The language of Taijiquan

Taijiquan 太极拳 is an ancient Chinese system of self-cultivation, martial skill learning and healing exercises. It has been about 40 years since it began to spread in Bulgaria. A particularly important issue in training and learning Taijiquan outside of China is understanding the traditional concepts, without which the training process would be impossible. The terminological diversity in teaching the martial art in different schools is enormous. This book is an attempt to outline a fairly complete picture of the basic Chinese terms used in the training process and in books on the subject. The meanings of individual terms are commented on and some of the reasons for changes and different variations in translation are elucidated. For the full mastery of Taijiquan, knowledge of the terms is essential mainly for the sake of following the principles of movement correctly, executing the postures and techniques, and being aware of the goals to be achieved.

Master Xia Changtsan 夏长仓, the author's teacher, is from the city of Xiamen in China. He teaches the Cheng style of Taijiquan at Xiamen University, and is the director of the Chinese Wushu Association in the city. The publisher thanks him for agreeing to demonstrate the training practices.