A Brief History of Wu Style T'ai Chi Chu'an

Founding Master Wu Chu'an You studied under Yang Lu Chan, then under his son Yang Ban Hou. 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 Chu'an was originally employed by the Ch'ing 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 Chu'an to President Li Yuan Hong. Subsequently he was appointed teacher to the Eleventh Cops of the Presidential Body Guards. Among his students were Chiefs of Staff Chang I Ke, Tuan Chih Kui, Lu Mian and others.

In 1916 Wu Chien Chu'an, 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 T'ai chi Chu'an throughout China.

In 1924 Chu Min Yi, the director of the Medical Corps of the Main Head Quarters 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 Wu Kung Yi to take up the position of enlistment corps and advanced t'ai chi Chu'an group instructor. At the same time he became a physical education instructor at Zhong Shan [Sun Yal Sen] University. His followers included Fang Yan Ying, Tan Ting, Chu Pei Te, Hsiong Shih Hui, Chen Chia You, Wu Si Yu and others.