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</div><h1class="firstHeading">Tai Chi Chuan</h1>
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<divstyle="width:182px;"><ahref="/wiki/Image:Yang_Ch%27eng-fu_circa_1918.jpg"class="internal"title="Yang Chengfu in a posture from the Tai Chi solo form known as Single Whip, circa 1918"><imgsrc="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d1/Yang_Ch%27eng-fu_circa_1918.jpg/180px-Yang_Ch%27eng-fu_circa_1918.jpg"alt="Yang Chengfu in a posture from the Tai Chi solo form known as Single Whip, circa 1918"width="180"height="255"longdesc="/wiki/Image:Yang_Ch%27eng-fu_circa_1918.jpg"/></a>
<b><ahref="/wiki/Yang_Chengfu"title="Yang Chengfu">Yang Chengfu</a> in a posture from the Tai Chi solo form known as <i>Single Whip</i>, circa <ahref="/wiki/1918"title="1918">1918</a></b></div>
<p><b>Tai Chi Chuan</b>, <b>T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an</b> or <b>Taijiquan</b> (<ahref="/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_character"title="Traditional Chinese character">Traditional Chinese</a>: ???; <ahref="/wiki/Simplified_Chinese_character"title="Simplified Chinese character">Simplified Chinese</a>: ???; <ahref="/wiki/Pinyin"title="Pinyin">pinyin</a>: T<>ij<69>qu<71>n; literally "supreme ultimate fist"), commonly known as <b>Tai Chi</b>, <b>T'ai Chi</b>, or <b><ahref="/wiki/Taiji"title="Taiji">Taiji</a></b>, is an <ahref="/wiki/Neijia"title="Neijia">internal</a><ahref="/wiki/Chinese_martial_arts"title="Chinese martial arts">Chinese martial art</a>. There are different styles of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an, although most agree they are all based on the system originally taught by the <ahref="/wiki/Chen"title="Chen">Chen</a> family to the <ahref="/wiki/Yang"title="Yang">Yang</a> family starting in <ahref="/wiki/1820"title="1820">1820</a>. It is often promoted and practiced as a <ahref="/wiki/Martial_arts_therapy"title="Martial arts therapy">martial arts therapy</a> for the purposes of <ahref="/wiki/Health"title="Health">health</a> and <ahref="/wiki/Longevity"title="Longevity">longevity</a>, (some <ahref="/wiki/Tai_Chi_Chuan#Citations_to_medical_research"title="Tai Chi Chuan">recent medical studies</a> support its effectiveness). T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an is considered a <i>soft</i> style martial art, an art applied with as complete a relaxation or "softness" in the musculature as possible, to distinguish its theory and application from that of the <i>hard</i> martial art styles which use a degree of tension in the muscles.</p>
<p>Variations of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an's basic training forms are well known as the slow motion routines that groups of people practice every morning in parks across China and other parts of the world. Traditional T'ai Chi training is intended to teach awareness of one's own balance and what affects it, awareness of the same in others, an appreciation of the practical value in one's ability to moderate extremes of behavior and attitude at both mental and physical levels, and how this applies to effective self-defense principles.</p>
<liclass="toclevel-2"><ahref="#Notes_to_Family_tree_table"><spanclass="tocnumber">3.2</span><spanclass="toctext">Notes to Family tree table</span></a></li>
<liclass="toclevel-2"><ahref="#Citations_to_medical_research"><spanclass="tocnumber">5.1</span><spanclass="toctext">Citations to medical research</span></a></li>
<p>Historically, T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an has been regarded as a martial art, and its traditional practitioners still teach it as one. Even so, it has developed a worldwide following among many thousands of people with little or no interest in martial training for its aforementioned benefits to health and <ahref="/wiki/Preventive_medicine"title="Preventive medicine">health maintenance</a>. Some call it a form of moving <ahref="/wiki/Meditation"title="Meditation">meditation</a>, and T'ai Chi theory and practice evolved in agreement with many of the principles of <ahref="/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_medicine"title="Traditional Chinese medicine">traditional Chinese medicine</a>. Besides general health benefits and <ahref="/wiki/Stress_management"title="Stress management">stress management</a> attributed to beginning and intermediate level T'ai Chi training, many therapeutic interventions along the lines of traditional Chinese medicine are taught to advanced T'ai Chi students.</p>
