Biographies

Grand Master Yang Chengfu | Master Yang Zhenduo | Master Yang Jun | Horacio Lopez |

Yang Chengfu

Master Yang Chengfu (1883 -1936), a grandson of Yang Lu Chan, was a member of the third generation of the Yang Family. He was instrumental in taking Tai Chi Chuan outside the realm of the ruling class and making it available to all the Chinese people. He wanted this long-kept secret treasure to belong to the entire Chinese nation; and so he dedicated the last 30 years of his life to the transmission of this knowledge, traveling across China. He is credited with having taught Tai Chi Chuan to over 50.000 people.
In order to achieve this aim of making Tai Chi Chuan available to everyone he created the "all slow" moving form that most of us are accustomed to seeing in the west.
All high kicks and movements requiring excessive exertion of force were deleted. He removed the strength explosions (Fa jing) and replaced them with using the mind to move the chi to extend the limbs instead. This is a basic practice which teaches one to bring chi to power the limbs, and only after this has been achieved can strength explosions (Fa jing) be done properly. He also smoothed out the form to emphasize flow, rootedness and relaxation which is primary to the art. This form would take approximately 30 minutes to be performed in it's entirety. These changes allowed for many people to become interested in learning and practicing this form of exercise that up to that point have been the privilege of only a few people in China.
Through Yang's own genius and the energy and prestige of his sons and students the Yang Style of Tai Chi Chuan established itself as the dominant system of internal development and self defense in China. Today the Yang Style of Tai Chi Chuan is also the most widely practiced form of exercise on the planet, as everyone (men and women, young and old, healthy and sick) can study it and enjoy and participate in its practice.
Among his many students, some of the most widely recognized in China as having reached a high level of achievement are Tung Yingchieh, Fu Zhongwen and Chen Weiming. Another of his students who later became well know in the West was Cheng Manching.

(Professor Cheng Manching, who studied for about 2-4 years with Yang Chengfu, later modify (simplified) the form learned from Yang Chengfu . The form he popularized is known in the West as the "Short Form" of the Yang Style -37 postures. Since the Yang Family does not have a "short form" in its curriculum, and since Professor Cheng himself called what he practiced: "Simplified Tai Chi Chuan", a more correct name for that form would be: "Cheng's simplified Tai Chi Chuan". This in no way is meant as a demeaning commentary on Professor Cheng's creation but as an attempt to clarify and distinguish between two different systems for doing things). For a comparison of the two styles, click here.

Horacio Lopez
Horacio Lopez, a Social Worker from Argentina, has been learning Tai Chi Chuan since 1975. An early passion to understand movement and perception, and how they related to awareness, thought, attention, consciousness and insight, led Mr. Lopez to travel the world learning from some of the most important spiritual teachers of our time.

Before meeting Master Yang Zhenduo, Mr. Lopez studied several styles of Tai Chi Chuan with some of the most prominent teachers in the USA: Masters William C.C. Chen, Kuo Lien Ying and Kumar Frantzis. At the same time Mr. Lopez learned techniques from different related systems of BodyMind and energy development including Chi kung, Taoist and Buddhist meditation, Kundalini, Sufi drumming and whirling techniques, Bioenergetics and Reichian body-work; in China, Thailand, India, Mexico, Jamaica and England.

In 1990 Mr. Lopez met Master Yang Zhenduo, from the People's Republic of China, the fourth generation descendant of the Yang Family, and became a full time student and later teacher of the invaluable tradition of the Yang Family. Today, Mr. Lopez is one of only a few westerners certified in the P.R. of China to teach "Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan" by the 4th Generation descendant of the Yang Family, Master Yang Zhenduo. Mr. Lopez has studied intensively in China in several opportunities. Mr. Lopez has won several regional competitions in the USA (Yang and Wu Style, Push hands, sword and saber forms), and he was ranked second nationally in the Yang Style Advanced Division in 1994, according to Inside Kung Fu Magazine's March 1995 Official Top Ten Rankings of U.S. Chinese Martial Arts, after the Sept.3-5/94, Orlando, Florida competition organized by the USA Wushu Kungfu Federation.

In September 1995, Mr. Lopez traveled to the People's Republic of China with ten of his students to represent the USA Tai Chi Chuan practitioners of Yang Style at the "Third Yongnian International Tai Chi Chuan Gathering" in Handan, Hebei Province, where Mr. Lopez and his students won First Place (among 40 nations) in two disciplines: the group performances of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan - empty hand form, and for performance of Yang Style Tai Chi Saber Form. In recognition of the quality of Mr. Lopez' teachings and the excellence of his students' performance at this prestigious Tai Chi Chuan Gathering, the Yang Family authorized the creation of the Yang Chengfu Tai Chi Chuan Center - USA, the first center of its kind outside of China. The Center is dedicated to the preservation and proper transmission of the traditional teachings of the Yang Family.

In July 1997 Mr. Lopez and some of his students traveled to Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, P.R.China to participate in the 15th. Anniversary Celebration of the forming of the Shanxi Province Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association. They participated in an International competition of only traditional Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan with representatives of all of Mainland China, Southeast Asia, South America and Europe.

Mr. Lopez was awarded 2nd place in empty hand form and 4th place overall (3 events: empty hand, sword, saber) among 350 competitors.

He is the first Westerner from any country to have reached this level of achievement among Yang Family Style practitioners.

In October 1996 Horacio Lopez placed First in five events of the Advance Division at the USA Wushu - Kung Fu Federation Regional Tournament (Consisting of practitioners from Texas, New Mexico,Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana). The gold medals were awarded for his performances in:

• Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Form;
• Tai Chi Sword Form;
• Tai Chi Saber Form;
• Heavy-weight Division Tai Chi Push Hands, and
• Wu Family Style Tai Chi Chuan Form

Some of Mr. Lopez students participated in this tournament. and they all won First Place in the divisions where they competed (intermediate and beginners divisions). Twenty gold medals were received by the representatives of the Yang Chengfu Tai Chi Chuan Center - USA, Texas Branch.

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