As one of the most famous Chinese boxings, Taiji Quan was firstly named "Chang Quan" and also "Unbroken Quan" for its smooth movements as Yangtze River. For it contains eight primary postures (including warding off, rolling back, squeezing, pressing, splitting, pulling, elbowing-striking and shoulder-striking) and five steps (including advance, retreating, leftward steps rightward steps and steps when body being erect). It is also called "Thirteen-Form". During the reign of Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, Wang Zongyue, a man from Shangxi Province, explained it with classic Chinese Philosophy of "Yin" and 'Yang" ( meaning the two opposing principles in nature, the former feminine and negative, the latter masculine and positive), and then he wrote On Taiji Quan. Since then, Taiji Quan, the name, has been widely used.

A Brief History of Tai Chi Chuan

Tai Chi Chuan has been handed down for generations through different families, since its creation by the legendary Taoist master Chang San-Feng during the Sung Dynasty (960-1279 C.E.). There are many different accounts of the origin of the form, or kung chia.The most common of these accounts is that Master Chang once spied a snake and crane fighting and copied the soft, coiling motion of their movements. The form he developed consisted of only thirteen postures, corresponding with the eight trigrams of the I Ching (Book of Changes) and the five elements.The lineage after Master Chang is not precisely clear, but it does lead to a man named Chiang Fah. Chiang taught his form to a man named Chen Wang-Ting, who is recorded as practicing Tai Chi prior to 1644.

His descendants still practice the form their family developed, which is characterized by its emphasis on silk-reeling techniques (Chan-Ssu Chin), low stances, and periodically fast movements. The Chen family's Tai Chi remained a secret for five generations, not to be taught to anyone outside of the family. Later on, during the 1800's, Chen Chang-Hsin (1771-1853) broke this tradition and taught his family's style and secrets to an earnest student named Yang Lu-Chan (1799-1872). The Yang style, as we know it today, was standardized by Yang Lu-Chan's grandson, Yang Cheng-Fu (1883-1936). It consists, at its longest account, of 128 postures and is characterized by large leaning movements, "peng" or "ward-off" energy, and the slow, even pace most people associate with Tai Chi.
The Yang family masters had a famous lineage of students who created the other major styles of Tai Chi Chuan, which include the styles of Wu, Hao, and Sun. Although each style has its own particular "flavor" and they appear different in their external performance, they all keep to the principles laid out centuries ago by Chang San-Feng.
Yang Cheng-Fu had one student by the name of Cheng Man-Ch'ing (1901-1975) who became the greatest master of his time. With his master's permission, he shortened the form to 37 postures and made it the most popular of all the forms practiced today. Cheng came to the United Statesto teach and took on students of all backgrounds, which is one of the reasons his particular form is so popular today. Most people originally knew it as the Yang Style Short form, but it has come to be known by Cheng Style Tai Chi Chuan. His form is characterized by its upright spine, "lu" or "roll-back" energy, and its powerful softness. It is Professor Cheng's style of form and push hands which are taught and practiced by the Patience T'ai Chi Association.

Tai Chi Chuan, which means supreme ultimate boxing or fist, or simply "Tai Chi", as it is commonly known, is at its most advanced level, a martial art.
How can this be, you ask? How is it possible that such a slow-moving exercise can be a martial art? One answer is, moving slowly trains you to move quickly. Tai Chi is a very precise art, involving highly coordinated movement. Doing the form quickly is not helpful in achieving the level of coordination necessary to perform Tai Chi in a martial context. Crucial details get lost.

Another answer is that the postures have martial applications. All that is needed is a teacher who knows them and can explain them well. Some of them are obvious, like a punch or push. Some of them are not, like "prepare for ward off left", or the "withdraw after punch". A skilled teacher can give you a wide assortment of attacks and defenses, some obvious, some not, from the Tai Chi form.

What is needed is for you to practice your form first, and as you do, work these techniques, the obvious and the not, into you body through daily practice. Then be instructed in, and play, Push Hands, so that you can learn about balance and body dynamics through a sport application (in the same way that many Ju Jitsu poeple practice their throws in the sport of Judo so that they can gain expertise against a knowledgeable and resisting opponent).

