Taijiquan
01 · Historical Records
Sun Lutang (1860—1933), whose given name was Fuquan, courtesy name Lutang and art name Hanzhai, was a native of Wan County, Baoding, Hebei (now Shunping County). Early in life he studied Xingyi boxing under Li Kuiyuan and Guo Yunshen, and Bagua palm under Cheng Tinghua; later he received the Taijiquan method taught by Hao Weizhen, an inheritor of Wu-style Taijiquan. In his later years he fused Xingyi, Bagua and Taiji into a single whole and composed Sun-style Taijiquan. According to the boxing forms and the principles and methods recorded in his own work Studies of Taijiquan, Sun-style Taijiquan took its final form and came into the world in the early years of the Republic of China; it is the latest formed of the five great schools of Taijiquan and the one that most stresses joining boxing and the Way. After it was introduced to Wangdu in Baoding, this art has been handed down in one unbroken line, and the Wangdu County Cultural Centre is its protecting unit.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Sun-style Taijiquan is also called "opening-and-closing lively-step Taijiquan". Baoding City, Hebei Province is its core region of transmission. The number of practitioners within the whole city reaches more than 90,000, and the penetration rate is highest in Wangdu County. In addition, this art is widely transmitted in all the provinces and cities of the country, and has spread far overseas. Sun-style Taijiquan has 97 forms, and the essentials of its practice are the high stance and lively step, the gentle and rounded liveliness, footwork in which advance and retreat follow each other, and turning in which opening and closing are joined. It has three typical characteristics. The first is the high stance and lively step, which is its most essential feature. When the frame is played, the centre of gravity neither rises and falls nor sways to the left or the right; through the lively step the centre of gravity is constantly being shifted. When the boxing is performed, it holds that every advance must be followed and every retreat withdrawn, and every turn to the left or to the right is joined by an opening and a closing; its momentum is like drifting clouds and flowing water, continuous and unceasing. The second is that there are no obvious jumping movements. Practice demands uprightness and steadiness, stretching and gentleness. All the postures and all the movements from the opening form to the closing form follow one another and are accomplished in a single flow. So-called uprightness means neither leaning forward nor backward, nor leaning to the left or to the right; the trunk, the hands and the feet, the upper and the lower parts respond to one another, and the inner and the outer are one. The third is the advocacy of the martial thought of the unity of heaven and humanity and the joining of boxing and the Way. Sun-style Taijiquan has a gentle rhythm, is easy to learn and to understand, has a high penetration rate, and can be used to cultivate health in a scientific way and to strengthen the body.
Ninety-seven forms and the opening-closing hand
The Sun style runs to ninety-seven postures knit together by the opening-and-closing hand, hence its second name.
Advance with a following step, retreat with a withdrawing step
Its defining trait is the high frame with live steps: the centre of gravity neither rises nor sways, and every turn links through opening and closing.
The Wuji, Taiji and Santi opening
The Sun style opens with the Xingyi postures of Wuji, Taiji and Santi before entering the live-step forms, a structure unique among the five taiji schools.
A Study of Taijiquan
Published in 1919, Sun Lutang's Taijiquan Study is among the earliest published taiji treatises and anchors the Sun-school corpus.
Popularity in Wangdu county
Wangdu county shows the densest following; Baoding as a whole counts over ninety thousand practitioners and more than fifty registered teams.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
It was created by Mr Sun Lutang, a native of Baoding, Hebei Province, by fusing Xingyi boxing, Bagua boxing and Taijiquan; it is one of the schools of Taijiquan that exerted wide influence in modern and contemporary times, and is deeply loved by the people.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Sun-style Taijiquan is transmitted through the master-and-disciple mode; at present the transmission lineage that can be documented has already reached the sixth generation. Inheritors actively carry out the transmission and promotion of Taijiquan in various ways. With the support of the government, the transmission and protection of Sun-style Taijiquan have achieved good results. At present more than 50 registered Sun-style Taijiquan teams have been filed in Baoding City, with more than 90,000 practitioners, and participation among the general public is widespread. It advocates the martial thought of joining boxing and the Way, and advocates that while practising martial arts one should also strengthen the cultivation of moral character; it is of important historical, cultural and social value for raising the quality of the people's life, enriching cultural life and promoting traditional Chinese culture.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Zhenhe 01-0041
- Han Huiming 01-0042
- Wang Xian 01-0043
- Zhu Tiancai 01-0044
- Yang Zhenguo 03-1207
- Chen Zhenglei 03-1209
- Diweichuan 05-2537
- He Youlu 05-2538
- Sun Wanrong
- Chen Peiju
- Chen Xiaoxing
- Luan Xinchun
- Li Jianfang
- Yao Zhiping
- Chen Bing
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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