4 taels' the victory of Ip Man against a martial arts school owner who came to challenge him and who lost easily, a match that he had the privilege to watch secretly while picking up his kite from Ip Man's garden, although his friends insist that this cannot have been the case in so far as Ip Man was known for using Wing Chun and not tai chi chuan.
• Through exaggeration, albeit perhaps genre-allowing one, various concepts of internal and soft martial arts in general and tai chi chuan in particular may reach out a much wider and younger audience, but at the same time they may run the risk to lose credibility and even end up being the subject of parody, and the 2001 Shaolin Soccer and the 2004 Kung Fu Hustle and may be taken to be examples of this sort.
• Tai chi chuan's forms are strangely enough not represented by any of the protagonists of the 2008 film Wushu (produced by Jackie Chan and starred by Sammo Hung), as opposed to other 'categories' of Wushu, such as Sanda fighting and various short and long weapons forms.

Series

• In the 1980 Hong Kong television series Tai Chi Master, the story evolves around a young man (Alex Man), who starts as a young monk from Shaolin Monastery but soon develops knowledge and skills of tai chi chuan and goes around with an endless number of fights and adventures.
• The popularity of the Tai Chi Master series spawned in 1981 the direct Chinese knight-errant sequel Tai Chi Master II, which shares the same action director, Yuen Wo Ping, with The Matrix trilogy, Kill Bill 1 and 2 and Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and in which the protagonist, Wu Jing, uses his tai chi chuan to fight the villains of the story.
• Tai chi chuan is also the basis for the magic art of Water-bending in the 2005-2008 animated television series Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Games

• In the Street Fighter martial arts video game series, Chun-Li uses a variant of tai chi chuan.
• Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance introduced Kenshi, a blind warrior who uses tai chi chuan as his primary fighting style. Kenshi is also seen practicing tai chi chuan forms in the ending credits after the single player arcade mode is completed. Mortal Kombat: Deadly Alliance also introduced Li Mei, who in her bio-card has her hands in a posture representing the symbol Taijitu and who uses a variant of tai chi chuan as well.
• A closer variant of tai chi chuan is used by the Tekken character Ling Xiaoyu, introduced in Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament.
• In Dead or Alive, Lei Fang uses tai chi chuan and this is also mentioned in her bio-card. Before fighting some of her opponents, Lei Fang gets ready by doing some tai chi chuan moves such as the 'immortal pounds mortar' one, so one could say that she uses Chen-style t'ai chi ch'uan in particular.
• In the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime show and trading card game, tai chi chuan is used by the Tai Chi Fighter Monkey, as it is mentioned in his bio-card.
• In Pokemon, Taichi is a young albeit hotheaded and not very clever hero but at the same time a powerful card.

Books

• Tai chi chuan plays a role in Jeff Stone's book series The Five Ancestors as a work-out of many people, especially of elderly ones, due to the slow pace of doing its form in order to learn it.
• Tres Navarre, the detective in the popular mystery novels by Rick Riordan, is a tai chi chuan master too.

See also

Notes

References and Further reading

• Choy, Kam Man (1985-05-05). Tai Chi Chuan. San Francisco, California: Memorial Edition 1994. 
• Logan, Logan (1970). Ting: The Caldron, Chinese Art and Identity in San Francisco. San Francisco, California: Glide Urban Center. 
• Davis, Barbara (2004). Taijiquan Classics: An Annotated Translation. North Atlantic Books. ISBN 978-1556434310. 
• Eberhard, Wolfram (1986). A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought. Routledge & Kegan Paul, London. ISBN 0415002281. 
• Jou, Tsung-Hwa (1998). Tao of Tai Chi Chuan, 3rd ed.. Tuttle. ISBN 978-0804813570. 
• T'ai Chi Magazine bimonthly. Wayfarer Publications. 2008. ISSN 0730-1049. http://www.tai-chi.com. 
• Taijiquan Journal. Taijiquan Journal. 2008. ISSN 1528-6290. http://www.taijiquanjournal.com. 
• Wile, Douglas (1983). Tai Chi Touchstones: Yang Family Secret Transmissions. Sweet Ch'i Press. ISBN 978-0912059013. 
• Yang, Yang (2008). Taijiquan: The Art of Nurturing, The Science of Power. Zhenwu Publication; 2nd edition. ISBN 978-0974099019. 

External links

• "Medical Research on T'ai Chi & Qigong (Chi Kung)". World Tai Chi Day. http://www.worldtaichiday.org/WTCQDHlthBenft.html. Retrieved 2007-04-13. 
• "Tai Chi Boosts Immunity, Improves Physical Health in Seniors". Acupuncture Today 04 (11). 2003. http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2003/nov/11taichi.html. Retrieved 2007-04-13. 
• "Tai Chi: With slow movements as fluid as silk, the gentle Chinese practice of Tai Chi seems tailor-made for easing sore joints and muscles". Arthritis Today. http://ww2.arthritis.org/resources/arthritistoday/2000_archives/2000_07_08_taichi.asp. Retrieved 2007-07-09. 
• "World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day's Headline News". World Tai Chi Day. http://www.worldtaichiday.org/HeadlineNews.html. Retrieved 2007-04-13. 
• "Kung Fu Fitness Association". http://www.kungfufitness.co.uk. 
• "Tai Chi World". http://www.taijiworld.com. 

Videos of the major styles

• Yang Zhenduo's Yang style at YouTube
• Wu Yinghua's Wu Jianquan style
• Chen Shitong's Chen style at Google Video
• Sun Jianyun's Sun style
• Hao Shaoru's Wu/Hao style
• 24-form Beijing form
• 108-form Yang Tai Chi Chuan
• Wu (Hao) Tai Chi Online Study

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