Yang Shaohou (; 1862–1930) was a Chinese martial arts master who, along with Yang Chengfu (楊澄甫; 1883–1936), represents the third generation of Yang-style tai chi. Grandmaster of his generation and known for his compact "small-frame" techniques, he was a ferocious fighter and a demanding teacher.
Early life Yang began learning tai chi at age 7, in Beijing under his father Yang Jianhou, his uncle Yang Banhou (who formally adopted him), and his grandfather — the founder of Yang-style tai chi — Yang Luchan. His name at birth was Yang Zhaoxiong (楊兆熊, Pinyin: Yáng Zhàoxióng). But as was common in the era, as he reached adulthood he took the courtesy name Yang Mengxiang (楊梦祥, Pinyin: Yáng Mèngxiáng), and after he earned a reputation he changed it to Yang Shaohou. Shaohou can be translated as "young noble", and makes use of the "hou" (侯) character from his father's and uncle's names in a reflection of respect for his lineage and his status as grandmaster of his generation.Chu (2008), sec. 2
Career Many of his contemporaries called him "Mr. Big" (大先生, Pinyin: dà xiānshēng), which can also be translated as "Mr. Eldest" or "Mr. Great" — a play on words as he was the eldest brother in his family, the senior disciple and grandmaster of his tai chi generation, and a great fighter who loomed large in the fears of many — while others called him "Thousand Hands Guanyin" (千手觀音, Pinyin: Qiānshǒu Guānyīn) or "Holy Hands Guanyin" (聖手觀音, Shèngshǒu Guānyīn), which was in praise of his pushing hands techniques, as unlike that deity he was not known for his compassion.Chu (2008), sec. 2, paragraph 7
Yang Shaohou had a very forceful nature, and like his uncle Banhou he was a demanding teacher, only interested in students that could stand their tough training regimes. It is said that he enforced low stance training by making students perform postures underneath food preparation tables, he preferred to demonstrate rather than explain, and he was not known for pulling his punches. Often as soon as he crossed hands with a student in push hands, he attacked suddenly with great force, and the student did not know what to do. This approach attracted few, but he in fact preferred to limit and focus his time and attention as a teacher.
He taught at the Beiping Sports Research Institute (北平體育研究社, Pinyin: Běipíng Tǐyù Yánjiūshè) as well as an associated institute and club, but preferred to give private lessons to disciples and other serious students in small groups or individual sessions. He briefly travelled to teach in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing, but preferred Beijing. Everywhere he went, he earned his reputation as an indomitable fighter, but as a teacher only to a select few disciples.
He also practiced traditional Chinese medicine, treating patients with a combination of Yang family herbal formulas and a prescription of regular tai chi practice. Upon curing one municipal official of a liver ailment with just such a combination, he gained a great following and 200 citizens of that town asked him to train them in tai chi. However he remained very selective about which students he took on — some would say impatient and irritable — and trained only the official that time, but work like this did help to maintain strong ties between government officials and the Yang family.Chu (2008), paragraphs 20-21
Sixth-generation Yang style Master Yang Jun reports family tradition describing him like this: "The spirit from his eyes would shoot out in all directions, flashing like lightning. Combined with a sneer, a sinister laugh, and the sounds of "Heng!" and "Ha!", his imposing manner was quite threatening."Yang Family History: Yang Shao Hou
Small frame, little fame
Founding generations
The tai chi of Yang Shaohou and his younger brother Yang Chengfu represent the final refinement of the three founding generations of Yang family tai chi. Disciples and students of Yang Shaohou tai chi hold that Yang style founder Yang Luchan's "old frame" (老架, Pinyin: lǎojià) tai chi from the beginning contained the potential for what over time was separated into the two approaches those brothers now represent, Yang Shaohou's "small frame" (小架, Pinyin: xiǎojià) and Yang Chengfu's "large frame" (大架, Pinyin: dàjià). Today practitioners of the small frame often call their approach the "yong jia" (用架, Pinyin: yòngjià) which can be translated as "application frame", and the large frame the "lian jia" (練架, Pinyin: liànjià) or "training frame", though in fact both include training and applications.Chu (2008); Li Lian, Chapt. 2, Sec. 1; Liu (2009-2010); Zhou (April 2002)
By the third generation, the Yang family masters tended to teach the large frame to the public, while reserving the small frame and related training for palace officials, disciples, and other serious students. The large frame can be easier to teach to a big group, with relatively wide easy-to-see movements, and can be learned for health or for martial application. The small frame with its small circles is complex and difficult to master, and the training more quickly focuses on applications. The small frame was also better suited to students wearing imperial robes.
In the first two generations, all variations retained sudden bursts of speed, high kicks, low stances, leaps, and "fa jin" (發勁; Pinyin: fājìn) or explosive energy. But in the second generation the focus of two sons diverged as they refined their teaching methods, as would happen again in the next generation. Second generation master Yang Jianhou developed his "middle frame" (中架, Pinyin: zhōngjià) form with a focus on bringing all the benefits of tai chi to more people, while his older brother and the grandmaster of that generation, Yang Banhou, concentrated on a more demanding range of training that appealed to few students. Banhou trained not only with their father Luchan but also with Wu (Hao) style founder Wu Yuxiang, building a reputation as a top fighter and accepting the most serious students only. Today some still practice Yang Banhou forms in large, medium, small, and fast frame, all very vigorous and strenuous, with such a difficult range of heights that some have called them "low frame", and he is especially known for his small frame form.