After learning those skills in your Push Hands, it will naturally turn into a martial art, as these skills translate well into the martial arena. Of course if you already have a martial art, these skills will improve what you are already doing. If you do not have any other martial skills, Tai Chi will provide them.
However, it should be stated, that not everyone who practices Tai Chi is practicing a martial art. The vast majority are practicing Tai Chi for its meditative and health benefits, and quite frankly, just because it feels good.
And, simply practicing Tai Chi does not make one a martial artist, even though the fundamental principles are there. One needs to study it for its martial aspects. With an appropriate teacher you can learn things in Tai Chi form that are developed and showcased in the Push Hands: softness, yielding, pushing, pressing, rooting and neutralizing to name a few. Then these attributes will become a potent martial art.

A beginner will usually begin training with very basic exercises designed to teach proper structural alignment and correct methods of moving the body, shifting the weight, stepping, etc. All of the Tai Ji Quan arts have at their very foundation the necessity of complete physical relaxation and the idea that the intent leads and controls the motion of the body. The student will also be taught various stance keeping postures which serve as basic exercises in alignment and relaxation as well as a kind of mind calming standing meditation.
A basic tenet of all internal martial arts is that correct motion is born of absolute stillness. Once the basics are understood, the student will progress to learning the formal patterns of movement (forms) which contain the specific movement patterns and techniques inherent in the style.
Traditionally, single patterns of movement were learned and repeated over and over until mastered, only then was the next pattern taught. Once the student had mastered an entire sequence of movements individually, the movements were taught in a linked sequence (a 'set'). The goal of training is to cultivate a kind of 'whole body' power. This refers to the ability to generate power with the entire body, making full use of one's whole body mass in every movement. Power is always generated from "the bottom up, meaning the powerful muscles of the legs and hip serve as the seat of power. Using the strength of the relatively weaker arms and upper body is not emphasized. The entire body is held in a state of dynamic relaxation which allows the power of the whole body to flow out of the hands and into the opponent without obstruction. This is described in the Tai Ji Quan Classics as "being rooted in the feet, developed by the legs, directed by the waist transferred through the back and expressed in the hands."The Taiji Quan arts have a variety of two person drills and exercises designed to cultivate a high degree of sensitivity in the practitioner. Using brute force or opposing another's power with power directly (double weighting) is strictly discouraged. The goal of two people training is to develop sensitivity to the point that one may avoid the opponent's power and apply one's own whole body power where the opponent is most vulnerable. One must cultivate the ability to 'stick to the opponent, smothering the others' power and destroying their balance.
The ability to "stick, adhere, continue and follow (zhan, nian, lian, sui)" is vital to the application of Taiji Quan combat techniques, the majority of which are grappling oriented. Techniques that include pushing, pulling, wrapping, bumping, sweeping, locking, knocking down and throwing (grappling arts) far outnumber striking and kicking techniques. Solo forms training is designed to develop the ability to control oneself; paired practice trains the practitioner to apply the power developed during solo training to another in the most efficient manner.
Modified forms of Taiji Quan for health have become popular worldwide in recent times because the benefits of training have been found to be very conducive to calming the mind, relaxing the body, relieving stress, and improving one's health in general. However, it is important to realize that all traditional systems of Taiji Quan were originally created for a single purpose, training the practitioner to fight.

Sanfeng Tai Chi Club is a professional Tai Chi Quan research and exercise site in Beijing. It aims to promote Tai Chi culture, popularize Tai Chi exercise, spread core Tai Chi theoies and develop new concept of Tai Chi health preservation.
This club, with a professional teaching team, is proud of its original Tai Chi Chuan concept, teaching modes, good training enviroment and culture atmosphere. We design individual exercise program for our members according to their own physical qualities and health preservation requirements.
We believe you will have a handsome and beautiful experience here practicing our Tai Chi Quan.
Our goal is very simple: to extend human life expectancy by years through practicing Tai Chi in the right way. After all, LIFE is the only thing in this world that deserves our best care.
To give more people access to authentic Tai Chi and the underlying culture, we carefully design this program, during which you will learn the invaluable Tai Chi techniques for life cultivation from specially selected masters.