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Taijiquan traces its legacy far back into ancient China. Taiji draws from several of the most important contributions to China's culture. Medicine, meditation, Taoism and martial arts all inform the origins and evolution of Taijiquan. The historical record of the art we know today goes back to the 17th century, while the true history of Taijiquan disappears into the millennia. | |||||||||||
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| Prehistoric Origins Taijiquan is part of the family of martial arts of China with roots extending back thousands of years. More than five thousand years ago the Yellow Emperor is credited with the development of agriculture, writing, mathematics and medicine. Many of the important theories that influence Taijiquan trace their origin to this early time in Chinese history. The I Ching, the Book of Changes is another fundamental authority for Taiji. Written near the first millennium before the Common Era, the I Ching is considered one of the five classics of Chinese literature, and perhaps the most influential. The I Ching describes the patterns, variations and constant flow of life in a mathematical structure based on the binary system of yin/yang. In the I Ching combinations of the two (yin and yang) are placed together in sets. By the time the combinations are set to the third power, there are eight possible variations, called trigrams. Taking together all the permutations of two of these trigrams gives the I Ching its 64 hexagrams. The I Ching describes, reveals and unlocks the secrets of the invisible forces coalescing into the universe we see. Its words metaphorically and symbolically perform as a central guide to the early Chinese people and society. Its concise and flexible descriptions help people understand life's changes. It has been the study of scholars for thousands of years, and it has influenced nearly every Chinese cultural achievement including Taijiquan. In the Shaolin Temples of China, the martial arts developed into the exotic and powerful fighting arts now so popular in film and television. The temples were home to the religious men, who spent their days developing their spiritual sides. In many versions, the martial arts trace their roots back to a wandering mystic named Boddhidharma, who came from India where he had been a student of the Buddha. Boddhidharma is credited with bringing the teachings of Buddhism to China. During his travels in the 6th century, he visited Chinese monks in their mountain temples. Legend has it that upon finding their physical condition deplorable, Boddhidharma devised a series of exercises that doubled as a method whereby the monks could protect their temples and local villages. Whether they pre-existed Boddhidharma, or whether he invented the exercises, the original martial arts exercises were all developed by careful observation of various animals fighting. Early Recorded History One thing for certain regarding the history of Taijiquan: there can be no certainty. Legends are rife. Filled with fantastical accomplishments and miraculous powers, the stories of Taiji and its masters stagger the imagination and exist without verification. The predominant legend of Taijiquan’s origin is of a monk named Chan San Feng. He supposedly lived sometime between 900 and 1300. Some say he lived some 300 years, others say he lived to be more than 150 years of age. In any case, he is attributed in these versions of the story with the creation of original 13 postures of what is now called Taijiquan. There is much scholarly debate about Taiji's history until the 17th century when its lineage can be traced directly to the Chen Village. n the 17th century in the small Chen Village in the Henan province, a respected military general Chen Wang Ting has been credited with Taijiquan's creation. As with most of history, this point is disputed by some who have traced the origins back several more generations to Chen Bu who lived in the late 14th century. In either case, it was not until the mid-19th century that Taijiquan documents can be found. It makes sense that little has been recorded. In the dangerous era of its early use, Taijiquan was a matter of life and death for the families of the rural village. Thus its secrets were kept in tucked away from public view. So secretive was the art that it was not until Yang Lu-chan so impressed the family patriarch Chen Chang Xin that the first non-family member learned this art. Evolution Yang Lu-Chan was a renowned martial artist. It was his skills that so impressed Cheng Chang Xin, and convinced him to teach an outsider. After his years of study, Yang left the village where his fighting skills brought him to national prominence. Never defeated he was known as Yang the Invincible. He taught the art to a number of students, most particularly his own sons who went on to continue the legacy. By the second generation of Yang family Taiji, the Boxer Revolution took place. Many of the greatest martial artists of that generation were slain. And as the increased availability of guns became the norm, Taijiquan’s value as a fighting art became less essential. And so it was that in the 20th century, Taijiquan was first taught to a general public by Yang’s grandson Yang Cheng-fu (1883-1936). For Taiji to be made accessible to more people, some of the movements were changed to make practice less demanding. Increased public access attracted people of questionable character. So masters concealed many of the lethal aspects of the art. A new Taijiquan tradition, a health and fitness tradition was born: “to strengthen the nation.” Subsequently, the art has become popular the world over. In the U.S. the first instructors of Taijiquan emerged after the Second World War when notable teachers such as Chen Manching, Guo Yin Lieh, Sophia Delza, and Da Lu made public this art. For many years after the Communist takeover of China, the martial arts were repressed, and in the west the original Chen style of Taijiquan was little known until after U.S. China relations opened up after Richard Nixon's visit in 1974. Today, Chen style popularity is growing rapidly. Today there are hundreds of books on the subject. T'ai Chi Magazine has been published for more than 25 years. Scientific research reports are regularly documenting the benefits of Taijiquan for a host of health related issues. There is hardly a major population center that does not boast at least one Taiji teacher in its community. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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