Wu Jianquan

Wu Jianquan 吳鑑泉

Wú Jiànquán or (Wade-Giles) Wu Chien-ch'üan, 吳鑑泉 (1870-1942), was a famous teacher of Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan) in late Imperial and early Republican China.

He was of Manchu ancestry, and originally learned the martial art from his father, Wu Quanyuo (Wu Ch'üan-yu, 吳全佑, 1834-1902, a famous student of Yang Luchan (Yang Lu-ch'an, 楊露禪, 1799-1872), and Yang Banhou (Yang Pan-hou 楊班侯, 1837-1890). Both Wu Jianquan and his father were hereditary Manchu banner officers of the Imperial Palace Battalion, yet the Wu family were to become patriotic supporters of Sun Yat-sen. At the time of the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912, China was in turmoil, besieged for many years economically and even militarily by several foreign powers, so Wu Jianquan and his colleagues Yang Shaohou (楊少侯, 1862-1930), Yang Chengfu (楊澄甫, 1883-1936) and Sun Lutang (孫祿堂, 1861-1932) felt a need for the benefits of Taijiquan training on a national scale. They subsequently offered classes at the Beijing Physical Culture Research Institute to as many people as possible, starting in 1914. It was the first school to ever provide public instruction in the art of Taijiquan.

Wu Jianquan moved his family to Shanghai in 1928. In 1935, he established the Jianquan Taijiquan Association (鑑泉太極拳社) on the ninth floor of the Shanghai YMCA to promote and teach his family style of Tai Chi Chuan. What he taught has since become known as Wu style Taijiquan and is one of the five primary styles practised around the world, the others being Chen, Yang, Wu/Hao and Sun. The Jianquan Taijiquan Association schools have subsequently been maintained by Wu Jianquan's descendants. He was succeeded as head of the family system by his oldest son, Wu Gongyi (Wu Kung-i, 吳公儀, 1900-1970), in 1942. Wu Gongyi moved the family headquarters to Hong Kong in 1949. Today the Association still has its international headquarters in Hong Kong and is currently managed by Wu Jianquan's great-grandson, Wu Guangyu or Wu Kwong-yu (Wu Kuang-yu, 吳光宇, born 1945), with branches in Shanghai, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

External link

• Wu Family Website