Wu Chien-ch'uan

Wu² Chien⁴-ch'üan² (Wade-Giles), or Wú Jiànquán (pinyin), 吳鑑泉 (1870-1942), was a famous teacher of the soft style martial art of T'ai Chi Ch'uan (Taijiquan) in late Imperial and early Republican China.

Wu Chien-ch'uan was taught martial arts by his father, Wu Ch'uan-yu (Wu Quanyuo, 吳全佑, 1834-1902), a famous student of Yang Lu-ch'an, (楊露禪, 1799-1872), and Yang Pan-hou, (楊班侯, 1837-1890). Both Wu Chien-ch'uan and his father were hereditary Manchu cavalry officers of the Yellow Banner as well as the Imperial Guards Brigade, yet the Wu family were to become patriotic supporters of Sun Yat-sen.

At the time of the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912, China was in turmoil, besieged for many years economically and even militarily by several foreign powers, so Wu Chien-ch'uan and his colleagues Yang Shao-hou (楊少侯, 1862-1930), Yang Ch'eng-fu (楊澄甫, 1883-1936) and Sun Lu-t'ang (孫祿堂, 1861-1932) felt a need for the benefits of T'ai Chi Ch'uan training on a national scale. They subsequently offered classes at the Beijing Physical Culture Research Institute to as many people as possible, starting in 1914. It was the first school to ever provide T'ai Chi instruction to the general public. As a result in the change of focus for T'ai Chi teaching in this time from a mostly secret military art to a discipline made available to the general public, Wu Chien-ch'uan modified the teaching forms he learned from his father somewhat. His changes included smoothing overt expressions of fa chin, jumps and other abrupt time changes in the training routines in order to make those forms easier for the general public to learn. These elements were preserved and taught in various forms and pushing hands at advanced levels, however.

Wu Chien-ch'uan moved his family to Shanghai in 1928, where he became the supervisor of the T'ai Chi division of the famous patriotic Ching Wu martial arts school. In 1935, he established the Chien-ch'uan T'ai Chi Ch'uan Association (鑑泉太極拳社) on the ninth floor of the Shanghai YMCA to promote and teach T'ai Chi Ch'uan. What he taught has since become known as Wu style T'ai Chi Ch'uan and is one of the five primary styles practised around the world, the others being Ch'en style T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Yang style T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Wu/Hao style T'ai Chi Ch'uan and Sun style T'ai Chi Ch'uan.

Several of Wu's disciples also became well known T'ai Chi teachers, influential among them were Ma Yueh-liang (馬岳樑) and Cheng Wing-kwong (鄭榮光).

The Chien-ch'uan T'ai Chi Ch'uan Association schools have subsequently been maintained by Wu Chien-ch'uan's descendants. He was succeeded as head of the Wu family system by his oldest son, Wu Kung-i (Wu Gongyi, 吳公儀, 1900-1970), in 1942. Wu Kung-i moved the family headquarters to Hong Kong in 1949. Today the Association still has its international headquarters in Hong Kong and is currently managed by Wu Chien-ch'uan's great-grandson, Wu Kuang-yu (Wu Guangyu, 吳光宇, born 1946), with branches in Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and France.

Family tree

This family tree is not comprehensive.

---+ | | Chen Changxing Chen Youben 1771-1853 14th generation Chen circa 1800s 14th generation Chen Chen Old Frame Chen New Frame | | Yang Lu-ch'an Chen Qingping 1799-1872 1795-1868 YANG STYLE Chen Small Frame, Zhao Bao Frame | | +

-+ | | | | | Yang Pan-hou Yang Chien-hou Wu Yu-hsiang 1837-1892 1839-1917 1812-1880 Yang Small Frame | WU/HAO STYLE | +

External links

Chinese Tai Chi Chuan practitioners Martial arts school founders

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Wu Chien-ch'uan

Family tree

See also

External links