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Taijiquan: Wu and Wu Styles

2003-11-27 13:43 COC

    Though both composed of the same letters, "wu" and "wu" are different surnames, written in different characters and pronounced in different tones to be easily distinguished by the Chinese. The two taijiquan styles called after them are also different in features and historical background.

    Wu Yuxiang (1812-1880)

    Unlike many other wushu masters, Wu Yuxiang came from a rich family in Yongnian County, Hebei Province. For generations the Wus had received a good education not only in polite letters, but also in martial arts. Yuxiang's father, grandfather, and great grandfather were all wushu masters as well as scholars. When Yang Luchan was teaching wushu in the county seat, Yuxiang and his two brothers had the opportunity to learn from him the "old frame" taijiquan, which was later evolved by his grandson Yang Chengfu into the "big frame" Yang style, the most popular style today.

    In 1852, on his way to visit his eldest brother, who was then magistrate of Wuyang County, Henan Province, Wu Yuxiang stopped at Wenxian County, the birthplace of Chen-style taijiquan. Here he picked up the "new frame" from Chen Qingping. While in Wuyang, he came by a most valuable book entitled Manuals of Taijiquan written by Wang Zengyue in the 18th century, which he studied avidly to enrich his theoretical knowledge.

    By combining the old and new frames, Wu Yuxiang created a small-frame style of taijiquan, which he handed down to his relative Li Yishe. It was then carried on by Hao Weizhen and his offsprings, and was therefore more commonly called "Hao-style taijiquan". It found its way to Beijing in the twenties and then to Shanghai and Nanjing in the thirties of this century. Today it is better known as "Wu-style taijiquan", as a tribute to the memory of its founder.

    The Wu style has many characteristic features of its own.

    Firstly, the movements are slow in tempo and small in amplitude, with each hand shielding the corresponding half of the body, but neither keeping too close to it when withdrawn nor going beyond the toes when held out. Though limited to a narrow scope or "frame", they are forceful yet graceful, with "hardness" dwelling in "softness", so to speak. In footwork, "solidness" and "voidness" are also combined in harmony, with the front foot landing first on the toes instead of on the heel as in other styles, while the supporting foot is not in full contact with the floor, as if ready to lift for the next step. Both legs are slightly bent at knee with a force lying latent in them. Steps are taken as lightly as a walking cat.

    Wu Yuxiang divided every movement into four parts -- commencing, linking, opening and closing, and compared them to the four steps in writing a composition -- introduction, elucidation of the main theme, transition to another viewpoint and summing up. The four component parts of a movement should follow one another closely, but not on a fixed pattern. There is "opening" in "closing" and "opening" in "closing", as is the case with an outstretched leg or arm which is slightly bent at knee or elbow, with the body kept erect but the bones and joints relaxed, with the mind concentrated but the inner vision broadened, with the limbs moving on a limited scope but fully activated. In ancient Chinese philosophy, opening and closing are regarded respectively as yang and yin -- the negative and positive forces which oppose and supplement each other in all natural and social phenomena.

    Secondly, the Wu style stresses the importance of correct body position, which should be kept erect all the time, with the head and neck as if drawn by an invisible upward force, the back straightened, the crotch uplifted, the hips squared in the centre, and the shoulders and elbows dropped -- as are required of all styles of taijiquan. There should be twists in the back and forth movements and turns in advances and retreats, with the spinal column as the hinges. Wu Yuxiang likened a graceful movement to a beautiful poem in which ideas and emotions are implied in a subtle way rather than expressed directly. The human body is composed of symmetrical parts and there should be harmony in their movements, or unity of two opposites -- upper and lower, right and left, front and rear, exterior and interior, solid and void, and mobility and immobility. "Force is stored up in the bow and released in the arrow," said Master Wu. "The four limbs are four bows, and the trunk is the main bow."

    Thirdly, the Wu-style taijiquan is an exercise involving the will, vitality and physique, an exercise that necessitates concentration of the mind, guidance of action by consciousness, continuity of movements and coordination with paradoxical respiration. As time goes on, the practitioner will be able to sink qi into the lower elixir field whence it flows freely throughout the body, thus producing a feeling of comfort and lightness and resulting in better physical fitness.

    Wu Jianquan (1870-1942)

    The Wu-style taijiquan may be traced back to its founder Wu Jianquan's father Quan You, who belonged to the Manchu nationality and later assumed the Han surname of Wu. He learned the "big frame" taijiquan first from Yang Luchan and then the "small frame" style from his son Yang Banhou, who had three favourite disciples, namely, Wan Chun distinguished for his power, Ling Shan for his aggressiveness and Quan You for his ability to counteract the opponent's force. Quan You passed on his skills to his son Wu Jianquan, who displayed great athletic talents and could shoot an arrow from under the belly of a galloping horse, with one of his feet in the stirrup. His father taught him the art of taijiquan which he improved and perfected when he served as a wushu instructor at a sports club in Beijing in the twenties of this century. Basing himself on both the big and small frames, he evolved a new style of taijiquan by deleting the jumping movements and repetitive parts and enriching the whole set with new contents.

    The year 1933 witnessed the foundation of Jianquan Taijiquan Society in Shanghai, with branches in many cities. But not all wushu masters in the country recognized its founder's authority at the beginning. One autumn, when he came to Changsha, capital of Hunan Province, Wu Jianquan was challenged by Tang Weidian, who had passed the provincial examination on martial arts with the highest merits. In his hands-pushing bout with Wu, however, hardly had three minutes passed when he was thrown to the ground. Unable to support himself on his benumbed palms, he kowtowed to Wu and said, "My respected master, I didn't know how I was knocked down. Please accept me as your apprentice and teach me your excellent techniques."

