09/20/2025
Excellent article with historical insights to the early masters of Taiji.
I would like to share here, for everyone’s enjoyment, a popular account of Yang Jianhou’s life.
Many people give weight to Yang Banhou and Yang Shaohou for their combat prowess, yet forget that Yang Jianhou himself was another martial genius with a fascinating history. 𝘏𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘉𝘢𝘯𝘩𝘰𝘶—𝘴𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘵.
Because this article has no formal scholarly citations—it is a piece widely circulated on the Chinese internet—please understand it as “𝙨𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙙𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚.” Still, I personally find many of its principles align with reality and with my own experience training in the lineages of Master Zhu Chunxuan (from Wang Yongquan) and Tian Zhaolin, so I’m sharing it here.
🎯 𝐌𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐱𝐭 🎯
𝒀𝒂𝒏𝒈 𝑱𝒊𝒂𝒏𝒉𝒐𝒖 was born with “𝙓𝙞𝙯𝙝𝙪” (细住 – 𝙨𝙪𝙗𝙩𝙡𝙚 𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙗𝙞𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜). “Xizhu” is the state just before entering worldly concentration for a spiritual cultivator. A person in Xizhu cannot pe*****te worldly phenomena but can perceive them. Those born with Xizhu are considered natural material for cultivation.
Jianhou did not like studying martial arts. Yet even though he disliked it, he had to learn. Yang Luchan saw from the start that Jianhou was no ordinary person— by nature, he was suited for internal boxing, and in the future, the one who would uphold the Yang family’s honor would surely be Jianhou.
In Shandong and Hebei, many loved martial arts. Yang Luchan himself was obsessed with them: whatever could be learned, he learned—like a sea receiving hundreds of rivers, depth beyond measure. He crammed everything he had learned, like stuffing sausage, into Jianhou’s body. The basic training alone nearly killed Jianhou with exhaustion, yet he still had to finish dozens of internal and external sets taught by his father. After that came saber, spear, and countless weapons. He could hardly endure it, but Luchan still had more:
internal and external skills, hidden weapons, slingshots—
Jianhou suffered so much he wanted to die (according to legend, he even once attempted su***de but failed).
In Taijiquan, neigong (internal power) is the hardest to master,
yet Jianhou’s internal power grew quickly. mFor him, the worst hardship was physical pain. He was so exhausted that every muscle and bone ached unbearably. But in martial arts, basic training is paramount—as the saying goes: “Endure the bitterest of bitterness to become the superior man.” In the end, Jianhou endured.
He began push-hands almost without instruction—he could neutralize (hua jin) better than anyone and could already send people flying. When he Fajin, no one could escape.
His emitted Jin was swift and light–nimble. 𝘓𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘥: “𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺?”
Jianhou loved slingshots. He would shoot one pellet into the sky, then strike it mid-air with another: Bang! The two collided and shattered into dust. Luchan could not help but say:
“My son, you’re extraordinary—you’re practically Zhang San Feng reborn!”
Jianhou asked: “Who is Zhang San Feng?”
Luchan replied: “Who is Zhang San Feng? I don’t know. But who is Zhang San Feng—you are!”
Those in Xizhu—when they train internal power, if they wish for qi, there is qi; if they wish for shen (spirit), there is shen. Taijiquan naturally has the function of guiding energy.
Once past the ordeal of aching muscles and skin,
after loosening both hips and shoulders,
without realizing it Jianhou’s dantian was already full of qi.
A Taiji practitioner able to issue Zheng jin (整劲 – whole-body power) was considered to have “entered the gate” (in the terms of that era).
𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝐽𝑖𝑎𝑛ℎ𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡: 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝐹𝑎𝑗𝑖𝑛, 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑄𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐽𝑖𝑛 (轻灵劲 – 𝑙𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑙𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟).
What is qing ling jin? Li Yaxuan said:
“Hard power is not as good as stiff-soft power;
stiff-soft power is not as good as sinking-relaxed power;
sinking-relaxed power is not as good as light-agile power(Qingling Jin) ;
light-agile power(Qingling Jin) is not as good as emptiness power.”
He divided power into five kinds:
Hard power (硬劲) – the ordinary power people use.
Stiff-soft power (僵柔劲) – after some Taiji practice, parts of the body are unevenly stiff and soft; localized power feels hard at the point of contact.
Sinking-relaxed power (松沉劲) – whole-body power, rising from the feet and arriving instantly at the contact point.
Light-agile power (轻灵劲)or Qingling Jin – whole-body power with internal energy, but felt light at the point of contact.
Emptiness power (虚无劲) – almost no sensation at contact, like a storm sweeping grass flat.
In demonstrations for victory or defeat, most people ignored which power was used—but Jianhou thought otherwise:
power must be issued subtly to be supreme.
