A short note: I am a student, not a teacher. Everything here is my own practice record of what I am learning at Newcastle Tai Chi under Sifu Damon Bramich, with teachers Sue Seivl and Wei Su. The practice sessions are timers to help me train between classes. If you want to learn these forms, please learn them in person from a qualified teacher; some schools are listed under Schools.

1. Legend
   Zhang Sanfeng and Wudang

   Many schools trace Tai Chi to the Daoist Zhang Sanfeng on Wudang Mountain. It is a cherished story, but there is no historical record linking him to the art. Source ↗

2. 1600s
   Chen Wangting at Chenjiagou

   A Ming dynasty officer (1580–1660) in the Chen village, Henan, usually credited with creating the Chen family boxing from which every later style grew. Source ↗

3. 1800s
   Yang Luchan learns in the Chen village

   Yang Luchan (1799–1872) studied under Chen Changxing, then taught in Beijing, where the art spread beyond the village and became Yang style. Source ↗

4. Mid-1800s
   The Tai Chi Classics

   The treatise credited to Wang Zongyue was found in a Beijing salt shop by Wu Chengqing, brother of Wu Yuxiang. With writings by Wu Yuxiang and his nephew Li Yiyu, it became the core theory every style studies. Source ↗

5. Late 1800s
   New styles branch off

   Wu Yuxiang, a student of Yang Luchan, founded Wu (Hao) style; Wu Quanyou and his son Wu Jianquan, from the Yang circle in Beijing, gave rise to Wu style; and Sun Lutang (1860–1933) later created Sun style. Source ↗

6. 1920s–30s
   Yang Chengfu opens the art to the public

   Yang Luchan's grandson Yang Chengfu (1883–1936) standardised the large-frame form taught today and taught it widely across China. His student Chen Weiming recorded his Ten Essentials in 1925, and his own books followed in 1931 and 1934. Source ↗

7. 1940s–60s
   Fu Zhongwen in Shanghai

   Fu Zhongwen (1903–1994), Yang Chengfu's student and relative by marriage, taught the long form in Shanghai and published his manual of the 85-movement form in 1963. Source ↗

8. 1956
   The 24-movement simplified form

   China's sports authorities built a short standard routine from the Yang long form. It is now one of the most widely practised Tai Chi forms. Source ↗

9. 1964
   Tai Chi reaches the West

   Cheng Man-ch'ing, another of Yang Chengfu's students, began teaching his 37-posture form in New York, one of the main routes by which Tai Chi spread outside Asia. Source ↗

10. 1989
    Our line comes to Australia

    Fu Zhongwen's son Fu Shengyuan (1931–2017) taught in Perth from 1989. Newcastle Tai Chi's line comes through him; see the Lineage page.

11. 1999
    World Tai Chi & Qigong Day

    Held on the last Saturday of April each year, with events in around eighty countries. Source ↗

12. 2020
    UNESCO recognition

    Taijiquan was added to UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Source ↗

Books

Schools count generations differently, so they are shown here as a guide only. To suggest a school or a correction, add it to the lineage data file.

Guided meditation

Short seated and lying meditations. A voice guides each step and a soft chime marks the change if five beats are on. Find a quiet spot, sit or lie comfortably, and press start.

Kinds of yoga

Yoga began as a family of spiritual paths in India; the posture practice most people know today grew out of one of them, Hatha Yoga, in the twentieth century. The sessions above are yoga as exercise: stretching drawn from that tradition.

Books