42 Form (Competition Form) T'ai Chi Ch'uan
Encyclopedia
The 42 Form t'ai chi ch'uan is the standard Wushu
Wushu (sport)
The sport of wushu is both an exhibition and a full-contact sport derived from traditional Chinese martial arts. It was created in the People's Republic of China after 1949, in an attempt to nationalize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts...

 competition form which combines movements drawn from the Chen, Yang, Wu, and Sun styles of traditional T'ai chi ch'uan (Taijiquan). It was created in 1989 by grandmaster Li De Yin for the Chinese Sports Committee.
The 42-form has been subjected to criticism for being a hybrid form, but in actual practice it has received a lot of positive attention as well, for being a challenging, fluid form which loads the body with energy (qi
Qi
In traditional Chinese culture, qì is an active principle forming part of any living thing. Qi is frequently translated as life energy, lifeforce, or energy flow. Qi is the central underlying principle in traditional Chinese medicine and martial arts...

).
Today it is a popular form for competition as well as for personal health benefits.

At the 11th Asian Games
Asian Games
The Asian Games, officially known as Asiad, is a multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until the 1978 Games. Since the 1982 Games they have been organised by the...

 of 1990, Wushu was included as an item for competition for the first time with the 42 Form being chosen to represent T'ai chi.

External links



Videos
  • http://www.taiji.de/taiji/head5_6/42-form.mpg - video of the 42 Form

  • http://mediatheek.thinkquest.nl/~lla067/media/movies/taichi/42form.mpg
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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