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When Yang Lu-Chan (Yang Fukul 1799-1872), modified the "Chen Style" movements he learned from Chen Chang-hsing (Chen Chang Xing) he called his new style, "Yang Style." Chen style, however, was not called Tai Chi Chuan, but rather Chen Family Pao Chui (Cannon Fist) which was not much different from the Kung Fu styles of the 19th Century, and none of its masters has ever achieved the fame or skill of Yang Lu-Chan. After Yang Lu-Chan modified what he learned, he became the most famous fighter in China, gaining the title Yang the Invincible and Yang of the Eight Lords (The eight lords being the Imperial Lords who administered the Eight Banners of the Manchu's). In developing his style, Yang Lu-Chan removed some of the high kicks, leaps, foot stomps and other moves from the form, and made the style distinctly his own, and one that complied more closely to the thirteen Tai Chi postures.
The worldwide popularity of Yang style Tai Chi Chuan is due almost entirely to the teachings of Yang Cheng-fu who died in 1936 at the age of fifty-three. Yang Cheng-fu was among the first to openly teach his family's Yang Style to the public after the overthrow of the Ch'ing dynasty in 1912. Cheng-fu, like no other Tai Chi master, saw his art as a way to unite the Chinese people, and Southern China was particularly open to his teachings. Today those who claim their Yang style is derive from Yang Cheng-fu far outnumber all other Tai Chi Style practitioners in the West, combined.
There are, however, nearly as many versions of Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan as there are instructors; and, it appears that while each instructor claims his teachings come from Yang Cheng-fu, virtually all have modified the style so much as to make it a different style. However, rather than changing the name of the style, most capitalize on the Yang name and teach what can at best be called a variation of some elements of Yang Cheng-fu's style.
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