Yang Zhenguo

01 · Lineage & Regional School

From the age of five he studied the family-transmitted Taijiquan techniques under his father Yang Chengfu, and came to grasp deeply the true essence of the traditional Yang family Taijiquan. Building on the family tradition, he choreographed the more accessible and easier-to-master Yang-Style Taijiquan 55 Forms and Yang-Style Taijiquan 37 Forms. He trained a large number of Yang-style Taijiquan successors; his students are to be found at home and abroad, and he travelled overseas several times to lecture. Within the regional tradition and school record of Taijiquan in Yongnian, Hebei: Yang-style Taijiquan is now concentrated in Shanghai, Beijing, Sichuan, Xi'an, Hebei, Guangdong and Hainan, and in more than eighty countries and regions overseas. Yongnian Yang-style Taijiquan was created by Yang Luchan of Guangfu during the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty and originated in Guangfu Ancient Town, Yongnian County. Yang Luchan studied art away from home for eighteen years, mastering the essence of the various schools of boxing and gaining a particularly deep understanding of fitness arts such as taiji and bagua; on the basis of the Chen old frame he compiled the 108-form Yongnian Yang-style Taijiquan, and after returning home he opened a hall and taught boxing full time.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

He is a Yang-style Taijiquan master. The Taijiquan he practises is characterised by an upright and comfortable frame, lightness, agility and steadiness, clear intent, and natural grace. Within the documented technical tradition of Taijiquan in Yongnian, Hebei: Yongnian County lies in southern Hebei Province, 15 kilometres from Handan City. Thereafter more than thirty masters of boxing of the calibre of Yang Banhou, Yang Chengfu and Yang Zhenming appeared one after another in Yongnian County, which was honoured as the "sacred place of taiji". Yang-style Taijiquan has an expansive frame and a rigorous structure; it moves from relaxation into softness and accumulates softness into firmness, uniting firmness and softness. Its body method is prominent: it hollows the chest and lifts the back, takes the waist as axis, keeps the upper and lower body in step, joins inner and outer, holds the body upright, comfortable and at ease, and moves naturally with light agility and calm steadiness. Yongnian Yang-style Taijiquan comprises two parts: first, the taiji boxing routines, which chiefly include the large, medium and small frames, the fast frame and the thirty-two short strikes; second, the Yang-style Taijiquan weapons, which chiefly include the taiji sword, the taiji sabre and the taiji thirteen-pole. Yongnian Yang-style Taijiquan displays the artistry of human body culture and can be practised by young and old alike. It is beneficial to strengthening people's health; following its requirements, practitioners uphold the traditional Chinese martial arts spirit of stressing righteousness and honouring virtue, which plays a positive part in strengthening the cohesion, self-confidence and pride of the Chinese nation. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "One hundred and eight forms and the Guangfu school": After eighteen years of study away from home, Yang Luchan of Guangfu created the 108-form Yongnian Yang style on the basis of the Chen old frame and returned to teach full time. "Large, medium and small frames with the thirty-two short strikes": The system has two parts: the boxing routines of large, medium and small frames, the fast frame and the thirty-two short strikes, and the weapons of taiji sword, sabre and thirteen-pole. "Hollow chest, lifted back, waist as axis": The frame is expansive and tightly structured, moving from relaxation into softness and softness into hardness, with the waist as axis and the whole body linked above and below. "Yang Zhenhe and Han Huiming as teachers": Two first-batch national inheritors: Yang Zhenhe teaches hundreds of disciples at home and in Germany, while Han Huiming has trained over a thousand in seventy years, his sons heading local Yang-style academies.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Male, of Han ethnicity, born in February 1928 in Yongnian County, Hebei Province, and died in June 2013. He was a national representative bearer of Taijiquan (Yang-style Taijiquan), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. The group Taijiquan performance of the thirty-seven-form short routine that he coached won a grand prize at the First World Taijiquan Health Congress in Sanya.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Yang Zhenguo · National Representative Bearer Archive