Who invented Taijiquan?

About the origin of taijiquan, there are many different opinions about the origin and founder of taijiquan, roughly there are Tang Xu Xuanping, Song Zhang Sanfeng, Ming Zhang Sanfeng, Qing Chen Wangting and Wang Zongyue and other five different sayings. Tang Xu Xuanping, Anhui Shexian people, Li Bai traveled east, see Xu Xuanping title poem Chuan She, thought it was "immortal poetry", to Shexian repeatedly visited, not. Song Ji Youkong "Tang Poetry Chronicle" said Xu "no food, walking like a galloping horse. Tang every negative salary sold in the city. Li Bai, who could not find him, wrote a poem on Wangxian Bridge. Said he was the founder of Taijiquan, there is no other evidence. Song Zhang Sanfeng for the Wudang Dan Shi said, Song, Yuan, Ming Dynasty and no historical evidence. Huang Lizhou in the early Qing dynasty for the Ming remnants of the boxer Wang Zhengnan compiled "Wang Zhengnan epitaph", according to Gao Chen Si wrote Wang Zhengnan words and deeds, that the internal boxing "started in the Song Zhang Sanfeng, Sanfeng for the Wudang Danshi, Emperor Huizong called, the road terrier is not allowed to enter the night dream Xuan Di awarded the boxing, Que Ming, to kill more than a hundred of the thieves with a single ding". Its words are absurd not enough to believe. Ming Dynasty internal pull Song Huizong era, there is the so-called Wudang Dan Shi Zhang Sanfeng for the grandmaster, the original and the early Qing Dynasty creation of taijiquan has nothing to do.

Zhang Sanfeng, according to the "Ming History - Fang伎传" records, "Liaodong Yi state people. His name was Quanyi, Junbao, and Sanfeng. With its untidy, and the number Zhang Dirt." But the Ming History also said: "or that Sanfeng Jin time people, the beginning of the Yuan and Liu Bingzhong with the same teacher, and then study in the Luyi of the Palace of Taiching". As for Zhang Sanfeng created taijiquan said, is the Xinhai Revolution (1911) after a kind of appendage only.

Wang Zong and Wang Zongyue are people of two times. According to the available information, Wang Zongyue was a person in the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and he wrote <>. The life of Wang Zongyue will be described later.

Chen Wangting is the founder of taijiquan

Chen Wangting is the ninth generation of Chenjiagou, his father's name is Fuming, his ancestor's name is Sigui, all good boxing and martial arts, "Chen Family Tree" says Wangting, also known as Zaoting, "the end of the Ming Dynasty, the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Wen Ziang students. In Shandong called the famous hand ...... Chen's boxers knives and guns founder also." But the genealogy, tombstone, "Wenxian Zhi" as "Wang Ting", it should be Chen Wang Ting. Chen Wangting from the landlord family, according to "Wenxian Zhi" records, in the Ming Si Zong Chongzhen fourteen years (1641), served as Wenxian "township guard", after the death of the Ming Dynasty, hermit hometown, late in life to create boxing self-entertainment, teaching disciples children and grandchildren. Such as the first half of the "last words" said: "Sigh that year, wear hard and sharp, sweep the group of invaders, a few times upside down. The gift of grace, in vain; now, old age and disability, only left 'Huang Ting' a volume with the companion. Bored to make boxing, busy to plow the field, take advantage of the spare time, teach some disciples children and grandchildren, into a dragon into a tiger any convenient ...... ". Chen Wangting was in his prime at the time of the fall of the Ming Dynasty, and he was still able to "cultivate the fields" and "build fists" in his "old age", so it can be assumed that his creation of taijiquan should have taken place in the seventies of the seventeenth century, that is, three years after the fall of the Ming Dynasty in 1644. It can be assumed that he created Taijiquan in the seventies of the seventeenth century, i.e. thirty years after the death of Ming Dynasty in 1644. Huangting Jing" is a Taoist "hush suction outside the hut, in and out of the dantian" method of guidance, vomiting, from the "Chen's fist and armament spectrum" can be seen, taijiquan sets of taijiquan (a thirteen style) five ways, long fist 108 style all the way, cannon whack all the way. Combined with guiding and vomiting, it has become a school of internal boxing. His "General Song of Boxing Scriptures" summarizes the rationale of the fist set he created, and it is recorded hereafter: "People don't know how to relax and bend and stretch, and I rely on all of them, and I can make progress in chopping and pushing and pressing, and it is hard to fight against moving and putting down and picking up horizontally. Hook shed forcing to take everyone to know, flash surprise to take the trick who knows? The first thing you need to do is to get your hands on some of the most popular products and services in the world, and you'll be able to do that. ......

