A Brief History of Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan
Founding Master
Wu Chuan Yau studied under Master Yang Lu Chan, then under his
son Master Yang Ban Hau. Master Wu's disciples included Hsia Kong
Pu, Wang Mao Chi, Kuo Song Ting, Chang Yuan Ting among others.
The second generation Master Wu Chien Chuan was originally employed
by the Ching court in the palace battalion of the Imperial Guards.
After the emperor Puyi abdicated the throne, Chief of General Staff
Yin Chang recommended Master Wu Chien Chuan to President Li Yuan
Hong. Subsequently he was appointed teacher to the Eleventh Corps
of the Presidential Body Guards. Among his students were Chiefs
of Staff Chang I Ke, Tuan Chih Kui, Lu Mian and others.
In 1916 Master Wu Chien Chuan, along with other famous Wushu experts
of the time Yang Shao Hou, Yang Cheng Fu, Hsu Sheng Chi Tzu Hsiu,
Sun Lu T'ang, Liu En Shou, Liu Tsai Chen, Chang Chung Yuan, Tong
Lian Chi, Chiang Teng Tsui, Hsing Shih Ju and others established
the Beijing Institute of Physical Education. The Institute recruited
more than sixty students from the teaching ranks of high schools
and universities throughout Beijing. Third generation Masters brothers
Wu
Kung Yi and Wu
Kung Cho were among the first graduates. Because of the excellent
results achieved by students there, the institute won the praise
of the Beijing University Dean Tsai Yuan Pei who recommended to
the Ministry of Education that the Institute be moved to a new location
and expanded. The new institute was named the Beijing School of
Physical Education. Students were selected from the provinces to
go to the capital and train at the school for a two year period.
After returning to their respective provinces they became Wushu
teachers. This aided the spread of Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan throughout
China.
In 1924 Chu Min Yi, the director of the Medical Corps of the Main
Headquarters of the Guangdong Nationalist Revolutionary Army, also
the dean of the Zhongshan University, asked Chiang Chong Cheng,
director of the Huangpu Military Academy to cable Beijing and invite
Master Wu Kung Yi to take up the position of enlistment corps and
advanced Tai Chi Chuan group instructor. At the same time he became
a physical education instructor at Zhong Shan [Sun Yal (Yat) Sen]
University. His followers included Fang Yan Ying, Tan Ting, Chu
Pei Te, Hsiong Shih Hui, Chen Chia You, Wu Si Yu and others.
Following the success of the Northern Expedition [1926-1927] the
Central Guoshu Institute headed by Li Ching Lin and Chang Chih Chiang
was established in Nanjing. This institute always invited Master
Wu Chien Chuan to sit on the judges committee during Guoshu examinations.
In 1928 the Shanghai Municipal Government, the Ching Wu [Wu here
means "martial"] Physical Education Association, the Sino-French
University and local notables Huang Ching Jong, Tu Yue Sheng, Chang
Hsiao, Lin Wang Hsiao Lai and others jointly cabled the Beijing
Physical Education School to invite Master Wu Chien Chuan to move
south and teach Tai Chi Chuan. The local response was overwhelming.
Important party and national figures Chiao I T'ang, Wang Yung Ping,
Hsiong Shih Hui, Peng Yang Kuang, Ai Liang, Wu Sse Yu, Ku Cheng
Lun, Chu Fu Cheng, Chen Pu Lei, Zhang Nai Ch'i and others also followed
Master Wu Chien Chuan to Shanghai. In 1929 Master Wu Kung Cho left
the Thirteenth Brigade of the Nationalist Revolutionary Army and
headed to Shanghai to teach at the Ching Wu Association. The first
Wu's Tai Chi Chuan Academy was established in Shanghai in 1935.
It was directed by Master Wu Chien Chuan himself, with his son-in-law
Ma Yueh Liang as vice-director.
In 1931 the Commander Ku Cheng Lun of the Nanking Military Police
invited Master Wu Kung Cho to be a martial arts teacher in the Nanking
Police Training Centre. In the following year he became Tai Chi
Chuan instructor at the Railway Police Management Board.
In 1933 Master Wu Kung Cho accompanied Wu Chih Hui [another person
with the same surname], Li Shu Cheng, Chu Min I and Hsiao Yu on
a sight-seeing trip to Changsha. During a welcome reception they
gave a Tai Chi Chuan demonstration which impressed the audience,
especially the Provincial Governor Ho Chien. The Provincial Secretary
Hsiang Chi Jan recommended to Ho Chien that Master Wu Kung Cho become
teacher to the Huana Guoshu Training Centre and the provincial Party
Headquarters. He also taught to the Departments of Civil Affairs,
Finance, Construction and Education. In 1934 the Nanjing Central
Guoshu Association organized the second pan-China Wushu examination
[competition]. Master Wu Kung Cho led the Hunan Province team, achieving
remarkable results at the meet. Ho Chien was fond of Wushu and so
supported the establishment of part-time Wushu training classes
throughout Hunan province. Master Wu Kung Cho taught these for three
years. His students ranks steadily rose to over three hundred people,
spreading the reputation of the Wu Tai Chi Chuan throughout Hunan
Province.
In 1937 Master Wu Kung Cho moved south to Hong Kong and set up
a Wu's Tai Chi Chuan Academy. Master Wu Kung Yi and his eldest son
Master
Wu Tai Kwei also set up academies in Hong Kong and Macau. After
the Japanese army invaded Hong Kong the Wu family moved inland until
the war ended. The Hong Kong Wu's Tai Chi Chuan Academy was headed
up by Master Wu Kung Yi and the Macau Academy by Master Wu Tai Kwei.
These two centres developed large followings.
In January 1954 Macau's New Flower Garden Hotel sponsored a charity
fight: "Wu versus Chen". In the opening seconds the opponent
was struck on the nose causing profuse bleeding. After exceeding
the allotted rest-time, the fight continued, but a kick to the knee
violated the regulations and the fight was called off. Following
this spectacle Wu Tai Chi Chuan became even more popular. Various
Chinese communities throughout Southeast Asia requested that branch
Academies be set up for them. Master Wu Kung Yi ordered his eldest
son Master Wu Tai Kwei to set up a branch club on Nathan Road in
Kowloon, while sending his second son Master
Wu Tai Chi as well as Master Wu Kung Cho's second son Master
Wu Tai Sin to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Manila to set up branch
Academies. At the same time the Academies in Hong Kong and Kowloon
were becoming too small to accommodate the growing number of enthusiasts,
so the top floor of the Haldwin Mansion on Kowloon's Jordan Road
was purchased and made into the central Academy. The original central
Academy on Hong Kong's Lockhart Road was made into a branch Academy
headed up by Master Wu Kung Yi's daughter and Master Wu Ying Hsia
and son-in-law Kuo Shao Chiong.
In 1975 members of the Chinese community of Toronto, Canada invited
Master Wu Tai Chi to establish a Canadian Wu's Tai Chi Chuan branch.
Master Wu Tai Chi returned to Hong Kong Headquarters in 1976, and
management of the Toronto chapter was transferred to Master Wu Tai
Kwei's eldest son Master (Eddie) Wu Kwong Yu. This Academy continues
to receive the support and interest of Canadian enthusiasts.
Ching Fu
Translated by Doug Woolidge
For an illustration of the Wu lineage, please click
here. And be sure to read Sifu Eddie Wu's A
Brief History of my Family.
|