<p>T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an as physical training is characterized by its requirement for the use of leverage through the joints based on coordination in relaxation rather than muscular tension in order to neutralize or initiate physical attacks. The slow, repetitive work involved in that process is said to gently increase and open the internal circulation (<ahref="/wiki/Breath"title="Breath">breath</a>, body heat, <ahref="/wiki/Blood"title="Blood">blood</a>, <ahref="/wiki/Lymph"title="Lymph">lymph</a>, <ahref="/wiki/Peristalsis"title="Peristalsis">peristalsis</a>, etc.). Over time, proponents say, this enhancement becomes a lasting effect, a direct reversal of the constricting physical effects of stress on the human body. This reversal allows much more of the students' native energy to be available to them, which they may then apply more effectively to the rest of their lives; families, careers, spiritual or creative pursuits, hobbies, etc.</p>
<p>The study of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an involves three primary subjects:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>Health</b> - an unhealthy or otherwise uncomfortable person will 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.</li>
<li><b>Meditation</b> - the focus meditation and subsequent calmness cultivated by the meditative aspect of T'ai Chi is seen as necessary to maintain optimum health (in the sense of effectively maintaining stress relief or <ahref="/wiki/Homeostasis"title="Homeostasis">homeostasis</a>) and in order to use it as a soft style martial art.</li>
<li><b>Martial art</b> - the ability to competently use T'ai Chi as a martial art is said to be proof that the health and meditation aspects are working according to the dictates of the theory of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an.</li>
</ul>
<p>In its traditional form (many modern variations exist which ignore at least one of the above requirements) every aspect of its training has to conform with all three of the aforementioned categories.</p>
<p>The <ahref="/wiki/Mandarin_%28linguistics%29"title="Mandarin (linguistics)">Mandarin</a> term "T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an" translates as "Supreme Ultimate Boxing" or "Boundless Fist". T'ai Chi training involves learning solo routines, known as <i>forms</i>, and two person routines, known as <i><ahref="/wiki/Pushing_hands"title="Pushing hands">pushing hands</a></i>, as well as <i><ahref="/wiki/Acupressure"title="Acupressure">acupressure</a></i>-related manipulations taught by traditional schools. T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an is seen by many of its schools as a variety of <ahref="/wiki/Taoism"title="Taoism">Taoism</a>, and it does seemingly incorporate many Taoist principles into its practice (see below). It is an art form said to date back many centuries (although not reliably documented under that name before 1850), with precursor disciplines dating back thousands of years. The explanation given by the traditional T'ai Chi family schools for why so many of their previous generations have dedicated their lives to the study and preservation of the art is that the discipline it seems to give its students to dramatically improve the effects of stress in their lives, with a few years of hard work, should hold a useful purpose for people living in a stressful world. They say that once the T'ai Chi principles have been understood and internalized into the bodily framework the practitioner will have an immediately accessible "toolkit" thereby to improve and then maintain their health, to provide a meditative focus, and that can work as an effective and subtle martial art for self-defense.</p>
<p>Teachers say the study of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an is, more than anything else, about challenging one's ability to change oneself appropriately in response to outside forces. These principles are taught using the examples of <ahref="/wiki/Physics"title="Physics">physics</a> as experienced by two (or more) bodies in <ahref="/wiki/Combat"title="Combat">combat</a>. In order to be able to protect oneself or someone else by using change, it is necessary to understand what the consequences are of changing appropriately, changing inappropriately and not changing at all in response to an attack. Students, by this theory, will appreciate the full benefits of the entire art in the fastest way through physical training of the martial art aspect.</p>
<p><ahref="/wiki/Wu_Chien-ch%27uan"title="Wu Chien-ch'uan">Wu Chien-ch'<27>an</a>, co-founder of the Wu family style, described the name <i>T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an</i> this way at the beginning of the <ahref="/wiki/20th_century"title="20th century">20th century</a>:</p>
<dl>
<dd>"Various people have offered different explanations for the name <i>T'ai Chi Ch'uan</i>. Some have said: 'In terms of self-cultivation, one must train from a state of movement towards a state of stillness. <i>T'ai Chi</i> comes about through the balance of <i><ahref="/wiki/Yin"title="Yin">yin</a></i> and <i><ahref="/wiki/Yang"title="Yang">yang</a></i>. In terms of the art of attack and defense then, in the context of the <ahref="/wiki/I_Ching"title="I Ching">changes</a> of full and empty, one is constantly internally latent, not outwardly expressive, as if the <i>yin</i> and <i>yang</i> of <i>T'ai Chi</i> have not yet divided apart.'</dd>