This song is from the Chen's Liangyi Tang's "Boxing Records", and the lyrics are y influenced by Qi Jiguang, a famous general who fought against Japanese invaders in the Ming Dynasty. Qi Jiguang was an outstanding figure in organizing folk boxing in the Ming Dynasty. He summarized and organized sixteen famous folk boxing styles of the Ming Dynasty and absorbed thirty-two of them to form a boxing set, which was included in the "New Book of Ji Kao" and was called the source of martial arts practice for soldiers. Chi's "boxing scripture" has the role of carrying on the next, it is as far as the Song dynasty Zhao Kuangyin's long fist thirty-two styles, long fist, short fights, remove the weeds and save the essence, with just with soft, eclectic. Its boxing "style style, in the face of the enemy to win, endless changes", greatly corrected the then-popular full of flowers and grass, the evils of the flower fist, become a new boxing school.

Qi Jiguang and Chen Wangting were separated for about half a century, which had a great influence on Chen Wangting's creation of taijiquan, and Qi's "Boxing Scripture of Thirty-two Styles" was absorbed by Chen Wangting, and twenty-nine styles were compiled into taijiquan sets, for example, the "Boxing Scripture" started with "Lazy Zayi", and the seven sets of boxing sets created by Chen Wangting were all started with this style. Even the texts of Chen-style "Fist Records" and "General Song of Fist Jing" were modeled after Chi's "Fist Jing", which shows the deep influence. However, this is only about inheritance and influence, not to say that Chen Wangting's Taijiquan was copied from Qi Jiguang, let alone that Qi Jiguang created Taijiquan. The merit of Chen Wangting lies in inheriting Qi Jiguang's legacy of boxing and pushing the boundaries to create a new school of boxing, which is Taijiquan. As an example, the methods of double push hands and double sticking spears in Chen-style Taijiquan, which specialize in practicing the sensitivity of peripheral skin touch and internal body sensation, are not recorded in the writings of Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou, Tang Shunzhi, and Chen Chongdou, nor are they found in the other schools of boxing, but rather are the competitive methods unique to Chen-style Taijiquan.

Five Characteristics of Chen-Style Taijiquan

1. Combining Boxing with Guiding and Tuna. China's ancient guiding and tui na have a long history, and they appeared in the writings of "Laozi", "Mencius" and "Zhuangzi" hundreds of years ago B.C. In the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Liu An, a famous medical doctor of the later Han Dynasty, changed it to "Five Animal Play", which is the precursor of qigong and nei gong in the later generations. It is the precursor of qigong and neigong in later generations, and also the foundation of Taoist health science. Chen Wangting organically combined the coordinated movements of hand, eye, body and footwork in boxing with guiding and vomiting, which made taijiquan an internal kungfu exercise that united the inside and outside of the body. This is indeed a creative development for enhancing people's physical fitness and improving boxing skills.

