THE
HISTORY OF TAI CHI CHUAN
Mr D. Docherty
TAOIST PHILOSOPHY
A convenient, but somewhat implausible, historical tradition claims
that
the eight trigrams (Pa Kua or
Bagua) of the I Ching were
invented by the
legendary Emperor Fu Hsi (c. 2852-2737 BC); that the I Ching was put
together by the founders of the Chou Dynasty (c. 1030-221 BC), and that
Confucius wrote a commentary on it. Furthermore, Lao Tzu, the author of
the Tao Te Ching, is supposed to have been a contemporary of Confucius.
In any case, the Taoist classics of the I Ching and Tao Te Ching did
exist in something like their present form during the late Chou Dynasty.
TAOIST EXERCISE
Around the 4th century BC, the Taoist philosopher, Chuang Tzu, was
referring to 'Dao Yin' - exercises designed to increase blood
circulation and the flow of Chi by bending and stretching the limbs.
Chuang Tzu also referred to 'Tu Na', a breathing method for exhaling
old
air and inhaling the new. These exercises were practiced for both
meditative and therapeutic reasons and they still exist today in
various methods such as the Five Animal Frolic, Taoist Eight Set
Brocade (Baduanjin) and Qigong.
CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS
The
famous Shaolin Temple at the foot of Songshan was only built c. 494
AD. However, well before this, during the Shang Dynasty (c. 1520-1030
BC), well-developed methods of weapon training and martial arts
contests and games already existed. During the Chou Dynasty (1030-221
BC), wrestling, archery, and chariot racing were all considered
military
sports. In 1984 I visited the Shaolin Temple on Songshan. It is quite
small and remote, and was in a state of disrepair though it has since
been renovated. The idea that this place was where Chinese martial arts
originated and that Bodhidharma was the man who introduced martial arts
to China just does not hold water. It is certain, however, that the
Shaolin Temple did have a considerable influence on the development of
Chinese martial arts.
TAOIST MARTIAL ARTS
As both martial arts and Taoism existed in China long before the birth
of Christ, it would be most surprising if Tai Chi Chuan was either the
only, or the first, Taoist martial art. There is a historical tradition
that Tai Chi Chuan was preceded by other similar Taoist martial arts.
These were: the Thirty-Seven Styles, Nine Little Heavens, Innate
(Before Heaven) Boxing, and Acquired (After Heaven) Boxing. The
Thirty-Seven Styles is said to have been the earliest of these and was
founded by the giant hermit, Xu Xuan-Ping, during the Tang Dynasty
(618-960 AD). As Taoist philosophy, Taoist exercise and Chinese martial
arts all predate this by more than 1,000 years, we can see that it is
not unrealistic to believe that Taoist martial arts similar to Tai Chi
Chuan did exist as early as the Tang Dynasty.
RESEARCH INTO THE CHEN STYLE
Before trying to ascertain who might have been the founder of Tai Chi
Chuan, it is necessary to ascertain who was not.
Until recently sections of the Chinese Government and many writers on
Tai Chi Chuan accepted the claim of the Chen family of Henan Province
that their ancestor, Chen Wang-Ting was the founder of Tai Chi Chuan.
My teacher and I have always contended that this claim was false; now
we have evidence to support our contention.
In an article written on 9/6/1980 in China's 'Physical Education
Newspaper' Mr. Gu Liu-Sheng, one of China's leading martial arts
writers, states that he had at one time mistakenly believed that the
Chen Wang-Ting of the Chen clan of Henan Province had been an imperial
censor (a high-ranking post in Imperial China), but later found that he
had only been a garrison soldier in his local county. For many years Gu
was unable to rectify his mistake because of the activities
of the
'Gang of Four'.
Next, there is the evidence of Mr. Wu Tu-Nan, who was born in 1885, who
has practiced Tai Chi since he was a child and who still practices in
Peking. I have translated some of his comments from "A Research into
Tai Chi Chuan" (edited by his student Ma You-Ching and published in
Hong Kong in 1986).
The book describes how he went to the Chen clan village in Wen County,
Henan Province, in 1917 to research into the origins of Tai Chi Chuan.
His guide was Chen Xian, the village schoolmaster and the only educated
person in the village. Chen told him that the Chen Family martial art
was Pao Chui (Cannon Punch) which was connected with Shaolin Boxing
(the Shaolin Temple is also in Henan Province) and 
which
for the last
several hundred years had been passed down from one generation to
another of the Chen clan.
One autumn, after the harvesting, when Chen Chang-xing
(1771-1853) was
teaching his sons, relatives and students the Chen Family Pao Chui, a
stranger who had been watching their practice laughed out loud.
Realising his discourtesy, the stranger turned to leave, but Chen
Chang-Xing pursued him and grabbed his shoulder. The stranger
turned, throwing Chen to the ground. Chen got up and begged to
be accepted as a
student. The stranger was named Chiang Fa and he promised Chen
Chang-Xing that he would return after three years to teach him Tai Chi
Chuan. Three years later Chiang returned and, after going through a
formal ceremony to become his disciple, Chen Chang-Xing was taught all
the secrets of Tai Chi Chuan. However, as the Chen clan considered this
a disgrace for the Chen family, they forbade him henceforth to teach
Chen Family Pao Chui, though he was permitted to teach Tai Chi Chuan.
