4th stop, Handan: Wang Changxing

The founder of Yang style taiji, Yang Luchan, was from Guangfu town in what is now Yongnian county in Hebei province. Naturally， Yang and his sons taught many of the locals their art, and so there are many branches of Yang style taiji in Yongnian and the nearest city, Handan, which derive not from the 3rd generation inheritor, Yang Chengfu, but from his famously combative and fiery-tempered uncle, Yang Banhou.  M Wang Changxing, who teaches in Handan, is one such.

Wang Changxing (3rd from left) with disciples and me

His teacher, Bai Zhongxin, was the son of Yang Banhou’s second daughter, Yang Xiuying.  Bai initially learnt his taiji from his mother, and later continued his studies under his uncle, Yang Zhaopeng (Yang Banhou’s son).  When Yang Zhaopeng left Guangfu to teach taiji in other provinces, Bai became a disciple of Li Wancheng, whose curriculum is profiled in my ‘Yang Banhou’s taiji in Yongnian’ post.

Bai Zhongxin

As it turned out, M Wang’s group had their morning practice in front of Handan museum, not far from my hotel, so I went along to catch the tail-end of their practice. I not only had the chance to talk to M Wang, but was also invited to push hands with some of their group. I joined in, and needless to say, was pushed out time and again. Another of M Wang’s disciples, Liu Shengjun (2nd from left in group picture above) demonstrated some taiji palm strikes which had an interesting (and painful!) whipping quality to them.

M Wang pushing out a student

During my conversation with M Wang, he confirmed that Yang Banhou had indeed killed one of his daughters in a training accident。 For those interested, M Wang can be seen performing the middle frame of his system here .