Tai Chi Chuan is an exercise in and of flexibility both physically and mentally. The Sun Style puts special emphasis on the flexibility of performing the moves while retaining the mental intention – and yet still being flexible of mind and attitude.
The Sun style was created in 1920 by Sun Lu Tang when he was 50 years old as a gentle and physically easy practice that he felt he could do for the rest of his life. Sun Lu Tang was a martial artist who practiced Pa Qua and Shin Yi, two traditional Chinese fighting styles. When caring for Wu Yu-hsiang the creator of the Wu style, through a serious illness, it came to him that he should prepare for the physical difficulties he would inevitably face as he aged. So, he asked Wu to teach him the Wu style of Tai Chi Chuan.
Sun then creatively blended the movements, traditions and principles of the Wu style of Tai Chi Chuan with the martial styles that he knew so well, Pa Quo and Shin Yi, to create the Sun Style of Tai Chi Chuan. Sun style became so well respected in Tai Chi Chuan circles that it emerged as one of the Five main Tai Chi Chuan styles. The others are Chen, Yang, Wu and Martial Wu.
Creativity and flexibility course through the soul of all Tai Chi Chuan forms. Legend has it that Tai Chi Chuan was created 900 years ago by Chan San-feng, a Taoist monk, who witnessed a life and death battle between a crane and a snake. The oldest style, Chen, was a family secret, a trade secret even. The Chen clan were bodyguards and kept the essence of their martial style close to the vest because of its importance in their life and death business.
While the roots of Tai Chi Chuan are ancient the modern forms date from the 1870s when a scholar unearthed the writings of Chan San-feng and showed them to his brother, the same Wu Yu-hsiang. He shared the scrolls with his teacher Yang Lu-shan. Both were students of the Chen style and were so inspired by this ancient wisdom that they wrote poetic explanations that we know today as “the Classics”. They also reimagined the much more martially oriented Chen style of Tai Chi Chuan, Yang founding the Yang Style and Wu creating the Wu Style. Both became Tai Chi Chuan ambassadors, performing and teaching widely.
Since then the journey of Tai Chi Chuan in Chinese culture has experienced the same sorts of ebb and flow that define the practice itself – and that’s the topic for another post.