Yang Chengfu (1883–1936) was one of the best known teachers of

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 ...

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 spread Yang-style tai chi around the world.

Biography

Yang Chengfu was born into the famous Yang family of tai chi practitioners, the son of Yang Jianhou and grandson of

Yang Luchan Yang Luchan ( zh, c=杨露禅, w=Yang Lu-ch'an, p=Yáng Lùchán), also known as Yang Fukui (1799–1872), was an influential Chinese practitioner and teacher of the internal style tai chi martial art. He is known as the founder of Yang-styl ...

. With his older brother

Yang Shaohou Yang Shaohou (; 1862–1930) was a Chinese martial arts master who, along with Yang Chengfu (楊澄甫; 1883–1936), represents the third generation of Yang-style tai chi. Grandmaster of his generation and known for his compact "small-frame" ...

and colleagues

Wu Jianquan Wu Jianquan ( zh, c=吴鉴泉, w=Wu Chien-ch‘üan, p=Wú Jiànquán; 1870–1942) was a famous teacher and founder of the ''neijia'' martial art of Wu-style tai chi in late Imperial and early Republican China. Biography Wu Jianquan was ta ...

and

Sun Lutang Sun Lutang (1860-1933) was a master of Chinese ''neijia'' (internal) martial arts and was the progenitor of the Syncretism, syncretic art of Sun-style tai chi. He was also considered an accomplished Neo-Confucian and Taoist scholar (especiall ...

, he was among the first teachers to offer tai chi instruction to the general public at the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Physical Culture Research Institute from 1914 until 1928. He moved to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

in 1928. Chengfu is known for having "smoothed" out the somewhat more vigorous training routine he learned from his family as well as emphasising a "large frame" ( zh, c=大架, p=dà jià, labels=no) with expansive movements in stepping and using large circular motions with the arms. His smooth, evenly paced large-frame form, along with its hundreds of offshoots, has been the standard for

(and overwhelmingly in the public imagination for tai chi in general) ever since. Chengfu is the official author of two books on the style, ''Application Methods of Tai Chi'', published in 1931, and ''Essence and Applications of Tai Chi'', published in 1934. His second book was translated into English in 2005.

Students and Descendants

His direct descendants, the many students he taught, and their students, have spread the art around the world. Among Yang Chengfu's students were famous masters such as Zhao Bin (his older brothers grandson 1906-1906)

Dong Yingjie Dong Yingjie (Wade-Giles: Tung Ying-chieh, , 1897 - 1961) was a leading master of tai chi, and a top disciple of Yang Chengfu. Born in Renze, Xingtai, Renze (then known as Renxian), Xingtai, Hebei, China, his given name was Wenke (). Famous in ...

, Chen Weiming,

Fu Zhongwen Fu Zhongwen (1903–1994) was a respected tai chi teacher and author from China. From an early age, he had been a disciple of Yang Chengfu, and later a family member as he married Zou Kuei Cheng, the great-granddaughter of Yang Chien-hou. F ...

, Li Yaxuan (李雅轩; 1894–1976) and Cheng Man-chʻing. Each of them taught extensively, founding groups that still teach tai chi to this day. Cheng Man-chʻing, perhaps the most famous outside of China, significantly shortened and simplified the

traditional forms Traditional Chinese characters are a standard set of Chinese character forms used to write Chinese languages. In Taiwan, the set of traditional characters is regulated by the Ministry of Education and standardized in the ''Standard Form of N ...

Yang taught him after his teacher's passing, reportedly to make them more accessible to larger numbers of students. Although Cheng's modifications are considered controversial by most other schools and are not recognized by the Yang family, Cheng Man-chʻing is known as one of the first to teach tai chi in the West. His sons have continued to teach their father's tai chi, including his first son, the late Yang Shouzhong (1910-1985), who brought Yang-style tai chi to

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

, his second son Yang Zhenji (1921-2007), his third son,

Yang Zhenduo Yang Zhenduo (1926 – 7 November 2020), a native of Yongnian, Hebei, was born in Beijing, China, into the famous Yang family of martial artists. A son of Yang Chengfu and a great-grandson of Yang Luchan (the creator of the Yang style of t ...

(1926-2020), who lived in

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 ...

Province, who was widely considered the most prominent of the Yang family tai chi instructors, and his fourth son, Yang Zhenguo, born in 1928, and living in

Handan Handan is a prefecture-level city located in the southwest of Hebei province, China. The southernmost prefecture-level city of the province, it borders Xingtai on the north, and the provinces of Shanxi on the west, Henan on the south and Shando ...

Hebei Hebei is a Provinces of China, province in North China. It is China's List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, sixth-most populous province, with a population of over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. It bor ...

Bibliography

External links

Yang Family Website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yang, Chengfu 1883 births 1936 deaths Chinese tai chi practitioners Martial artists from Hebei Martial arts writers