<dd>Others say: 'Every movement of <i>T'ai Chi Ch'uan</i> is based on circles, just like the shape of a <ahref="/wiki/Taijitu"title="Taijitu"><i>T'ai Chi</i> symbol</a>. Therefore, it is called <i>T'ai Chi Ch'uan</i>.' Both explanations are quite reasonable, especially the second, which is more complete."</dd>
</dl>
<divclass="editsection"style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<ahref="/w/index.php?title=Tai_Chi_Chuan&action=edit&section=2"title="Edit section: Training and techniques">edit</a>]</div>
<divstyle="width:182px;"><ahref="/wiki/Image:Yin_yang.svg"class="internal"title="The T'ai Chi Symbol or T'ai Chi T'u (Taijitu)"><imgsrc="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/17/Yin_yang.svg/180px-Yin_yang.svg.png"alt="The T'ai Chi Symbol or T'ai Chi T'u (Taijitu)"width="180"height="180"longdesc="/wiki/Image:Yin_yang.svg"/></a>
<b>The T'ai Chi Symbol or T'ai Chi T'u (Taijitu)</b></div>
</div>
</div>
<p>As the name <i>T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an</i> is held to be derived from the T'ai Chi symbol, the <i>taijitu</i> or <i>t'ai chi t'u</i> (???, <ahref="/wiki/Pinyin"title="Pinyin">pinyin</a> t<>ij<69>t<EFBFBD>), commonly known in the West as the "<ahref="/wiki/Yin-yang"title="Yin-yang">yin-yang</a>" diagram, T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an techniques are said therefore to physically and energetically balance <i>yin</i> (receptive) and <i>yang</i> (active) principles: "From ultimate softness comes ultimate hardness."</p>
<p>The core training involves two primary features: the first being the solo form or <i>ch'<27>an</i>, a slow sequence of movements which emphasize a straight spine, relaxed breathing and a natural range of motion; the second being different styles of <i>pushing hands</i> or <i>t'ui shou</i> (??) for training "stickiness" and sensitivity in the reflexes through various motions from the forms in concert with a training partner in order to learn leverage, timing, coordination and positioning when interacting with another. Pushing hands is seen as necessary not only for training the self-defense skills of a soft style such as T'ai Chi by demonstrating the forms' movement principles experientially, but also it is said to improve upon the level of conditioning provided by practice of the solo forms by increasing the workload on students while they practice those movement principles.</p>
<p>The solo form should take the students through a complete, natural, range of motion over their centre 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 which differ somewhat cosmetically, but there are also many obvious similarities which point to their common origin. The solo forms, empty-hand and <ahref="/wiki/Weapon"title="Weapon">weapon</a>, are catalogues of movements that are practised individually in pushing hands and martial application scenarios to prepare students for self-defence 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.</p>
<p>In a fight, 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. The collision of two like forces, yang with yang, is known as "double-weighted" in T'ai Chi terminology. Instead, students are taught not to fight or resist an incoming force, but to meet it in softness and "stick" to it, following its motion while remaining in physical contact until the incoming force of attack exhausts itself or can be safely redirected, the result of meeting yang with yin. Done correctly, achieving this yin/yang or yang/yin balance in combat (and, by extension, other areas of one's life) is known as being "single-weighted" and is a primary goal of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an training. <ahref="/wiki/Lao_Tzu"title="Lao Tzu">Lao Tzu</a> provided the <ahref="/wiki/Archetype"title="Archetype">archetype</a> for this in the <ahref="/wiki/Tao_Te_Ching"title="Tao Te Ching">Tao Te Ching</a> when he wrote, "The soft and the pliable will defeat the hard and strong." This soft "neutralization" of an attack can be accomplished very quickly in an actual fight by an adept practitioner. A T'ai Chi student has to be well conditioned by many years of disciplined training; stable, sensitive and elastic mentally and physically in order to realize this ability, however.</p>
<p>Other training exercises include:</p>
<ul>
