Yang Chengfu or Yang Ch'eng-fu (1883?

1936) is historically considered the best k nown teacher of the soft style martial art of Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan (Yang-s tyle Taijiquan). Contents 1 Biography 2 Students and Descendants 3 Lineage Tree 3.1 Legendary Figures 3.2 Five major classical family styles 4 Bibliography 5 External links Biography

He was born into the famous Yang Taijiquan family, the son of Yang Chien-hou and grandson of Yang Lu-chan. With his older brother Yang Shao-hou () and colleagues Wu J ianquan () and Sun Lutang (), he was among the first teachers to offer T'ai chi c uction to the general public at the Beijing Physical Culture Research Institute from 1914 until 1928. He moved to Shanghai in 1928. Yang Chengfu is known for having "smoothed" out the somewhat more vigorous train ing routine he learned from his family as well as emphasising a "large frame" or "Da Jia ()" with expansive movements in stepping and using large circular motions w ith the arms. His smooth, evenly-paced large frame form and its hundreds of offs hoots has been the standard for Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan (and overwhelmingly i n the public imagination for T'ai chi ch'uan in general) ever since. Yang Chengfu is the official author of two books on the style, Application metho ds of Taijiquan, published in 1931, and Essence and Applications of Taijiquan (T aijiquan Tiyong Quanshu), published in 1934.[1][2] His second book was translate d into English in 2005.[3] Students and Descendants His direct descendants, the many students he taught, and their students, have sp read the art around the world. Among Yang Chengfu's students were famous masters such as Tung Ying-chieh (Dong Yingjie, ; 1898?1961), Chen Weiming, Fu Zhongwen (Fu Ch ung-wen, 1903?1994), Li Yaxuan (?; 1894?1976) and Cheng Man-ch'ing. Each of them tau ght extensively, founding groups teaching T'ai chi to this day. Cheng Man-ch'ing , perhaps the most famous outside of China, significantly shortened and simplifi ed the traditional forms Yang taught him after his teacher's passing, reportedly to make them more accessible to larger numbers of students. Although Cheng's mo difications are considered controversial by most other schools and are not recog nized by the Yang family, Cheng Man-ch'ing is known as the first to teach T'ai c hi ch'uan (Taijiquan) in the West. His sons have continued to teach their father's Taijiquan, including his first s on, the late Yang Zhenming (1910?1985) (a.k.a. Yang Shaozhong, Yang Shao-Chung, Yeung Shao-Chung; ), who brought Yang-style t'ai chi ch'uan to Hong Kong, his second s on Yang Zhenji (born 1921, current head of the family), his third son, Yang Zhen duo (; born 1926), living in Shanxi Province, who is widely considered the most promin ent of the Yang family T'ai chi ch'uan instructors living today, and his fourth son, Yang Zhen Guo, born in 1928, and living in Hebei Province, Handan City.