The history & legend of Tai Chi Chuan remains a mystery of China. There’s little doubt that the Chinese people have practiced slow motion exercises for thousands of years. But there’s some question as to whether or not it was Tai Chi Chuan. Even the origin of Chang San-Feng’s Tai Chi Chuan Ching is something of a mystery. The story of a monk who witnessed the deadly battle between a crane and a snake and founded a slow motion martial exercise program around this could very well be apocryphal. But we do know that Wu Yu-hsiang, who developed Wu style, unearthed Chang’s text in the mid 1800s. Wu worked with Yang Lu-shan, who developed the Yang style. Together they used the Ching as the literary basis for their teachings.
Today there are five major Tai Chi Chuan styles, Chen, Yang, Wu, martial Wu and Sun.
Sun Lu Tang created the Sun Style in 1920 after the 50 year old Sun, a champion of two Chinese boxing styles, earned the gratitude of a great Wu style Tai Chi Chuan master. Sun combined the Wu style with his boxing styles, Paqua and Xinquan. The result is the Sun style of Tai Chi Chuan. This practice fosters harmony of all the body parts with very little stress on sensitive joints, like the knees.
Since Sun developed his style when he was looking for a practice that would last him the rest of his life, he made sure that the Sun style embodied the full spectrum of Tai Chi principles at the same time that it could be performed by people of all ages and fitness levels.
Sun Style Tai Chi Chuan is Martial but not for Fighting
Notably, Sun told his students that it was important to attend to the martial element of Tai Chi Chuan of the Sun Style, but if they wanted to learn to fight, they should go elsewhere. If they were looking for relaxation and spiritual enrichment, then he’d be glad to help in any way possible. It’s in this spirit that practice of the Sun style continues today. It’s here that the history & legend of Tai Chi Chuan become one.