<li>Weapons training and <ahref="/wiki/Fencing"title="Fencing">fencing</a> applications employing the straight <i><ahref="/wiki/Sword"title="Sword">sword</a></i> known as the <i>jian</i> or <i>chien</i> or <i>gim</i> (<ahref="/wiki/Jian"title="Jian">ji<EFBFBD>n</a> ?), a heavier curved <i>sabre</i>, sometimes called a <i>broadsword</i> or <i>tao</i> (<ahref="/wiki/Dao_%28saber%29"title="Dao (saber)">dao</a> ?, which is actually considered a big <i><ahref="/wiki/Knife"title="Knife">knife</a></i>), folding <i><ahref="/wiki/Tessen"title="Tessen">fan</a></i>, <i>staff</i> (?), 7 foot (2 m) <i><ahref="/wiki/Qiang_%28spear%29"title="Qiang (spear)">spear</a></i> and 13 foot (4 m) <i><ahref="/wiki/Lance"title="Lance">lance</a></i> (both called qiang ?). More exotic weapons still used by some traditional styles are the large <i>Da Dao</i> or <i>Ta Tao</i> (??) sabre, <i><ahref="/wiki/Ji_%28halberd%29"title="Ji (halberd)">halberd</a></i> (ji ?), <i>cane</i>, <i>rope-dart</i>, <i><ahref="/wiki/Three_sectional_staff"title="Three sectional staff">three sectional staff</a></i>, <i><ahref="/wiki/Lasso"title="Lasso">lasso</a></i>, <i><ahref="/wiki/Whip"title="Whip">whip</a></i>, <i><ahref="/wiki/Chain_whip"title="Chain whip">chain whip</a></i> and <i>steel whip</i>.</li>
<li>Two-person tournament sparring (as part of push hands competitions and/or <i><ahref="/wiki/San_shou"title="San shou">san shou</a></i> ??);</li>
<li>Breathing exercises; <i><ahref="/wiki/Nei_kung"title="Nei kung">nei kung</a></i> (?? n<>igong) or, more commonly, <i><ahref="/wiki/Ch%27i_kung"title="Ch'i kung">ch'i kung</a></i> (?? q<>gong) to develop <b><ahref="/wiki/Ch%27i"title="Ch'i">ch'i</a></b> (? q<>) or "breath energy" in coordination with physical movement and <ahref="/wiki/Zhan_zhuang"title="Zhan zhuang">post standing</a> or combinations of the two. These were formerly taught only to disciples as a separate, complementary training system. In the last 50 years they have become more well known to the general public.</li>
</ul>
<p>T'ai Chi's martial aspect relies on sensitivity to the opponent's movements and centre of gravity dictating appropriate responses. Effectively affecting or "capturing" the opponent's centre of gravity immediately upon contact is trained as the primary goal of the martial T'ai Chi student, and from there all other technique can follow with seeming effortlessness. The alert calmness required to achieve the necessary sensitivity is acquired over thousands of hours of first <i>yin</i> (slow, repetitive, meditative, low impact) and then later adding <i>yang</i> ("realistic," active, fast, high impact) martial training; forms, pushing hands and sparring. T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an 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 in most styles. 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. There is an extensive repertoire of joint traps, locks and breaks (<ahref="/wiki/Chin_na"title="Chin na">chin na</a>), particularly applied to lock up or break an opponent's elbows, wrists, fingers, ankles, back or neck. 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 on kind-heartedness. One is expected to show mercy to one's opponents, as instanced by a poem preserved in some of the T'ai Chi families said to be derived from the <ahref="/wiki/Shaolin"title="Shaolin">Shaolin</a> temple:</p>
<dl>
<dd>"I would rather maim than kill</dd>
<dd>Hurt than maim</dd>
<dd>Intimidate than hurt</dd>
<dd>Avoid than intimidate."</dd>
</dl>
<divclass="thumb tright">
<divstyle="width:352px;"><ahref="/wiki/Image:Martial_arts_-_Fragrant_Hills.JPG"class="internal"title="An outdoor Chen style class in Beijing"><imgsrc="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/Martial_arts_-_Fragrant_Hills.JPG/350px-Martial_arts_-_Fragrant_Hills.JPG"alt="An outdoor Chen style class in Beijing"width="350"height="233"longdesc="/wiki/Image:Martial_arts_-_Fragrant_Hills.JPG"/></a>
<divclass="editsection"style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<ahref="/w/index.php?title=Tai_Chi_Chuan&action=edit&section=3"title="Edit section: Styles and history">edit</a>]</div>
<p>There are five major styles of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an, each named after the Chinese family that teaches (or taught) it:</p>
<ul>
<li><b><ahref="/wiki/Chen_style_Tai_Chi_Chuan"title="Chen style Tai Chi Chuan">Chen style</a></b> (??) and its close cousin <b><ahref="/w/index.php?title=Zhaobao_style_T%27ai_Chi_Ch%27uan&action=edit"class="new"title="Zhaobao style T'ai Chi Ch'uan">Zhao Bao Style</a></b> (?????)</li>
<li><b><ahref="/wiki/Yang_style_T%27ai_Chi_Ch%27uan"title="Yang style T'ai Chi Ch'uan">Yang style</a></b> (??)</li>
<li><b><ahref="/wiki/Wu/Hao_style_T%27ai_Chi_Ch%27uan"title="Wu/Hao style T'ai Chi Ch'uan">Wu or Wu/Hao style of Wu Yu-hsiang</a></b> (??)</li>
<li><b><ahref="/wiki/Wu_style_T%27ai_Chi_Ch%27uan"title="Wu style T'ai Chi Ch'uan">Wu style of Wu Ch'uan-y<> and Wu Chien-ch'uan</a></b> (??)</li>
<li><b><ahref="/wiki/Sun_style_T%27ai_Chi_Ch%27uan"title="Sun style T'ai Chi Ch'uan">Sun style</a></b> (??)</li>
</ul>
<p>The order of seniority is as listed above. The order of popularity is Yang, Wu, Chen, Sun, and Wu/Hao. The first five major family styles share much underlying theory, but differ in their approaches to training.</p>
