Tai Chi (short for Tai Chi Chuan)
Translation: "Grand Ultimate Fist"
Country of Origin: China
Created: circa 1247

Tai Chi is a style of Wushu so technically shouldn't be listed as a separate Martial Art. However due to it's popularity we have given it a page of it's own. Tai Chi is the best known of the "internal" styles of Wushu. The most apparent difference between this and most other martial arts is that it also brings health benefits to the practitioner. To gain these benefits you needn't practice the martial art in its entirety making it accessible to all age groups and all abilities. Tai Chi is commonly practised slowly in order to develop control, relaxation, co-ordination, balance and most importantly breathing. On the surface it seems the gentlest of the Wushu arts yet as the name suggests is reputedly the most deadly once fully mastered (but then I've heard that one before). The most popular account of the creation of Tai Chi suggests that in 1247 a Wushu practitioner at the Shaolin temple, named Chang San Feng, observed a Stork and Snake fighting each other. He was impressed by their ability to attack and defend simultaneously and so based on his observations he created a style of his own. (Perhaps if he'd watched two hippos having a scrap he'd have invented Sumo). This new style was passed down in secret through various families for generations until Yang Lu Chan (1799-1872) was ordered by the Emperor to teach it to the imperial guard. The Emperor had heard about a chap named "Invincible Yang" who had never lost a challenge and in those days you didn't disappoint the Emperor. Thus Tai Chi Chuan emerged out of secrecy and into the public domain. Although it is believed that the deadlier applications are still kept secret by the original families. Also written as T'ai Chi or Taiji.