2. The spiral winding movement, with curved, coherent and rounded movements, is very much in line with the principle of meridian theory. The meridians are the pathways of qi and blood that cover the human body. Meridians originate from the internal organs and flow in the limbs, and when the internal organs, meridians and blood are out of harmony, they are abnormal and sick, and the blood flows smoothly and strengthens the body and prolongs the life. Taijiquan combines the meridian theory and requires "to guide the gas with the intention to transport the body with the gas", "the gas should be drummed", "gas all over the body", the internal gas originates in the dantian, with the waist as the axis, slightly rotating the two kidneys to make the two kidneys The internal qi originates from the dantian, with the waist as the axis, slightly rotating so that the two kidneys are pumped to the left and right, and by rotating the waist and turning the spine and winding the movement, it spreads over the body, passes through the ren and dao veins (ren and dao veins), practicing the belt and chong veins (belt and chong veins), reaches the four tips and returns to the dantian. Chen, Wang, Wu, Li four taijiquan theory, successively sent its subtle. These are based on the theory of meridians and collaterals, which makes Taijiquan a school of "internal boxing".

3. The competitive sport of two-person hand-pushing was created. Push hands, formerly known as fighting hands, is a comprehensive method of practicing techniques in China's martial arts. Since ancient times, there are kicking, hitting, wrestling, taking, dropping five divisions of practice, but they have their own characteristics, the ancient "southern fist and northern leg", "long fist and short punch", which explains this divergence. At the same time, due to kicking, hitting, taking, dropping four methods, in practice, there is a greater harm, so most of the practice has always been only hypothetical or symbolic, which opens the door to the flower and false maneuvers, and the former painstakingly accumulated experience, but also due to the lack of practice, it is difficult to improve the level of technical combat.

The Push Hands method created by Chen Wangting, with winding and sticking as its centerpiece, integrates the competitive skills of tackling, taking, dropping, throwing and hitting, and has also been developed. For example, it is not limited to taking people's bones and joints, but focuses on taking people's strength, which is more skillful than the general method of taking.

The emergence of the Push Hands method, solved the practice of technical combat when the venue, protective gear and special clothing and other issues, to become anytime, anywhere, two people can practice the hands of the athletic sports, and in our country's wushu technical combat methods (kicking, hitting, wrestling, taking, falling) injected into a new content - Push.

4. It created the basic practice method of stabbing with the gun, which is sticking with the gun and not getting rid of it, storing the hair and changing it. According to the method of "listening to the strength" when pushing hands, the two-person sticking spear method was created, which is one of Chen Wangting's original achievements. This method of pair practice solved the problem of practicing actual stabbing without the use of protective gear. When practicing taijiquan sticking gun, using the principle of dipping and sticking with, winding in and out, as fast as the wind and clouds, sealing and forcing the throwing and releasing, the cycle of reciprocation, for the stabbing gun art opened up a simple and easy to implement, to improve the technology of the way.

5. The theory of boxing based on the essence of Taiji was developed. Chen Wangting's "General Song of Boxing Scripture" with seven words and twenty-two sentences is the original theory of Taijiquan, a boxing theory summarizing ancient techniques, which elaborates the strategies and tactics of attack and defense, so it is said to be the generalized boxing theory of the seven sets of Taijiquan. By comparing the General Song of Boxing Jing with the diagrams of Qi Jiguang's Thirty-two Styles of Boxing Jing, it is easy to see how Chen Wangting absorbed the essence summarized by his predecessors in his boxing theory. However, Chen Wangting was not satisfied with absorbing the boxing theories of the famous masters at that time, but made a series of creative play on the basis of integration. Chen Wangting's original achievement in boxing theory is shown in the first two lines of the "General Song of Boxing":

"No one knows how to bend and stretch, but I rely on all the supports to wind me up." Advanced Push Hands technique. This method of Push Hands and the theory of knowing strength are developed on the basis of traditional martial arts. From the appearance of the technique to the "strength from the internal change", "internal qi submerged" and "from the familiar and gradually understand the understanding of the strength, from the understanding of the strength and the step to the divine" advanced skills, in the history of China's wushu is It is of epoch-making significance in the history of China's martial arts. At the same time, it also laid the foundation of the exercise method and the further development of the technical theory for the famous Taijiquan masters, such as Wang Zongyue, Wu Yuxiang, Li Yishe, Chen Xin, etc. Later on, it laid the foundation of the exercise method and the further development of the technical theory for the famous Taijiquan masters.