<p>In the modern world there are now dozens of new styles, hybrid styles and offshoots of the main styles, but the five family schools are the groups recognised by the international community as being orthodox. For example, there are <i>several</i> groups teaching what they call <ahref="/wiki/Wudang_Tai_Chi_Chuan"title="Wudang Tai Chi Chuan">Wu Tang style T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an (??????)</a>. The best known modern style going by the name <i>Wu Tang</i> has gained some publicity internationally, especially in the <ahref="/wiki/United_Kingdom"title="United Kingdom">UK</a> and <ahref="/wiki/Europe"title="Europe">Europe</a>, but was originally taught by a senior student of the Wu (?) style.</p>
<p>The designation <i><ahref="/wiki/Wudangquan"title="Wudangquan">Wu Tang Ch'<27>an</a></i> is also used to broadly distinguish <i>internal</i> or <i>nei chia</i> martial arts (said to be a specialty of the <ahref="/wiki/Monasteries"title="Monasteries">monasteries</a> at <ahref="/wiki/Wudangshan"title="Wudangshan">Wu Tang Shan</a>) from what are known as the <i>external</i> or <i>wei chia</i> styles based on <i><ahref="/w/index.php?title=Shaolinquan_kung_fu&action=edit"class="new"title="Shaolinquan kung fu">Shaolinquan kung fu</a></i>, although that distinction is sometimes disputed by individual schools. In this broad sense, among many T'ai Chi schools <i>all</i> styles of T'ai Chi (as well as related arts such as <ahref="/wiki/Bagua_zhang"title="Bagua zhang">Pa Kua Chang</a> and <ahref="/wiki/Hsing_Yi"title="Hsing Yi">Hsing-i Ch'<27>an</a>) are therefore considered to be "Wu Tang style" martial arts. The schools that designate themselves "Wu Tang style" relative to the family styles mentioned above mostly claim to teach an "original style" they say was formulated by a Taoist monk called <ahref="/wiki/Zhang_Sanfeng"title="Zhang Sanfeng">Zhang Sanfeng</a> and taught by him in the Taoist monasteries at Wu Tang Shan. Some consider that what is practised under that name today may be a modern back-formation based on stories and popular veneration of Zhang Sanfeng (see below) as well as the martial fame of the Wu Tang monastery (there are many other martial art styles historically associated with Wu Tang besides T'ai Chi).</p>
<p>When tracing T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an's formative influences to <ahref="/wiki/Taoist"title="Taoist">Taoist</a> and <ahref="/wiki/Buddhist"title="Buddhist">Buddhist</a> monasteries, one has little more to go on than legendary tales from a modern historical perspective, but T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an's practical connection to and dependence upon the theories of <ahref="/wiki/Song_dynasty"title="Song dynasty">Sung dynasty</a><ahref="/wiki/Neo-Confucianism"title="Neo-Confucianism">Neo-Confucianism</a> (a conscious synthesis of Taoist, Buddhist and <ahref="/wiki/Confucian"title="Confucian">Confucian</a> traditions, esp. the teachings of <ahref="/wiki/Mencius"title="Mencius">Mencius</a>) is readily apparent to its practitioners. The philosophical and political landscape of that time in Chinese history is fairly well documented, even if the origin of the art later to become known as T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an in it is not. T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an's theories and practice are therefore believed by some schools to have been formulated by the Taoist monk <ahref="/wiki/Zhang_Sanfeng"title="Zhang Sanfeng">Zhang Sanfeng</a> in the 12th century, a time frame fitting well with when the principles of the Neo-Confucian school were making themselves felt in Chinese intellectual life. Therefore the didactic story is told that Zhang Sanfeng as a young man studied <ahref="/wiki/Tao_Yin"title="Tao Yin">Tao Yin</a> (??, <ahref="/wiki/Pinyin"title="Pinyin">Pinyin</a> daoyin) breathing exercises from his Taoist teachers and martial arts at the Buddhist Shaolin monastery, eventually combining the martial forms and breathing exercises to formulate the soft or internal principles we associate with T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an and related martial arts. Its subsequent fame attributed to his teaching, Wu Tang monastery was known thereafter as an important martial center for many centuries, its many styles of internal <ahref="/wiki/Kung_fu"title="Kung fu">kung fu</a> preserved and refined at various Taoist temples.</p>
<divclass="editsection"style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<ahref="/w/index.php?title=Tai_Chi_Chuan&action=edit&section=4"title="Edit section: Family tree">edit</a>]</div>
<ahref="/wiki/42_Form_%28Competition_Form%29_T%27ai_Chi_Ch%27uan"title="42 Form (Competition Form) T'ai Chi Ch'uan">42 Competition Form</a>
(<ahref="/wiki/Wushu"title="Wushu">Wushu</a> competition form combined from Sun, Wu, Chen, and Yang styles)
</pre>
<divclass="editsection"style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<ahref="/w/index.php?title=Tai_Chi_Chuan&action=edit&section=5"title="Edit section: Notes to Family tree table">edit</a>]</div>
