• GENERAL
  
• WUDANG SANFENG
  
• ZHAOBAO
  
• CHEN
  
• YANG
  
• WU (Wu Yuxiang)
  
• WU (Wu Jianquan)
  
• SUN
  
• HULEI
  
• OTHERS INTERNAL STYLES
  
  • XINGYI QUAN
  • BA GUA ZHANG
  • LIU HE BA FA
    
• WEAPONS
  
  • SWORD
  • SABER
  • SPEAR
  • STICK

TAI CHI CHUAN STYLES (I)

Taijiquan (tai chi chuan) styles are many, as we explain below, but only six among all of them are officially recognized; the following ones:

ZHAO BAO (or Zhaobao), CHEN, YANG, WÚ, WÛ (HAO) and SUN. There is another style, however, preceding all of them: WUDANG SAN FENG style.

WUDANG SAN FENG	ZHAO BAO	CHEN	YANG	WU (Yuxiang)	Wu (Jianquan)	SUN

I will try to explain each style within the next paragraphs: Origins, Genealogy, Characteristics and movements´ names, when fitting,. Access to each style will be possible by clicking on the names or clicking on the pictures.

Zhao Bao, Yang and Chen styles are developped already. Wudang style´s content is in the way, the translation is not corrected yet.

About Hu Lei, it can´t be considered as one style itself, but as a way (dâ fâ) in wich Zhao Bao style is performed.

Wû style is also known as Hao but this last one is, actually, a following slight variation of Wû style. It was developped by Hao Wei Zhen and a member of his clan decided to trasmit it using this name.

We would like to explain something about the "Wu" forms: they are two styles wich are well differentiated. In chinese they are written using different types and are pronounced differently, but the fonetic transcription omits the accents, resulting, thus, the same sound in both cases. The first of them, (Wû, with 3rd tone), was created by Wu Yu Xiang, and the 2nd one, (Wú with 2nd tone), by Wu Jian Quan.

Out of the properly named pure styles, we have to mention the 42 movements competition form too, wich is a mix of Chen, Yang, Wú, Wû and Sun styles. Since it´s been developped taking Yang style as it´s base, I have classified it within this style.

Excepting Wudang Zhaobao (Zhao Bao) and Wudang San Feng, all the other names belong to the families or individuals who developped and transmitted them. Zhao Bao is the name of a village and Wudang is the name of a holy group of mountains where taoist temples do predominate. San Feng is Zhang San Feng´s, tai-chi chuan´s creator´s first name.

Besides the six main styles, some others exist too. I will mention those we do know about, but this does´nt mean some others don´t keep on hidden. This information may change or gow up in the future. As the origins of taiji quan themselves, this is another aspect wich hasn´t been completely clarified yet. Some of the following styles are noted in Dan Da Jiang´s book "Wû Däng Neì Jiä Pài Sù Mì":