Other members of the Chen clan confirmed this record of events to Wu
Tu-Nan. Chen Xian then took Wu to Chen Wang-Ting's grave where the
inscription showed him to have been only an elementary school graduate
and not a military strategist and imperial censor as is claimed in some
books on Tai Chi Chuan.
CHEN STYLE - FURTHER ANOMALIES
Any serious student of Tai Chi Chuan realises that understanding the
theory of the art demands a knowledge of Taoist philosophy (e.g. the
Tai Chi Chuan Classics constantly refer to the Five Elements and the
Eight Trigrams). The term 'Tai Chi' is itself the Taoist concept of the
universe being composed of the complementary forces of Yin and Yang.
Yet, in the 227 page 'Chen Style Taijiquan' (compiled by the Zhaohua
Publishing House, Peking), there is only one slight reference to Taoism
and none at all to Yin and Yang. What is more the Chen style contains
techniques such as 'Blue Dragon Flies up from Water', 'Beast's Head
Pose', 'Jump and Kick Twice', which appear in no other style of Tai Chi
Chuan. There is even a technique called 'Buddha's Warrior Attendant
Pounds Mortar' - completely out of place in a Taoist martial art.
CHANG SAN-FENG AND WUTAN MOUNTAIN
Wutan (or Wu Dang) Mountain is a remote 77 square mile area in Hubei
Province, Central China. In fact, Wutan Mountain has in total 72 peaks.
Due to its remoteness and tranquillity, this area has been connected
with Taoist hermits and religion since at least 649 AD, when the
government of the day began constructing Taoist temples there. Today,
46
major temples and nunneries and 72 shrines are still standing.
I visited Wutan Mountain with my teacher, Sifu Cheng Tin-Hung, in May
1984. 1 was told by our guides that this was only the third time a
non-Chinese had been allowed to visit Wutan Mountain. Our visit was to
try to gather material on the Taoist, Chang San-Feng. To us as Tai Chi
practitioners he has the same significance as Bodhidharma does to
Shaolin Boxers. The oral tradition passed down to my teacher by his
master, Chai Man-Hin; from Chai's master Wang Lan-Ting; from Wang's
master Yang Lu-Chan, is that Chang San-feng, the Taoist hermit was the
founder of Tai Chi Chuan.
It is recorded in the official history of the Ming Dynasty that during
the reigns of the Emperors Tai Zu (1368-98) and Cheng Zu (1403-24),
officials were sent to look for Chang on Wutan Mountain to invite him
to return with them to advise the Emperor. They were unsuccessful. In
1459, the Emperor Ying Zong gave Chang an official title stating that
Chang was one who had merged with and become master of the Way.
During our visit, we were taken to a Taoist prison at the foot of Wutan
Mountain. The main building is a small temple in which there is a
self-portrait of Chang San-feng and a bronze tablet erected by the
Emperor Ying Zong in 1459 to honour Chang as a Taoist sage who had
mastered the secrets of longevity and theTao. There was nothing,
however, that we saw on Wutan Mountain to prove that Chang San-feng did
or did not have anything to do with Tai Chi Chuan.
CONCLUSIONS
The exact when, where, and who of the origins of Tai Chi Chuan are
uncertain. Like their Western 
counterparts,
historians, bureaucrats and
politicians have made mistakes, falsified records and suppressed or
ignored contradictory evidence. The situation caused by the actions of
these men has often been perpetuated by later scholars because of
laziness, cynicism or the current political reality.
I am of the opinion that Chen Wang-Ting from the Chen family village
did not know any Tai Chi Chuan. I believe that Chen Chang-Xing was the
first member of the Chen clan to learn Tai Chi Chuan and that he was
taught by the outsider, Chiang Fa. I also believe that it was after
this that members of the Chen clan took the opportunity to add and
adapt Tai Chi techniques to their Pao Chui method. This would have been
the natural thing to do, particularly after Yang Lu-Chan became the
chief combat instructor of the Manchu Imperial Guard and thus made Tai
Chi famous throughout China. These additions and adaptations to the Pao
Chui method produced what they now claim to be Chen style Tai Chi Chuan.
As for Chang San-feng, his existence as a Taoist on Wutan Mountain
during the Ming Dynasty would seem to be an established fact. I believe
that he did develop existing Taoist martial arts into what we now call
Tai Chi Chuan. This opinion is based on the oral tradition passed down
to my teacher and is supported by the fact that a similar version has
been handed down in many famous Tai Chi books. Furthermore, if a
fictional founder of Tai Chi Chuan was to be invented, many more famous
and more ancient Taoists than Chang San-feng could have been chosen.
That is why, when I teach Tai Chi internal strength, students must go
through the ceremony that I went through when I learned internal
strength from my own teacher. This ceremony involves paying respects to
Chang San-feng as the founder of Tai Chi Chuan.