<p>Names denoted by an asterisk are legendary or semilegendary figures in the lineage, which means their involvement in the lineage, while accepted by most of the major schools, isn't independently verifiable from known historical records.</p>
<p>The Cheng Man-ch'ing and <ahref="/w/index.php?title=Chinese_Sports_Commission&action=edit"class="new"title="Chinese Sports Commission">Chinese Sports Commission</a> short forms are said to be derived from Yang family forms, but neither are recognized as Yang family T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an by current Yang family teachers. The Chen, Yang and Wu families are now promoting their own shortened demonstration forms for competitive purposes.</p>
<divclass="editsection"style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<ahref="/w/index.php?title=Tai_Chi_Chuan&action=edit&section=6"title="Edit section: Modern T'ai Chi">edit</a>]</div>
<divstyle="width:352px;"><ahref="/wiki/Image:Taichi_shanghai_bund_2005.jpg"class="internal"title="Yang style in Shanghai"><imgsrc="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9f/Taichi_shanghai_bund_2005.jpg/350px-Taichi_shanghai_bund_2005.jpg"alt="Yang style in Shanghai"width="350"height="263"longdesc="/wiki/Image:Taichi_shanghai_bund_2005.jpg"/></a>
<p>T'ai Chi has become very popular in the last twenty years or so, as the <ahref="/wiki/Baby_boomers"title="Baby boomers">baby boomers</a> age and T'ai Chi's reputation for ameliorating the effects of aging becomes more well-known. Hospitals, clinics, community and senior centers are all hosting T'ai Chi classes in communities around the world. As a result of this popularity, there has been some divergence between those who say they practice T'ai Chi primarily for fighting, those who practice it for its <ahref="/wiki/Aesthetic"title="Aesthetic">aesthetic</a> appeal (as in the shortened, modern, theatrical "Taijiquan" forms of <ahref="/wiki/Wushu"title="Wushu">wushu</a>, see below), and those who 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 still see the two aspects of health and martial arts as equally necessary pieces of the puzzle, the <i>yin</i> and <i>yang</i> of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an. The T'ai Chi "family" schools therefore still present their teachings in a martial art context even though the majority of their students nowadays profess that they are primarily interested in training for the claimed health benefits.</p>
<p>Along with <ahref="/wiki/Yoga"title="Yoga">Yoga</a>, it is one of the fastest growing fitness and health maintenance activities, in terms of numbers of students enrolling in classes. Since there is no universal certification process and most Westerners haven't seen very much T'ai Chi and don't know what to look for, practically anyone can learn or even make up a few moves and call themselves a teacher. This is especially prevalent in the <ahref="/wiki/New_Age"title="New Age">New Age</a> community. Relatively few of these teachers even know that there are martial applications to the T'ai Chi forms. Those who do know that it is a martial art usually don't teach martially themselves. If they do teach self-defense, it is often a mixture of motions which the teachers think look like T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an with some other system. This is especially evident in schools located outside of China. While this phenomenon may have made some external aspects of T'ai Chi available for a wider audience, the traditional T'ai Chi family schools see the martial focus as a fundamental part of their training, both for health <i>and</i> self-defense purposes. They claim that while the students may not need to practice martial applications themselves to derive a benefit from T'ai Chi training, they assert that T'ai Chi teachers at least should know the martial applications to ensure that the movements they teach are done correctly and safely by their students. Also, working on the ability to protect oneself from physical attack (one of the most stressful things that can happen to a person) certainly falls under the category of complete "health maintenance." For these reasons they claim that a school not teaching those aspects somewhere in their syllabus cannot be said to be actually teaching the art itself, and will be much less likely to be able to reproduce the full health benefits that made T'ai Chi's reputation in the first place.</p>
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<divstyle="width:352px;"><ahref="/wiki/Image:Tai_Chi_fans.jpg"class="internal"title="Women practicing non-martial T'ai Chi in Chinatown (New York City, New York, USA)."><imgsrc="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ad/Tai_Chi_fans.jpg/350px-Tai_Chi_fans.jpg"alt="Women practicing non-martial T'ai Chi in Chinatown (New York City, New York, USA)."width="350"height="201"longdesc="/wiki/Image:Tai_Chi_fans.jpg"/></a>
