Sun Lutang (1860-1933) was a master of Chinese ''

neijia ''Neijia'' ( 內家) is the collective name for the internal Chinese martial arts. It relates to those martial arts occupied with spiritual, mental or '' qi''-related aspects, as opposed to an " external" approach focused on physiological aspec ...

'' (internal) martial arts and was the progenitor of the

syncretic Syncretism () is the practice of combining different beliefs and various schools of thought. Syncretism involves the merging or assimilation of several originally discrete traditions, especially in the theology and mythology of religion, thus ...

art of Sun-style tai chi. He was also considered an accomplished

Neo-Confucian Neo-Confucianism (, often shortened to ''lǐxué'' 理學, literally "School of Principle") is a Morality, moral, Ethics, ethical, and metaphysics, metaphysical Chinese philosophy influenced by Confucianism, which originated with Han Yu (768� ...

and

Taoist Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ...

scholar (especially of the ''

I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

''), and was a distinguished contributor to the theory of internal martial arts through his many published works.

Biography

He was born in Hebei and was named Sun Fuquan () by his parents. Years later, his ''

baguazhang ''Baguazhang'' () is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the '' Wudang'' school, the other two being tai chi and '' xingyiquan''. It is more broadly grouped as an internal practice (or ''neijia''). ''Baguazhang'' literally means "eigh ...

'' teacher Cheng Tinghua gave him the name Sun Lutang. (It was common in old China for people to have multiple

names A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

, through various phases of life). He continued to use his original name in some areas, including the publishing of his books. He was also well-versed in two other internal martial arts: ''

xingyiquan 形意拳, Xingyiquan , or Xingyi, is a style of internal Chinese martial arts. The word approximately translates to "Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist". The style is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements, and expl ...

'' and ''

'' before he came to study

tai chi is a Chinese martial art. Initially developed for combat and self-defense, for most practitioners it has evolved into a sport and form of exercise. As an exercise, tai chi is performed as gentle, low-impact movement in which practitioners ...

. His expertise in these two martial arts were so high that many regarded him as without equal. Sun learned Wu (Hao)-style tai chi from Hao Weizhen. Sun started studying with Hao relatively late in his life, but his accomplishments in the other two internal arts led him to develop his tai chi abilities to a high standard more quickly than is usual. He subsequently was invited by Yang Shaohou, Yang Chengfu and Wu Jianquan to join them on the faculty of the

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

Physical Education Research Institute where they taught tai chi to the public after 1914. Sun taught there until 1928, a seminal period in the development of modern Yang, Wu and Sun-style tai chi.

Family

In 1891 he married Zhang Zhouxian, with whom he had three sons and a daughter. * First son, Sun Xingyi (孫星一; 1891-1929) * Second son, Sun Cunzhou (孫存周; 1893-1963) * Third son, Sun Wuzi (孫务滋; 1897-1922) * Daughter, Sun Jianyun (孫劍雲; 1913-2003)

Teachers

* ''

Xingyiquan 形意拳, Xingyiquan , or Xingyi, is a style of internal Chinese martial arts. The word approximately translates to "Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist". The style is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements, and expl ...

'' from Li Kuiyuan (), and later from Guo Yunshen (from 1882). * ''

Baguazhang ''Baguazhang'' () is one of the three main Chinese martial arts of the '' Wudang'' school, the other two being tai chi and '' xingyiquan''. It is more broadly grouped as an internal practice (or ''neijia''). ''Baguazhang'' literally means "eigh ...

'' from Cheng Tinghua (from 1891). * Wu (Hao)-style tai chi from Hao Weizhen (from 1911).

Tai chi lineage tree with Sun-style focus

Publications

In later life, he published five martial arts texts which were also later translated to English recently: *''Xingyiquan xue'' (A study of form mind boxing) 1915 *''Baguaquan xue'' (A study of eight trigrams boxing) 1916 *''Taijiquan xue'' (A study of grand ultimate boxing) 1921 *''Baguajian xue'' (A study of eight trigrams straight sword) 1927 *''Quanyi Shuzhen'' (An explanation of the essence of boxing) He also wrote a study of ''bagua''

spear A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with Fire hardening, fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable materia ...

, though this was never published.

References

External links

Sun-style websiteSun-style ForumSun's Tai Chi Research Institute - seccion sudamerica
(

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

copy) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sun, Lutang 1860 births 1933 deaths Chinese male martial artists Chinese baguazhang practitioners Chinese tai chi practitioners Chinese xingyiquan practitioners Martial arts school founders Sportspeople from Baoding Martial artists from Hebei Martial arts writers