Tai Chi Styles
Style↕ | Founder↕ | Origin Century↕ | Pace↕ | Difficulty↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yang Style | Yang Luchan | 19th century | Slow, even | Beginner friendly | Most popular style worldwide, large flowing frames, gentle on joints, taught in parks across China |
Chen Style | Chen Wangting | 17th century | Alternating slow and explosive | Advanced | Original tai chi style, silk-reeling (chan si jin) movements, fa jin power releases, low stances |
Wu Style (Wu Jianquan) | Wu Jianquan | Early 20th century | Slow, compact | Intermediate | Second most popular style, small frame, forward-leaning posture, soft and subtle |
Wu (Hao) Style | Wu Yuxiang | 19th century | Very slow, precise | Advanced | Smallest frame, high stances, rare outside China, internal focus over external shape |
Sun Style | Sun Lutang | Early 20th century | Smooth, lively | Beginner friendly | Combines tai chi with bagua and xingyi, agile stepping, recommended for arthritis patients |
Zhaobao Style | Chen Qingping | 19th century | Circular, flowing | Intermediate | Offshoot of Chen style from Zhaobao village, small circular movements, less widely taught |
Cheng Man-ching Short Form | Cheng Man-ching | Mid 20th century | Slow | Beginner friendly | 37-posture simplified form, brought tai chi to the West in the 1960s, condensed Yang style |
24-Form (Beijing Simplified) | Chinese Sports Committee | 1956 | Slow, even | Beginner friendly | Government-standardized form, most widely practiced in the world, 24 postures in 6 minutes |
48-Form | Chinese Sports Committee | 1979 | Slow, even | Intermediate | Combines elements from Yang, Chen, Wu and Sun styles, used in competition |
42-Form Competition | Chinese Wushu Association | 1989 | Slow with speed changes | Advanced | Official international competition form, blend of all five major styles |
Yang Style Old Frame | Yang Luchan | 19th century | Slow, expansive | Intermediate | Original Yang form before simplification, 108 postures, larger martial frame |
Chen Xinjia (New Frame) | Chen Fake | Early 20th century | Dynamic, explosive | Advanced | Modernized Chen style, more spiral movement, favored by modern Chen practitioners |
Chen Laojia (Old Frame) | Chen Changxing | 19th century | Slow with fa jin bursts | Advanced | Traditional Chen form, foundation for all other Chen variants, 74 postures |
Wudang Tai Chi | Zhang Sanfeng (legendary) | Legendary, 13th century | Flowing, meditative | Intermediate | Taoist temple tradition from Wudang Mountains, heavy internal alchemy focus |
Tai Chi for Arthritis | Dr. Paul Lam | 1997 | Very slow, gentle | Beginner friendly | Modified Sun style, clinically proven for balance and joint pain, endorsed by Arthritis Foundation |
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