Women practicing non-martial T'ai Chi in <ahref="/wiki/Chinatown_%28Manhattan%29"title="Chinatown (Manhattan)">Chinatown</a> (<ahref="/wiki/New_York_City"title="New York City">New York City</a>, <ahref="/wiki/New_York"title="New York">New York</a>, <ahref="/wiki/USA"title="USA">USA</a>).</div>
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<p>In order to standardize T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an for wushu tournament judging, and because many of the family T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an teachers had either moved out of China or had been forced to stop teaching after the <ahref="/wiki/Chinese_Civil_War"title="Chinese Civil War">Communist regime was established</a> in <ahref="/wiki/1949"title="1949">1949</a>, the government sponsored Chinese Sports Committee brought together four of their wushu teachers to truncate the Yang family hand form to <ahref="/wiki/24_Form_%28Simplified_Form%29_T%27ai_Chi_Ch%27uan"title="24 Form (Simplified Form) T'ai Chi Ch'uan">24 postures</a> in <ahref="/wiki/1956"title="1956">1956</a>. They wanted to somehow retain the look of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an but make an easy to remember routine that was less difficult to teach and much less difficult to learn than longer (generally 88 to 108 posture) classical solo hand forms. In <ahref="/wiki/1976"title="1976">1976</a>, they developed a slightly longer form also for the purposes of demonstration that still didn't involve the complete memory, balance and coordination requirements of the traditional forms. This was a combination form, the <i>Combined 48 Forms</i> 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; Ch'en, Yang, Wu, and Sun. Even though shorter modern forms don't have the conditioning benefits of the classical forms, the idea was to take what they felt were distinctive cosmetic features of these styles and to express them in a shorter time for purposes of competition.</p>
<p>As T'ai Chi again became popular on the Mainland, competitive forms were developed to be completed within a 6 minute time limit. In the late <ahref="/wiki/1980s"title="1980s">1980s</a>, the Chinese Sports Committee standardized many different competition forms. It had developed sets said 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 Ch'en Style National Competition Form is the <i>56 Forms</i>, and so on. The combined forms are <i>The 42 Form</i> or simply the <i>Competition Form</i>, as it is known in China. In the 11th <ahref="/wiki/Asian_Games"title="Asian Games">Asian Games</a> of <ahref="/wiki/1990"title="1990">1990</a>, 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 (<ahref="/w/index.php?title=IWUF&action=edit"class="new"title="IWUF">IWUF</a>) has applied for wushu to be part of the <ahref="/wiki/Olympic_games"title="Olympic games">Olympic games</a>. If accepted, it is likely that T'ai Chi and wushu will be represented as demonstration events in <ahref="/wiki/2008"title="2008">2008</a>.</p>
<p>Representatives of the original T'ai Chi families do not teach the forms developed by the Chinese Sports Committee. T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an has historically been seen by them as a martial art, not a sport, with competitions mostly entered as a hobby or to promote one's school publicly, but with little bearing on measuring actual accomplishment in the art. Their criticisms of modern forms include that the modern, "government" routines have no standardized, internally consistent training requirements. Also, that people studying competition forms rarely train pushing hands or other power generation trainings vital to learning the martial applications of T'ai Chi Ch'<27>an and thereby lack the <ahref="/wiki/Quality_control"title="Quality control">quality control</a> traditional teachers maintain is essential for achieving the full benefits from both the health and the martial aspect of traditional T'ai Chi training.</p>
<divclass="editsection"style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<ahref="/w/index.php?title=Tai_Chi_Chuan&action=edit&section=8"title="Edit section: Health benefits">edit</a>]</div>
<p>Researchers have found that long-term T'ai Chi practice had favorable effects on the promotion of balance control, flexibility and cardiovascular fitness and reduced the risk of falls in elders. The studies also reported reduced pain, stress and anxiety in healthy subjects. Other studies have indicated improved cardiovascular and respiratory function in healthy subjects as well as those who had undergone coronary artery bypass surgery. Patients also benefited from T'ai Chi who suffered from heart failure, high blood pressure, heart attacks, arthritis and multiple sclerosis.</p>
<p>T'ai Chi has also been shown to reduce the symptoms of young Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (<ahref="/wiki/ADHD"title="ADHD">ADHD</a>) sufferers. T'ai Chi's gentle, low impact, movements surprisingly burn more calories than surfing and nearly as many as downhill skiing. T'ai Chi also boosts aspects of the immune system's function very significantly, and has been shown to reduce the incidence of anxiety, depression, and overall mood disturbance. (See research citations listed below.)</p>
