The International Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association is a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO), also known as a nonbusiness entity, nonprofit institution, not-for-profit organization, or simply a nonprofit, is a non-governmental (private) legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public, or so ...

organization dedicated to the teaching, promotion and propagation of the Traditional

Yang-style tai chi Yang-style tai chi ( zh, s=楊氏太极拳, p=Yángshì tàijíquán) is one of the five primary families of tai chi. Including its variations, it is the most popular and widely practised style of tai chi in the world today. It is second in term ...

. It was founded on October 29, 1998 by Grandmaster Yang Zhenduo and his grandson Master Yang Jun. The association is headquartered in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington, United States.

History

In 1995, during an exhibition of

promoted by the

Shanxi Shanxi; Chinese postal romanization, formerly romanised as Shansi is a Provinces of China, province in North China. Its capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-level cities are Changzhi a ...

Tai Chi Chuan Association in

Taiyuan Taiyuan; Mandarin pronunciation: (Jin Chinese, Taiyuan Jin: /tʰai˦˥ ye˩˩/) is the capital of Shanxi, China. Taiyuan is the political, economic, cultural and international exchange center of Shanxi Province. It is an industrial base foc ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, a meeting was held with the participation of Masters Yang Zhenduo and Yang Jun and many other instructors of

tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

from all over the world, whom they had met during their many travels. During the meeting it was decided to create the

Yang Chengfu Yang Chengfu (1883–1936) was one of the best known teachers of Yang-style tai chi Chinese martial art. He helped develop the art into its modern form. His students would go on to found successful martial arts schools of their own and helped s ...

Tai Chi Chuan Centers and subsequently, three offices were opened in the United States in

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Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

and

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, with directors Horacio Lopez, Han Hoong Wang and Bill Walsh, respectively. Yang Zhenduo opened these centers in honor of his father,

, who was responsible for the widespread popularity of

. In 1996 fourth center was added in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, United States, with director Andy Lee. For years the Masters Yang Zhenduo and Yang Jun had visited the

Tai Chi Chuan Centers, so the time was ripe for the creation of an ''International Organization'' which combined the centers and schools in each country into a cohesive structure. To attract more students, however, it was decided that an ''Association'' provided the best structure. So, on October 29, 1998 the International Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association was founded in Seattle, Washington, United States. Then in August of the following year, Yang Jun, moved to

with his wife Fang Hong and in September opened the Seattle center. It
website
first opened on April 24, 1999. Currently, the association has 28 centers in 12 countries with more than 2000 members worldwide. Several martial arts magazines have published articles on the International Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association.

Purpose

The purpose of the association is the promotion of

throughout the world. The following are the charters of the association: * to develop new

Tai Chi Chuan Centers; * to promote interaction with other associations of martial arts; * to accept individual members; * to hold seminars and competitions; * to assess the levels of skills of Yang-style tai chi practitioners; * to organize teams of judges in traditional Yang-style tai chi; * to provide products of the Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association.

References

{{reflist

External links

International Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Association
Tai chi organizations Neijia