    "Only remember this," said Wu, "Excellence comes from proficiency and proficiency comes from hard training."

    While staying in Changsha, Wu paid a visit to Prof Wang Runsheng of Hunan University, one of his former disciples. After his departure, a big fellow burst into Wang's house and claimed, with a strong Shandong accent, that he wanted to see the big shot by the name of Wu Jianquan. The host asked him what he wanted to do with Wu. "Aha, to measure my strength with him," he exclaimed. "My name is Huang Dabiao. Haven't you heard about it? I've learned all the schools and styles of wushu. I've made pilgrims to all temples. I've been to all forests and shot all kinds of bids. Who are you, my dear fella?"

    The professor could not help smiling at the intruder's rough manners and straightforwardness. "I'm Master Wu's pupil," he said politely. "Would you like to have a bout with me first?"

    But hardly had he finished when Huang Dabiao (literally "Yellow Big Mark") charged on him with his enormous fist. Wang dodged it and, lifting his big trunk with both arms, put him down on a sofa as if he were as light as feather. After the first flush of astonishment, Yellow Big Mark stood up and said with a customary salute by cupping one hand in the other in front of the chest, "You've really got it, sir. Your master must be more terrific. Tell him I won't see him no more." When he was told about this later, Wu broke into a loud laughter, his long beard dancing merrily.

    Wang had used the special technique of "swallow flying through the cloud", one of the Wu-style exercises which are "as fluent as a flowing stream or floating cloud", and in which a small force is exerted to neutralize a much stronger one. As a performing art, the Wu-style taijiquan is characterized by subtle finesse, unaffected beauty and natural grace that pervade the whole set of circular and continuous movements.

    Daughter and Son-in-Law Carry It On

    Chinese girls are married with dowries -- the richer, the better. For Wu Yinghua (1905- ), no dowry could be better than the Wu-style taijiquan she and her husband Ma Yueliang had inherited from her father Wu Jianquan.

    In her early childhood, Wu Yinghua would watch, for hours on end, disciples practicing wushu in the courtyard. Sometimes she would follow their movements, consciously or instinctively, and always behind her father's back. It was until she was 14 that her father began to teach her as a regular disciple. He was very glad that she went about it so whole-heartedly and she could even do better than her brothers in three years. She was appointed to be an instructor of the Jingwu Society at the age of 17.

    There was a student named Ma Yueliang (1901- ) at the Peking Union Medical College. He had started learning wushu at seven and was once defeated by someone who knew the taijiquan trick of neutralizing an oncoming force. "Is it true that hardness can be conquered by softness as pointed out by the ancient philosopher Lao Zi?" he asked Wu Jianquan, who was one of his father's bosom friends. He became one of Wu's best disciples and an expert in the hands-pushing exercises, what with his diligence and knowledge of medical science. Two years after the Wus moved to Shanghai in 1927, Ma also went there upon his graduation, working as an assistant with the Central Medical College and, in his spare time, at the same institute where Wu Yinghua instructed wushu. They fell in love and got married in 1930.

    During the Anti-Japanese War, the puppet government headed by Wang Jingwei invited Ma to be the director of Public Health Bureau of Nanjing. He refused in indignation and, in order to avoid political persecution, fled to Chongqing, leaving his wife and their seven children in Shanghai. By then the Jianquan Taijiquan Society founded by her father in 1933 had closed down and they could hardly keep body and soul together under the Japanese occupation, until Ma returned home after the war was over. In the following years, he did much work in purchasing and transporting medical supplies to the liberated areas for the revolutionary cause.

    During the past six decades and more, Ma has cured numerous patients, through medical treatment or taijiquan practice as an effective therapeutical means.

    Once upon a time, Ma and his wife were returning home from a stroll when they came across a man pulling hard at an empty ricksha, staggering and coughing and showing great pain on his pallid face. They took him home, gave him some medicine from the kit, and squeezed some money into his hand, telling him to come again when he left in tears.

    In 1941 an American choreographer named Shafia came to Ma with a serious injury in her lower back. After a few courses of the traditional Chinese qigong therapy, she was able to return to the stage and asked him to teach her the Wu-style taijiquan. After her return home, she set up a taijiquan school and taught it at the UN headquarters for many years.

    In 1952 a man nearly sixty named Jiang Changfeng was much worried when he thought that his parents and two brothers had all died from the same disease of apoplexy and at the same age of sixty. He himself fell sick and was waiting for the imminent certain death. On hearing about this strange case, Ma Yueliang made a call on the patient, telling him that the best cure was to get up and practise taijiquan. He followed the advice. Instead of stepping into his relatives' shoes, he bypassed the "gate of hell" and was still going strong as a council member of the Jianquan Taijiquan Society -- when he was in his nineties.

    Among the active members of this Society is another old man who could not part with his cardic pacesetter and was haunted by the thought that he was going to die at any moment. As a supplementary measure to medication, he took up taijiquan under the tutorship of Wu Yinghua and her husband. It really worked. He felt much better in the first week and did away with the cardiac pacesetter before long. Now he is teaching taijiquan at a coaching centre in Shanghai.

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