Yang Lu-chan (1799 -
1872) learned the
old-frame style from
Chen Chang-hsing. Many
stories tell how this
took place and a popular
one holds that Yang
wanted to learn the art.
But the Chen family
would not teach
outsiders as they wanted
to keep this art very
secretive. So
Yang took
a job as a servant for
the Chen's and learned tai chi by watching
through a crack in the
wall. Afterward, he
would practice what he
learned when he alone in
his room. One day he
was discovered and asked
to spar with the other
students. He easily
defeated all of them and
was taken under the wing
of Chen Chang-hsing, who
then taught him the
whole old-frame style.
Yang is said to have
spent the next six years
studying under Chen.
Yang eventually returned
to his hometown of Kuang
Ping and taught
the old-frame Chen
style. He went to
Beijing and became a
military martial arts
teacher for the Manchu
government. It became
known as the Yang style
after he altered the
sequence of the
movements in his form,
Some claim that
Yang watered down the
Tai Chi that he taught to the Manchus and reserved a
different version of it
for his towns people and
family.
It is important to
remember that Yang
played a pivotal role in
opening the once-closed
art to the outside
world.
Now in the modern day
Tai chi is more
practiced as a form of
exercise instead of a
martial art. Tia
chi is now more thought
of as a wellness program
which has many benefits
to the people who
practice it.
Yang took
a job as a servant for
the Chen's and learned tai chi by watching
through a crack in the
wall. Afterward, he
would practice what he
learned when he alone in
his room. One day he
was discovered and asked
to spar with the other
students. He easily
defeated all of them and
was taken under the wing
of Chen Chang-hsing, who
then taught him the
whole old-frame style.
Yang is said to have
spent the next six years
studying under Chen.