The tradition of Tai Chi is engulfed in mystery. No one knows exactly when it all started. So far, the best guess is the 14th century, which is suggested to be the period when its founder Chang San-feng was likely to have existed. A monk of the very highly respected Wu Tang Monastery, Chang is said to have lived a very long life, owing to the practice of the philosophy.
Even so, there are those who would argue his existence, claiming that he was more an allegorical figure akin to Homer, the blind Greek poet who is credited for the Iliad and the Odyssey or William Shakespeare who enriched English Victorian literature. Yet somehow, the five primary tenets of Tai Chi have been enshrined in the the I Ching, or the ancient Chinese classical tracks. Perhaps one more weird characteristic of Tai Chi is that while it looks like a passive movement, it is in reality a style of martial arts like Kung Fu or Shaolin.
The fact is, the literal translation of Tai Chi Ch’uan is extreme fist, which conjures images of extreme sports like boxing for example. Ironically, this philosophy teaches strategies to ditch enemies or to use the opponents’ impetus against them. This is why suppleness, elegance, and elasticity are important qualities of the Tai Chi warrior. Mostly, this is what separates it from other martial arts in the ancient Chinese arena.
The art of Tai Chi has expanded and progressed over its history, making it amongst the more vibrant of all martial arts. For example, in the current time, there exists eight different schools of thought for Tai Chi. This can be explained by its historical foundation when Chang and his sidekick Chiang Fa discovered a village and encountered inhabitants eager to learn the philosophy.
Yang, Old Frame, New Frame, Wu, Zhao Bao, Hu Lei, Wu Shi and Sun are all branches of this multiple-faceted practice. All eight types are active today, ripe with training schools and regular exhibitions to enrich the trade while retaining the purity of every branch. Thus, it may be said, the history of Tai Chi is alive and well on planet earth, not only in China where the discipline was born, but in many other countries, thanks in part to nimble and mobile Chinese immigrants.
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