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Chen style Laojia Yilu (Old Frame, First Form): history, sections and meaning 陳氏太極拳老架一路

Most people picture tai chi as slow and soft from start to finish. Then they see Laojia Yilu: long, spiralling, slow passages — and suddenly a stamp that shakes the floor, a punch that snaps, a jump. This is the oldest surviving Chen form, and the one every Chen student learns first.

Tai ChiKung Fu
Name老架 Laojia “Old Frame” · 一路 Yilu “First Form (road)”
Attributed toChen Changxing (1771–1853), 14th Chen generation, from older family routines
Length74 postures in a common list (72–76 depending on how they are split)
Partner formErlu, the Second Form, also called Cannon Fist (炮捶): faster and more explosive
1

Chenjiagou, Henan. For generations the Chen family trains its boxing behind village walls and teaches almost no one from outside.

2

Then one teacher, Chen Changxing, folds the old routines into two — and takes a stranger from Hebei as a student. His name is Yang Luchan.

3

A century later, in 1928, the Chen form itself leaves the village for Beijing. People who know only soft tai chi cannot believe what they see.

Illustrative scene, not a historical record.

History

  1. 17th century · Chen WangtingChen tradition credits the 9th-generation leader Chen Wangting with organising the family’s training into seven routines, including a long-fist series and a Cannon Fist, and mixing in ideas from Chinese medicine and older boxing manuals. [1]
  2. Early 19th century · two routinesChen Changxing (1771–1853) condenses the material into the First Form (Yilu) and the Second Form (Erlu, Cannon Fist) — later called the Old Frame. He also teaches Yang Luchan, the first recorded student from outside the family. Historians still debate how much Changxing changed; the Chen family holds that little changed beyond the order of movements. [1][2]
  3. 1928 · BeijingChen Zhaopei and then his uncle Chen Fake (1887–1957) leave the village to teach in Beijing. Their fast, explosive moves look nothing like the soft Yang and Wu forms people know; Chen Fake answers the doubters in open challenges and builds a large following. His Beijing students later keep both the Old Frame he taught first and a New Frame (Xinjia) he promoted later. [3][1]
  4. From 1958 · back to the villageChen Zhaopei retires to Chen Village and teaches there, through the hardship of the Cultural Revolution. His students — Chen Xiaowang, Chen Zhenglei, Zhu Tiancai and Wang Xi’an — carry Laojia Yilu around the world from the 1980s. [3]

Historical images

Chen Fake
Chen Fake (1887–1957) performing the form; he brought Chen style from the village to Beijing in 1928.

ChenFake.jpg — Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

The sequence, step by step

A summary in our own words to help you follow and remember the form. It does not replace a teacher, and details differ between associations. [4]

Laojia Yilu floor line (simplified; corners and turns omitted)Sforward: walking obliquely, brush kneebackward: whirling armsback and forth on one lineS = start · simplified
Laojia Yilu floor line (simplified; corners and turns omitted) — Simplified diagram.
  1. Step 1/5

    1–5 · The opening signature

    Preparation, then Buddha’s warrior attendant pounds the mortar (Jin Gang Dao Dui): the fist drops into the open palm as the foot stamps. Lazily tying the coat, six sealing and four closing, single whip — the pattern that returns throughout the form.

  2. Step 2/5

    6–19 · Crane, oblique steps, the first punches

    White crane spreads its wings, walking obliquely, brush knee, then the hidden-hand punch (Yan Shou Hong Quan) — a slow gathering released as a fast, whole-body punch. Flinging body, green dragon comes out of the water, double push, fist under elbow.

  3. Step 3/5

    20–42 · Arms, cloud hands, kicks and the first jump

    Stepping back with whirling arms, flash the arm, cloud hands, high pat on horse, slaps to the right and left foot, heel kick, punch to the ground, then a jumping double kick, protect the heart, the whirlwind foot, small catching, and embrace the head to push the mountain.

  4. Step 4/5

    43–61 · Tricks, horse’s mane, shuttles, the drop

    Front and back tricks, parting the wild horse’s mane, the jade maiden works the shuttles (with a jumping turn), cloud hands, swing the lotus and drop into a low split (Die Cha), golden rooster on one leg, whirling arms again.

  5. Step 5/5

    62–74 · The closing run

    High pat on horse, cross kick, punch to the groin, white ape offers fruit, dragon descends low, seven stars, ride the tiger, turn and double lotus kick, the head-on cannon punch (Dang Tou Pao), and the mortar once more before closing.

Key stances

Ma bu: feet parallel, a little wider than the shoulders, 50/50FRONT▭ = 1 shoulder widthLRWeight ≈50% leftright 50%
Ma bu (horse stance)
Gong bu: front foot straight, rear foot 45°, 70% frontFRONT▭ = 1 shoulder widthL45°RWeight ≈70% frontback 30%
Gong bu (bow stance)

All stances, with diagrams →

Meaning

Laojia Yilu is a teaching tool before it is a performance. It builds the core Chen skills: silk reeling (chansi jin), the spiral that runs from the feet through the waist to the hands; the alternation of slow and fast, soft and hard; and fa jin, the short release of whole-body power seen in the stamps and punches. Teachers describe it as the form that sets the basic principles of movement, on which everything else is built.

The Second Form, Erlu or Cannon Fist, takes the same body and speeds it up: more jumps, more strikes, more fa jin. Most students spend years on Yilu before they touch it.

Variations between styles

Style / bodyWhat changes
Laojia (Old Frame)Large, open circles; the version taught in Chen Village and described on this page.
Xinjia (New Frame)Linked to Chen Fake’s later teaching in Beijing; tighter circles, more visible wrist and waist turning, more fa jin.
Xiaojia (Small Frame)A separate village line with compact movements; its forms share many posture names.
Short Chen formsModern shortened routines for beginners and competition, built from the same postures.

[1][3][4]

Principles and applications

Lazily tying the coat and six sealing four closing are deflect-and-control patterns that feed directly into push-hands. The hidden-hand punch, the head-on cannon and the punch to the ground show fa jin as a strike; small catching and embrace-the-head are close-range locking and throwing ideas; the stamps train rooting and timing.

Learn it slowly first, with the spiral and the stance height right; let speed and power come only when the structure holds. Many schools teach it in sections over a year or more.

Common mistakes

  • Turning the arms without the waist — the spiral must start from the legs.
  • Forcing fa jin with the shoulders instead of releasing it from the whole body.
  • Stamping with a stiff leg (hard on the knee and heel).
  • Stance too low for your legs, so the knees cave in.

[4][1]

Sources

Content written by Wabukan from the sources below (checked on 2026-10-30). External links are references only.

  1. Wikipedia — Chen-style tai chi — en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia — Chen Changxing — en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia — Chen Fake — en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wang Haijun Tai Chi — Old Frame (Laojia) First Form, 74 postures — wanghaijuntaichi.com

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Updated: 2026-10-30