Practiced worldwide, Tai Chi Boxing is the carrier and symbol of traditional Chinese culture. It is based on Tai Chi culture, and every movement is as smooth and continuous as the Tai Chi Diagram. It is deeply favored by people for its broad and profound theory, movements of hardship and softness, and life-nourishing functions, and that’s why it has been popular worldwide. Surveys show that there are some tens of millions of Tai Chi Boxing practitioners in more than 150 countries and regions, and most of them benefit from the exercise of Tai Chi Boxing.

Tai Chi Boxing reflects rich traditional Chinese culture. With Tai Chi Bagua, yin-yang and Wuxing, Taoism as the theoretical basis, the movements of Tai Chi Boxing are like a spring silkworm spinning thread and the flowing water in a river.

Opinions have always varied about the origin and creator of Tai Chi Boxing. Most notably, Zhan Sanfeng is widely accredited as the creator. But it is generally accepted by scholars that Tai Chi Boxing originated in the Chen-style Tai Chi Boxing, created by Chen Wangting in Chenjiagou, Wen County, Henan Province.

The principles of Tai Chi Boxing mainly include yin-yang theories, which stress the opposition and unity of yin and yang, the thought that all things on earth are in constant flux and in circulation, and the spirit of neutrality and balance. For Tai Chi Boxing, movement is yang, while stillness is yin; hardness is yang, while softness is yin; attack is yang, while defense is yin; solidness is yang, while emptiness is yin. The movements of Tai Chi Boxing encompass the transformation between yin and yang, movement and stillness, emptiness and solidness, and the techniques are characterized by countless changes, circulation and repetition, and alternate openness and closeness. Both the names of movements and the movement style stress realms and romantic charms, giving people endless imagination.

It is in fact very easy to learn Tai Chi Boxing after having a good understanding of its principles, notably the application of two types of force – yin and yang (hardness and softness) – and mutually combined five steps and eight hand techniques to finish a series of movements. Thirteen movements in all, the five steps and the eight hand techniques are movements in contradiction, whose change is opposite yet uniform. Tai Chi Boxing, therefore, is also known as the “thirteen movements.”