Wu Ying Hwa Wu Taichi Long Form

Loyaute Thank you for explaining the history! I could not have said it any better.
There is no reason for anyone practicing Wu Style to be divisive as it is one happy family. The exeption are some of their rogue students who may make ridiculous claims of grandeur.

Yeah, thank you for posting.
You cannot imagine my happiness. I learnt almost exactly this form 10 years ago. It was my first Tai Chi. Although I now practice daily Yang and Chen forms I LOVE this WU form for its sobriety which enables wonderful work with Chi. I'll never leave it! I didn't know that "my" form was so near from the origins of the style! Many thanks to my master too!

None of these masters had any problem with this. Good Taijiquan is good Taijiquan, no matter the emphasis. Only later students whose skills were inferior tried to create divisions by saying one "style" (always theirs) is better than another.

Even Jianquan and his oldest son Gongyi's forms were quite different. So, the students started to say, this style or that style, using the names of the people they were referencing.

So, for 14 years Wu Jianquan, his sons Wu Gongyi, Wu Gongzao and his son-in-law Ma Yueliang, as well as Yang Shaohou, Yang Chengfu and Sun Lutang were all traning and teaching in the same place. None of them had identical forms. The most well documented of the group; Wu Jianquan, Sun Lutang and especially Yang Chengfu had forms which looked different from each other.

After the emperor abdicated in 1912, the Yang brothers and Jianquan opened the Beijing Physical Culture Institute to promote Taijiquan to the public in order to preserve traditional Chinese culture during a time of political instability and foreign oppression. Also accepting an invitation to teach there was the famous Sun Lutang, whose mastery of Xingyiquan and Baguazhang had a significant influence on the development of later Wu style.

Wu Quanyuo learned from Yang Luchan and Yang Banhou starting in 1850. He was made Yang Banhou's number 1 disciple. In 1870, Quanyuo was given permission by his teachers to take his own disciples and open his own school. That was also the year his son, Wu Jianquan, was born. Wu Jianquan grew up surrounded by Taijiquan masters of his age, among his friends were Yang Shaohou and Yang Chengfu.

Originally, there wasn't a distinction made between styles of Taijiquan. Wu Yanxia said in a 1995 interview that from 1914 to 1928 it was students at the Beijing Physical Culture Institute who made the distinction between Yang and Wu styles, not the teachers, to describe differences they saw in the forms they were being taught.

I find that lineage,family,who instructed who,passed on to,etc... is secondary..what is of the utmost importance is to practice,practice, practice until it no longer feels like practice but becomes everything

Don't be too concerned about the lineage or the label given to the type of movement you are doing.There are plethora Tai Chi and the structures of the form are all different. Circulation of the chi should be your main aim. The form you have chosen has to be practiced over and over again until you don't have to think about it, then one can concentrate more on drawing the nei dan chi round the body.

They way the movement are done in our form look different enough that I don't think it is a Wu style rip off, but I think that could be a possibility too. I guess if what I'm learning is effective, it really doesn't matter if the history is authentic, but it would be interesting to know.

Oh yeah. The strange thing that I forgot to mention is that the form I'm learning is considered to be Yang style, not Wu. It looks like the order of the movements are the same, but the way they are performed is much different. (1 of 2)

Yes Tsabdivad. This form was passed by Yang Lu Chan and his Son Yang Ban Hou to First generation Wu Quan You. It is essentially the same 108 form you see taught by 6th generation Wu family.

Sorry if I posted this twice...

This is the closest I've seen to the form I'm learning, which I can't seem to find anywhere. The instructor claims a lineage to Yang Ban Hou who I understand taught the founder of Wu style. It seems the movements are similar, but ours are much more exaggerated. This video adds credibility to my instructor's claims. Thanks for uploading!

Current Wu Family Gate Keeper GM Eddie Wu and his sons have almost the same form. 6 Generations no change is excellent.