Sun Lutang


Sun Lu-t'ang or Sun Lutang was a renowned master of Chinese neijia martial arts and was the progenitor of the syncretic art of Sun-style t'ai chi ch'uan. He was also considered an accomplished Neo-Confucian and Taoist scholar, 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 teacher Cheng Tinghua gave him the name Sun Lutang. . 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 and baguazhang before he came to study taijiquan. His expertise in these two martial arts were so high that many regarded him as without equal. Sun learned Wu -style t'ai chi ch'uan from Hao Wei-chen. Sun started studying with Hao relatively late in his life, but his accomplishments in the other two internal arts led him to develop his t'ai chi abilities to a high standard more quickly than is usual.
He subsequently was invited by Yang Shao-hou, Yang Chengfu and Wu Chien-ch'üan to join them on the faculty of the Beijing Physical Education Research Institute where they taught t'ai chi to the public after 1914. Sun taught there until 1928, a seminal period in the development of modern Yang, Wu and Sun-style t'ai chi ch'uan.

Family

In 1891 he married Zhang Zhouxian, with whom he had three sons and a daughter.

Publications

In later life, he published five martial arts texts which were also later translated to English recently:
He also wrote a study of Bagua spear, though this was never published.