Keeping it simple

In my "simple" world I like things [at least in their basic form] to be clear and concise, so that it's easy to get to grips with the fundamentals; thus I've created for your "entertainment" a clear and concise lineage diagram that shows the core Taijiquan masters that are considered to be the pioneers for all the modern stuff that we see and practice today.

I have purposely left out such personages as Wang Zongyue and various members of the Chen family and the Zhaobao people, as they did not feature in the initial popularization of the collection of martial arts practice that make up the broad Taijiquan curriculum. So much controversy surrounds their input that I've only tried to include [in the broadest possible way] the two main sources of the martial art, that is Chen Wangting and Zhang Sanfeng, along with the verifiable masters from the 19th century [Jiang Fa being a necessary exception that needed to be included I feel].

The pioneers that make up the bottom row of masters all worked hard during the formative years of the "Republic of China" [1911 onwards], and established Taijiquan as a formal martial art that could be taught to all comers, as opposed to a "secret" art that was generally passed from master to disciple.

This was actually a massive shift in emphasis of practice and actually [in my view] led to the mess we have today, of highly modified forms, dubious practices, and a whole spectrum of so called Internal Martial Arts that are squeezed under the collective banner known as Taijiquan; yet probably have little to do with the martial arts that were taught during the 19th century that made Taijiquan famous. But then without this situation few of us would have heard of the martial art, let alone have a chance to learn it, or at least a bit of it, even though we cannot tell now which bits are original or otherwise.

However, we have to live with what we've got, although it is interesting to ask how is it that no one now can emulate Yang Luchan's success with any of the current variants of the martial art?

Any mistakes, omissions and general boo-boos are all of my own creation and I apologise in advance for any offense they may cause!

Please click on the diagram to enlarge:-)