Wu Yuxiang

Who was Wu Yuxiang?

Wu Yuxiang, or Wu Yu-hsiang, was a Chinese t'ai chi ch'uan teacher and government official active during the late Ch'ing dynasty. Wu was a scholar from a wealthy and influential family who became a senior student of Yang Lu-ch'an. Wu also studied for a brief time with a teacher from the Chen family, Chen Ch'ing-p'ing, to whom he was introduced by Yang.

There is a relatively large body of writing attributed to Wu on the subject of t'ai chi ch'uan theory, writings that are considered influential by many other schools not directly associated with his style.

His most famous student was his nephew, Li I-yu, who also authored several important works on t'ai chi ch'uan. Li I-yu had a younger brother who was also credited as an author of at least one work on the subject of t'ai chi, Li Ch'i-hsuan.

The style of t'ai chi ch'uan that Wu taught was eventually known, because of its later transmission by three generations of students of his nephew named Hao, as Wu-style t'ai chi ch'uan. Hao Wei-chen subsequently taught Sun Lu-t'ang, the founder of Sun-style t'ai chi ch'uan.