Yang Chengfu

Yang Chengfu in roll back posture.

Taken from the book The Essence and Application of Taijiquan.

Yang Chengfu (1883–1936) was a renowned Chinese martial artist and master of Yang-style Taijiquan. He was the grandson of Yang Lu Chan (1799–1872), the founder of Yang-style Taijiquan, and the son of Yang Jianhou (1839–1917), a distinguished martial artist renowned for his Taijiquan expertise.

Yang Cheng Fu played a pivotal role in the development and popularisation of Taijiquan. He took Taijiquan from a secretive martial art, taught exclusively to family members and wealthy patrons to one that was taught and disseminated openly to members of the public. As part of this process, Yang Cheng Fu simplified and standardised the Taijquan form so it could be taught consistently and practised by people of all ages and abilities.

The traditional forms practiced by his grandfather, father and uncles contained both slow and high speed, explosive movements. The forms included challenging low stances, jumps and high kicks and were heavily focussed on both defensive and attacking combat applications.

To make the forms accessible to a wide audience, Yang Chengfu emphasised slow, smooth, continuous movements and removed the more challenging movements. Whilst the form remained focused on martial applications, Yang Chengfu also emphasised the health benefits of Taijiquan and its philosophical principles.  He saw Taijiquan as a method through which the Chinese people could become healthy and strong.

As part of the standardisation and dissemination of the long form Yang Cheng Fu published two books, Taijiquan Methods and Application and The Essence and Application of Taijiquan. The latter book provides a comprehensive summary of the movements of the long form, along with photographs of Yang Chengfu demonstrating each form posture.

There is no surviving film of Yang Chengfu performing the long form and perhaps the closest we can get is video of his most notable students performing the form.

Here is an excellent video about Yang Chengfu and his impact in the development and standardisation of Yang style Taijiquan. The video includes some interesting clips of some of Yang Chengfu’s students demonstrating the long form.