Sun style play to pipa
Sun style play to pipa
The Sun Style of Tai Chi is characterised compact movements and short closing steps, the hands are periodically opened and closed in a moment of readjustment. Unlike a lot of other Tai Chi forms which are modified to emphasize the health promoting aspects, Sun style's small framed and potentially fast form has more obvious combat applications. It is by a happy chance that style has health benefits for the elderly, where the compact movements exercise joints without the strain of bigger wide stances.
The Sun Style is the most recent of the five major tai chi styles. Sun Lutang's book "A Study of Taijiquan" containing his eponymous style was published in 1921. Sun had begun learning tai chi in his fifties after a lifetime in martial arts, his book was the first written about Tai Chi.
In 1914 Sun Lutang sought out Hao Wei Zhen who he knew to be a famous martial artist who was visiting Beijing, where at the time, Sun lived, and at that stage he knew little Tai Chi. While in Beijing Hao had apparently taken ill, Sun took him to his house and taken care of him, and in return for his kindness he taught Sun his Tai Chi. Hao Wei Zhen had learnt off Li Yi Yu, a nephew of Wu Yu Xiang. Today Wu Yu Xiang's style is known as the Wu style but sometimes also Wu/Hao Style in recognition of Hao influence, and also to differentiate it the from style of Wu Chuan You. The major styles of Tai Chi are named after the their founders - i.e. Chen, Yang, two Mr Wus and Sun. Wu Yu Xiang had studied both with Yang Lu Chan, and also Chen Ching Ping. Learning from Chen style "small frame" style and from Yang the "Old frame". The nimble foot work reflects Sun's long experiences with other style of Kung Fu. Whilst the imagery and structure of form is undoubtedly tai chi, many of the postures have distinct flavourings from Xinyiquan (mind form boxing) and Baguazhang (Eight Trigrams Palms).
