WU Style Tai Chi page 2

This style of Wu is very elegant, controlled and upright. The fingers are held spread apart to access all the major meridians. The movements are very circumscribe and give the impression of a short arm style almost like Wing Chun done slowly. Due to its very small and subtle movements this branch of Tai Chi is appropriate for just about everyone.

Demonstrator: Qiao SongMao is the 5th generation inheritor of the Wu Style Tai Chi. He is considered by many to be the major representative of the style

The Wu or Wu (Hao) style of T'ai Chi Ch'üan of Wu Yu-hsiang (1813-1880), is a separate family style from the more popular Wu style of Wu Chien-Ch'üan. Wu Yu-hsiang's style was third among the five T'ai Chi families in seniority and is fifth in terms of popularity.

Wu Yu-hsiang was a scholar from a wealthy and influential family who became a senior student (along with his two older brothers Wu Ch'eng-ch'ing and Wu Ju-ch'ing) of Yang Lu-ch'an. There is a relatively large body of writing attributed to Wu Yu-hsiang on the subject of T'ai Chi theory, writings that are considered influential by many other schools not directly associated with his style. Wu Yu-hsiang also studied for a brief time with a teacher from the Ch'en family, Chen Ch'ing-p'ing, to whom he was introduced by Yang. His most famous student was his nephew, Li I-yü ( 1832-1892), who also authored several important works on T'ai Chi. Li I-yü had a younger brother who was also credited as an author of at least one work on the subject of T'ai Chi, Li Ch'i-hsüan. Li I-yü taught Hao Wei-chen (1842-1920), who taught his son Hao Yüeh-ru who in turn taught his son Hao Shao-ju (Hao Shaoru) Wu Yu-hsiang's style of training, so that it is now sometimes known as Wu/Hao or just Hao style T'ai Chi Ch'üan. Hao Wei-chen also taught the famous Sun Lu-t'ang. Hao Yüeh-ru was teaching in the 1920s, a time when T'ai Chi Ch'üan was experiencing a large degree of popularity, and he is known for having smoothed out (in the sense of under-emphasising jumps and snap kicks, etc.) and standardized the forms he learned from his father in order to more effectively teach large numbers of beginners.

Wu Yu-hsiang's T'ai Chi is a distinctive style with small, subtle movements; highly focused on balance, sensitivity and internal ch'i development. It is a rare style today, especially compared with the other major styles. While there are direct descendants of Li I-yü and Li Ch'i-hsüan still teaching in China, there are no longer Hao family members teaching the style. The last inheritor to learn under Hao Shao-ju currently living is Liu Jishun, who has many students around the globe but only two disciples in the United Kingdom.

Page One for Wu style

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#21071  WU Style Tai Chi with Leung Shum

Demonstrator/Teacher: Leung Shum.
This 108 movement form was created by Wu YuXiang. Leung Shum, also a famous Eagle Claw teacher, learned his Tai Chi from Ng Wai Ngun a Jing Mo Gymnasium student of Cheng Wing Kwong. This very comprehensive offering shows Basics, the Long Form with instruction. This might be difficult if the viewer has no experience because the form itself is mostly just shown as "follow me", but the presentation is very slow and clear. This DVD has a number of bonus features such as a Linked Hands practice you can perform with spontaneous changes, a nice rough demonstration of Push Hands wrestling, the Wu Style partner Set, the Wu style Saber and more.

NTSC: About 70 minutes.

#21072  WU Style Push Hands with Leung Shum

Demonstrator/Teacher: Leung Shum.
The Wu style is known as one of the best for practical Push Hands. This DVD shows the Basics, the Stances, the Four Circling exercises all to set you up for further instruction. Then teacher Leung Shum goes into most of the major moves of the set blending into a Push Hands structure, very interesting and a good way to practice.

NTSC: About 30 minutes.

#18124  WU-HAO Long Set

Demonstrator/Teacher: Fang Shan.
This 108 movement form was created by Wu YuXiang. From there it passed through Ya ZhenSheng to the present demonstrator's teacher, Xu GongWei. Hao is a combination of fine points from Yang and Chen styles and many movements can be seen as specifically Yang or Chen or even possibly Kuan Ping. The movements are more distinctly martial than in many styles. This double DVD shows the entire Long Form. At the end of the lessons Fang discusses the applications in the form but does not demonstrate on a helper. A clear and well explained breakdown of the form.

Double DVD Mandarin/ English Subtitles       

#10860  LONG SET

Demonstrator/Teacher: Qiao SongMao.
This is the Wu (Hao) style of martial arts. The Long Set of this branch is demonstrated here. It is shown with the distinctive Wu hand position with fingers extended. This set is well known as one of the smallest frames and easiest styles of Tai Chi to perform. It is, however, completely cognizant of Tai Chi's principles. A refined and soft performance.

Double DVD Mandarin/ English Subtitles       

VCD#10026 Wu Tai Chi Wu Push Hands

Contains the basic of the Wu Push Hands as a fixed and three-step partner exercise. Wu Push Hands takes a more martial position than Yang and really emphasizes a vertical spine position. Also the complete Wu Style Solo Set and the Wu T'ai Chi Straight sword are clearly demonstrated.

60+ Minutes Mandarin/ English Subtitles       

VCD#10345 Wu Tai Chi Body Invigorating Sword

Wu-style Taiji Body-invigorating Swordplay is composed of 25 postures. This for is said to partake somewhat of saber and well as straight sword technique. All movements follow the form of the Wu (Hao) style with its loose and fluid motions. A refined and soft performance.

60+ Minutes Mandarin/ English Subtitles       

#10344 Wu 13 Method Saber

Demonstrator/Teacher: Li ChengXiang. 4th generation inheritor of Wu Style and president of HaErBin WuShu association.
Structured similarly to the Yang Saber this version is done with a true flavor of Wu Style Tai Chi. The wraps and movements associated with the saber are preserved here more than in some Tai Chi versions of this weapon. A solid performance. The DVD begins with an explanation of the basic strokes of the sword, always a good thing to review.

60+ Minutes Mandarin/ English Subtitles