<p>A pilot study has found evidence that T'ai Chi and related qigong helps reduce the severity of <ahref="/wiki/Diabetes"title="Diabetes">diabetes</a>.<ahref="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1535304.htm"class="external autonumber"title="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1535304.htm">[1]</a></p>
<divclass="editsection"style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<ahref="/w/index.php?title=Tai_Chi_Chuan&action=edit&section=9"title="Edit section: Citations to medical research">edit</a>]</div>
<li>Wolf SL, Sattin RW, Kutner M. Intense T'ai Chi exercise training and fall occurrences in older, transitionally frail adults: a randomized, controlled trial. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2003 Dec; 51(12): 1693-701. <ahref="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14687346"class="external"title="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=14687346">PMID 14687346</a></li>
<li>Wang C, Collet JP, Lau J. The effect of Tai Chi on health outcomes in patients with chronic conditions: a <ahref="/wiki/Systematic_review"title="Systematic review">systematic review</a>. Arch Intern Med. 2004 Mar 8;164(5):493-501. <ahref="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15006825"class="external"title="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=15006825">PMID 15006825</a></li>
<li>Search a listing of articles relating to the FICSIT trials and T'ai Chi <ahref="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Select+from+History&db=pubmed&query_key=3"class="external autonumber"title="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Select+from+History&db=pubmed&query_key=3">[2]</a></li>
<li>Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T.M., & Thimas, E. (2001). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: benefits from Tai Chi. Journal of Bodywork & Movement Therapies, 5(2):120-3, 2001 Apr, 5(23 ref), 120-123</li>
<li>Tai Chi boosts T-Cell counts in immune system <ahref="http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2003/nov/11taichi.html"class="external autonumber"title="http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2003/nov/11taichi.html">[4]</a></li>
<li>Tai Chi, depression, anxiety, and mood disturbance (American Psychological Association) Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 1989 Vol 33 (2) 197-206</li>
<li>A comprehensive listing of Tai Chi medical research links <ahref="http://www.worldtaichiday.org/WTCQDHlthBenft.html"class="external autonumber"title="http://www.worldtaichiday.org/WTCQDHlthBenft.html">[5]</a></li>
<li>References to medical publications <ahref="http://www.worldtaichiday.org/HeadlineNews.html"class="external autonumber"title="http://www.worldtaichiday.org/HeadlineNews.html">[6]</a></li>
<li><ahref="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1535304.htm"class="external text"title="http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2005/s1535304.htm">Tai Chi a promising remedy for diabetes</a>, <i>Australian Broadcasting Corporation</i>, 20 December, 2005 - Pilot study of Qigong and tai chi in diabetes sufferers.</li>
<li>Health Research Articles on "Tai Chi as Health Therapy" for many issues, i.e. ADHD, Cardiac Health & Rehabilitation, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Menopause, Bone Loss, Weight Loss, etc.<ahref="http://www.worldtaichiday.org/LIBRARYArticles/LIBRARYTaiChiArticlesMenu.html"class="external autonumber"title="http://www.worldtaichiday.org/LIBRARYArticles/LIBRARYTaiChiArticlesMenu.html">[7]</a></li>
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<divclass="editsection"style="float:right;margin-left:5px;">[<ahref="/w/index.php?title=Tai_Chi_Chuan&action=edit&section=10"title="Edit section: See also">edit</a>]</div>
<li><ahref="http://www.leefamilystyle.com/"class="external text"title="http://www.leefamilystyle.com/">UK website for Li style, popular in Europe</a></li>
<li><ahref="http://www.chen-taiji.com/mambo/"class="external text"title="http://www.chen-taiji.com/mambo/">The World of Taijiquan</a></li>
<li><ahref="http://www.scheele.org/lee/tcclinks.html"class="external text"title="http://www.scheele.org/lee/tcclinks.html">Lee Scheele's Links to T'ai Chi Ch'uan Web Sites</a></li>
<li><ahref="http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2004/jul/07taichi.html"class="external text"title="http://www.acupuncturetoday.com/archives2004/jul/07taichi.html">Tai Chi: Good for the Mind, Good for the Body</a></li>
<li><ahref="http://www.taichiunion.com/"class="external text"title="http://www.taichiunion.com/">Tai Chi Chuan Union for Great Britian: The largest collective of independent Tai Chi Chuan Instructors in the British Isles</a></li>
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