Also in the second generation, Manchu military officer Wu Quanyou trained under Yang Luchan and Yang Banhou, and began development of the small frame Wu-style tai chi for the Manchurian palace guard. As noted above, small frame tai chi was particularly effective for those wearing imperial robes. In the next generation, his son Wu Jianquan would join him in cofounding the Wu style.
In the third generation, Yang Chengfu widely promoted the large frame, standardizing that form with all slow movements suitable for teaching a wider range of students, and seldom taught or even mentioned the small frame, middle frame, or any fast form. He and his disciples established many training classes across China and published many books, all on only the large frame slow form and its associated two-person sets and applications. This is now the most famous and most widely practiced style of tai chi in the world.Li Lian, Chapt. 2, Sec. 1; Liu (2009-2010)
Meanwhile, Yang Shaohou, after initially teaching his father Jianhou's middle frame, dedicated himself to his uncle Banhou's approach, further refining the small frame into his signature style. Twenty-one years older than Chengfu, he was of a more traditional generation that did not reveal everything about a martial art to the general public, and he did not have the temperament for such promotion anyway. Although he taught a minimal number of public classes on the large frame at a few institutes and clubs, Yang Shaohou preferred to focus on the small frame with just a few "indoor" disciples and other serious students who had already mastered the large frame or the Wu style, in small private sessions at private homes. As a result, his art is far less famous than his brother's.Chu (2008)
Modern lineages
Yang Shaohou's tai chi is characterized by high and low postures, small complex circular movements, frequent changes of pace, and sharp crisp fa jin techniques accompanied by "heng" (哼, Pinyin: hēng) and "ha" (哈, Pinyin: hā) sounds.
According to an authoritative survey published in 2006, this has come down to us through just a few small select lineages today, each with at least one unique "application frame" form developed in collaboration with Yang Shaohou as he built on his students' previous training with others:Chu (2008), paragraph 24Li Jianqing, pp. 80-83, 173, 486, 496-498Yeo (June 2007)
Yang Shaohou → Wu Tunan (吴图南, Pinyin: Wú Túnán; 1884–1989)
The empty-hand form taught by Wu Tunan generally follows the 73 posture sequence of the old Yang style, and was developed with Yang Shaohou on the foundation of Wu Tunan's Wu-style background. It contains 37 core postures plus repeats and transitions, and instructors often present it in 50 to 139 moves. In a 1928 publication Wu called it the "Three Generations Seven" (三世七) form,Yu, Zhijun, p. 144 referring to the 37 postures and perhaps also in homage to the tai chi of Song Shuming (宋書銘),; see also but today it is generally referred to as simply the "small frame form" or "application form". The movements are short with small circles and clear practical application, performed vigorously and fast, in as little as two and a half minutes.Chu, (2008), paragraph 25; Yu, Zhijun, pp. 158-171; Li Lian, chapt. 3
Videos of Wu Tunan from the 1980s show him at around age 100 performing the form mostly at one height within a small area,Available on several video websites but photos from the 1920s through the 1960s show him performing high kicks and extremely low postures,Yu, Zhijun, p. 125, 150 while his students Yu Zhijun (于志钧, Pinyin: Yú Zhìjūn) and Li Lian (李琏, Pinyin: Lǐ Liǎn) have published books demonstrating the same form with deep crouches, high kicks, and higher leaps, and in some videos Li uses a much wider area. Yu and Li are also known for their push hands and application skills, as was Wu Tunan. Yu's book on Wu Tunan and his tai chi includes Wu-style sword forms.Yu, Zhijun, hand form pp. 158-171, sword forms pp. 172-279; Li Lian, hand form in chapt. 3; Zhou (Feb 2008)
Wu accepted only two disciples, Ma Youqing and Sim Pooh Ho. Li Lian was a formal disciple of Ma, but also trained directly with Wu for twenty years, and is the foremost representative of this small frame lineage in mainland China today, teaching the application form Wu developed under Yang Shaohou. Sim Pooh Ho founded a school in Singapore that has trained European instructors as well and offers a broad tai chi curriculum, including the application form he and Wu developed based on Sim's original training in the Yang Chengfu form. Sim calls that form the "108 Chang Quan", the "Wu Tunan — Sim Pooh Ho Chang Quan", or simply the "Usage Set". Yu Zhijun, a university professor in the history of science, trained with Wu for forty years to a high level of mastery, and published several books on tai chi including a thorough study of Wu Tunan and his martial art. (A brief biography of Wu Tunan is in the Notable Students section below.)Li Lian, Preface, Chapt. 1; Zhou (April 2002); Yeo (June 2007); Yu, Zhijun
Yang Shaohou → Zhang Huchen (张虎臣, Pinyin: Zhāng Hǔchén; 1898–1979)
Zhang Huchen was a disciple of Xu Yusheng (許禹生, Pinyin: Xǔ Yǔshēng; 1878-1945) and also trained with Yang Shaohou and Yang Chengfu. Zhang developed a complete system of small frame fast forms incorporating advanced training from Yang Shaohou, which he taught in a sports training institute Xu established in Beijing.Chu (2006), Chu, (2008), paragraph 27Liu (2009-2010)
His "Three Solo Forms" are essentially the same 225 movement form, in three levels with three intents:Chu (2006)