While assisting his father in teaching, he began forbidding the use of hard power, instructing students to issue Zheng Jin(Whole body power) and to learn QIngling Jin.
From here, Yang-style Taijiquan took on its own character.
When Jianhou became head of the Yang clan, he reformed the frame: in his middle frame (中架子) he replaced many big steps with Chuanzi Bu (川子步). Thus, Yang style finally diverged completely from Chen style. Jianhou’s qing ling jin was extremely captivating— if you truly master it, even on pain of death you wouldn’t seek another style.
But it demands strong internal power: without it you cannot perform or even attempt it. Many in Yang and Wu families spent their lives pursuing this power. Even today some can use it,
yet compared to Jianhou’s issuance in his day, they are far behind. He did not “play” with this power—he used it.
In fact, merely being able to issue Zheng Jin is already very hard— Qingling Jin(light-agile power) is rarer still. In modern push-hands competitions, people mostly use hard or stiff-soft power—
rarely true whole-body Taiji power. As humans evolved from four-legged to two-legged, the spine changed, hip joints became compressed.
As the brain grew smarter, the integrated function of limbs and body declined—
perhaps the price of intelligence.
Taijiquan practice is meant to reverse this:
𝐴𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑒 (尾闾), 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠.𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠: 𝑙𝑜𝑤-𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒 (盘架子) 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑙𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑝𝑠 (走矮步).𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 “𝑒𝑚𝑝𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙” 𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠.𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑖𝑝𝑝𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎 𝑟𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔—𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑠 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦.𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛, 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑡ℎ ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠,𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒.𝐹𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑓𝑖𝑟𝑠𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑦 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠.𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛.𝐿𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟—𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑡, ℎ𝑖𝑝 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡.𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑏𝑜𝑛𝑒, 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑜—𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑤𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑙𝑒 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑠𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑒.𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟.𝑊ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒-𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑎𝑑𝑣𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑏𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟:𝑖𝑡 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑡 → 𝑙𝑒𝑔 → 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑡/𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 → 𝑎𝑟𝑚 → 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡 → 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑐𝑡 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡.𝐸𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑇𝑎𝑖𝑗𝑖 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑖𝑓 ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛,𝑜𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑛 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑠—ℎ𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑡-𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑟𝑢𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑑.
Lacking power to the hands, they use only hard or stiff-soft power. Thus, early on, if sinking-relaxed power is issued, it comes from upper or forearm, not torso or hand— a point sadly seldom mentioned.
Only Jianhou was truly a “Divine Adhering Sacred Hand”—
once he touched you, you could not escape. His principle: “One light, two whole, three firm, four agile.”
What is “one light, two whole”?
When we push a cart or wall, we use Zheng Jin(whole-body power)— but even to pierce window paper with a saliva-wet finger, we can still use whole-body force lightly. That is “one light, two whole,” and Jianhou could do it.
He deemed light-agility most important—
if you are truly agile, you need not first exert hand force.
Jianhou slightly modified Wu Yuxiang’s final sentence, making it:
“When moving once, the whole body must be light–agile and fully connected. Qi should be expansive, Shen contained within.
Let there be no flaws, no protrusions or hollows, no breaks.
Root at the feet, issue through the legs, command at the waist,
express at the fingertips— from foot through leg through waist, it must be one continuous Jin.”
From Chen Longxiang’s Yang Family Taijiquan Methods.
“Yang Jian (style name: Jianhou, sobriquet: Jinghu)
was called ‘Third Mister’ (三先生) and, in old age, ‘the Elder.’
Born in the 22nd year of Daoguang (1839), he trained under his father from youth with hardships ordinary people could not bear.
He once contemplated su***de but was discovered in time.
His fighting skill was superb—his boxing blended hardness and softness to perfection. He mastered all weapons—saber, sword, spear, long staff—none eluded him. Gentle in character, he rarely fought others. He had many followers; a single hint from him enabled their progress. He passed away in the 6th year of the Republic (1917) without illness. A few hours before death, a dream forewarned him. He summoned family and disciples, gave instructions, bathed, changed clothes, and passed smiling.”
Yang Chengfu’s wide-frame (85-posture) form derived—slightly modified—from Jianhou’s frame. Fixed-step push hands (定步推手) and the Four Primary Hands (四正手) were his creations.
Yang’s “Da Lü” (杨氏大履) and Moving Four Primary Hands (活步四正手) were likewise set by him. His most famous disciples: Xu Yusheng (许禹生) and Li Jinglin (李景林).
(𝘕𝘰𝘵𝘦: 𝘑𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘩𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘧𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘯’𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯—𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘭𝘶𝘥𝘦 𝘛𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘡𝘩𝘢𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘯, 𝘕𝘪𝘶 𝘊𝘩𝘶𝘯𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘓𝘪 𝘠𝘢𝘹𝘶𝘢𝘯, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘞𝘢𝘯𝘨 𝘠𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘯.)