Since Taijiquan adopts the exercise principle of relaxing the whole body and using one's mind but not one's strength, it is necessary to go from looseness to softness, carry softness into rigidity, and return rigidity to softness, so as to realize the principle of having both softness and rigidity and the combination of rigidity and softness. The practicing method of taijiquan requires slowing down before speeding up and slowing down after speeding up, slowing down to the point where others cannot keep up with me, and speeding up to the point where the latter is the first to come. In other words, the practice of Taijiquan requires that one should be able to be slow and fast, soft and strong. This kind of both heavy appearance, more emphasis on the internal storage point of view, but also to improve the level of martial arts techniques provide a valuable exercise method.

The emergence of Taijiquan schools and its development

Taijiquan has been passed down from generation to generation in Chenjiagou since it was first invented by Chen Wangting, and the children and grandchildren of the Chen style are well known to women and children, and young and old are practicing it. The people of Chenjiagou became more and more prosperous, and the wind of practicing taijiquan became more and more prevalent, the latter wave pushed the former wave, and there were famous boxers in all generations. Over the past three hundred years, through the continuous enrichment and development of the descendants of the Chen family and their disciples, Taijiquan has become one of the most important styles of boxing in China.

From the Genealogy of Chen Style, it can be seen that Chen Wangting's three sons and one grandson had average boxing skills, while his grandson, A-Di, had excellent boxing skills, but there was no one to succeed him from then on. However, the fourth generation of Chen Wangting's clan, the three brothers, Bingren, Bingwang and Bingqi, were famous Taijiquan masters in Chenjiagou, known as the Three Horsemen, along with fellow clan members Chen Gongzhao and Chen Daxing. However, at this time, Chen Wangting created seven kinds of boxing sets, has been returned to about from Bo, the original 108-style long fist and Taijiquan (13-style) the second to the fifth road, in the Chenjiagou has been practiced by very few people, while the first road, gun whacking (the second road of the modern Chen-style taijiquan), push hands and sticking to the gun, it is to strive for excellence. To the fifth generation of Chen Changxing and Chen Youben, in order to adapt to different learning objects, the first way of Taijiquan was divided into the old frame and the new frame, and to the sixth generation of Zhao Bao frame was derived. The new frame is said to have been created by Chen Youben, and the frame is as wide as the old frame, gradually abandoning certain difficult movements, which the people of Chenjiagou call "slight". Chen Youben's disciple nephew Chen Qingping, also created a set of frame, small and compact, slow movements, practice will gradually increase the circle, in the principle of not changing the routine, from simple to complex, to extremely complex, and gradually increase the difficulty of boxing skills, and Chen Youben at the same time of the Chenjiagou Boxing Chen Changxing, Cheng ancestors of the old frame system, frame wide, difficult, until his student Yang Lu Chan in Beijing to teach boxing, in order to adapt to the health needs, there is a gradual change in the boxing, and the boxing is a very difficult, and the boxing is a very difficult, and the boxing is a very difficult, and the boxing is a very difficult, and the boxing is a very difficult, and the boxing is very difficult, and the boxing is very difficult. When his student Yang Lu Chan was practicing boxing in Beijing, he gradually changed the movements of the boxing set to Yang-style Taijiquan. Later, Wu Style Taijiquan was derived from Yang Style, and its founder was Wu Jianquan. Yongnian Wu Yuxiang first learned the Chen-style old frame from Yang Lu Chan, and then learned the new frame routine from Chen Qing Ping, and then created his own school, which was called Wu's Taijiquan. Later, Wu's Taijiquan was derived from Sun's Taijiquan, and its founder was Sun Lutang.