And what about the standard Taiji as created since 1959,
24 form
Standard taiji books have always a
historical reference to four or five families Chen, Yang, Wu, Sun and another
Wu (one of the Wu is also referred as Hao).
Chen is the oldest. Yang is the most popular.
The oldest and most practiced standard form,
the standard 24 form, is based on Yang.
The two standard competition forms 42 and
48 are mixed forms, I recognize at least Yang, Chen, Sun style elements in it.
It did search for references that indicate which posture is considered which
style but did not succeed up to now.
There exist competition forms for each of
the families.
Official standard taiji books have always
an introduction which is not in contradiction with the above:
-
so health is the
main purpose
-
the reference to
philosophy is present and expressed in the principles such as yin yang,
full/empty, inhale/exhale
-
the reference to
martial arts is present as taiji as one of three internal martial arts (the
other being bagua zhang and xing yi which are in the Sun style synthesis)
-
the principles
like relax waist, be attached at the head
are similar as the ones of the
families
The main part of official standard taiji
books is the physical description in detail of the postures. They are far
more detailed than the descriptions in the three books, they have more photos
and pictures and they are accompanied with video. As a result the modern reader
who goes immediately to the form description/video will emphasize more the
movement.
In standard taiji the competition aspect is
new and more emphasized. In my opinion it is also a kind of alternative way
of practicing.
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