The history of Taijiquan (TJQ) is far from clear. This is due in part to the antiquity of it’s origins and partly to China’s troubled past featuring many wars, power struggles and revolutions, each one resulting in a rewriting of history.

But the main barrier to the truth is unfortunately the numerous vested interests, which require that their version of history is the right one, in order to support their claim that their TJQ is the original and therefore the best.

The disputes revolve around the subject of exactly how this art came to be in the ancestral home of the Chen family (Chenjiagou). The Chen family claim that the art was developed entirely inside the village, others claim that it was brought into the village from outside.

As mentioned above there are many versions of this particular bit of history and I don't intend to repeat them here. You'll find several links here to various web sites, that provide various versions of TJQ's history.

What is generally agreed is that TJQ as it is known today emerged from the Chen family village and came to public attention courtesy of a gifted practitioner called Yang Luchan (right).

Following many years of study Yang established a reputation as a truly outstanding martial artist and was given a position inside the Imperial Palace in Beijing. This fact and the work of the next three generations of the Yang family secured Yang name's place in history.

Yang Lu Chan had three sons, the oldest died early. Yang Banhou and Yang Jianhou both studied under their father who was apparently a harsh taskmaster.

Yang Ban Hou was an exceptional martial artist, second in skill only to his father. Yang Jian Hou was, apparantly, not as gifted as his brother but through hard work, attained the highest levels of Taiji skill. Yang Lu Chan and his two sons all taught in the Imperial Court, it is thought that their methods were, at this stage, identical.

Whilst teaching at the Imperial Court, Yang Luchan met many challenges, some friendly some not. But he invariably won and did so convincingly using his soft techniques that he gained a great reputation. Many who frequented the imperial households would come to view his matches. At one such gathering at which Yang had defeated several reputable opponents. The scholar Ong Tong He was present and was so impressed by the way Yang moved and executed his techniques and felt that his movements and techniques expressed the physical manifestation of the principles of Taiji (the philosophy) wrote for him the following verse.

Hands holding Taiji shakes the whole world, a chest containing ultimate skill defeats a gathering of heroes.

An outline of more recent history can be found on the page outlining the background of the Wudang School of Taijiquan.