Tai chi · Yang family · 25–30 minutes
Yang style tai chi long form (103): history, three sections and meaning 楊氏太極拳
The 24-form takes six minutes. This one takes half an hour. The traditional Yang long form is the routine the short forms were cut from: the same postures, but with room to come back to them — grasp the bird’s tail, single whip and cloud hands return again and again, each time from a different angle, until the body knows them without thinking.
| Other names | Traditional hand form, long form, Yang large frame (大架) |
|---|---|
| Shaped by | Yang Chengfu (1883–1936), grandson of Yang Luchan |
| Length | 103 movements in the Yang family count, in 3 sections; about 25–30 minutes |
| Pace | Even speed throughout; high, middle or low stance by choice |
Yongnian, Hebei, early 19th century. A poor boy doing odd jobs in a pharmacy sees one of the owners throw out a gang of troublemakers with a style he has never seen.
The pharmacy belongs to a family from Chen Village, in Henan. They send him there, to the teacher Chen Changxing.
Two generations later, his grandson turns what he learned into the slow, wide form that millions now practise — the Yang long form.
Illustrative scene, not a historical record.
History
- Early 19th century · Chen VillageYang Luchan (1799–1872), from Yongnian in Hebei, is sent by the Chen family’s pharmacy to study with Chen Changxing (1771–1853) of the 14th Chen generation. The Yang family tells it this way; family legends add that he first learned by watching training through a broken wall at night. [1][2][3]
- From about 1850 · BeijingYang Luchan teaches in the capital, to officials and wealthy families and, according to Yang tradition, to imperial guards. His sons Yang Banhou and Yang Jianhou carry on; Jianhou revises the form into a “middle frame”. [2][4][5]
- Early 20th century · the large frameYang Chengfu (1883–1936) starts from his father’s middle frame and opens it out: extended postures, even speed, no jumps or stamps in the hand form, stance height to suit the student. Taught in Beijing, Shanghai and beyond, this “large frame” becomes the standard Yang form. [5][4]
- Today · 103 movementsYang Zhenduo (1926–2020), Chengfu’s son, and his grandson Yang Jun teach the form worldwide with a published list of 103 movements in three sections. Other schools count the very same form as 85, 88 or 108 — the difference is where you put the full stops, not the movements. [6][7][4]
Historical images
Yang Luchan.jpg — Public domain · Yang-single (restoration).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. [6][7]
- Step 1/5
1–4 · Opening, grasp the bird’s tail, single whip
Stand, let the arms float up and sink. Then the core of the whole style: ward off, roll back, press, push — and the single whip, one hand hooked behind, the other pushing forward.
- Step 2/5
5–16 · Rest of section 1
Raise hands, white crane spreads its wings, brush knee and push, hand strums the lute, step forward–parry–block–punch, apparent close-up, cross hands. Many teachers treat this first section as a complete short practice.
- Step 3/5
17–54 · Section 2: monkey, needle, cloud hands, kicks
Embrace the tiger and return to the mountain, fist under elbow, step back and repulse the monkey, needle at sea bottom, fan through the back, three cloud hands, then the kicking passage: separation kicks, heel kicks, strike the tiger, twin fists to the ears.
- Step 4/5
55–88 · Section 3: wild horse, shuttles, rooster
Parting the wild horse’s mane, fair lady works the shuttles, more cloud hands, snake creeps down into golden rooster on one leg, repulse monkey again, white snake spits out its tongue. The postures you know return in new combinations.
- Step 5/5
89–103 · Closing passage
Palm thrust, cross kick, punch to the groin, snake creeps down, step up to seven stars, step back to ride the tiger, turn and swing over lotus, bend the bow and shoot the tiger, parry and punch, cross hands, closing — and return to normal standing.
Key stances
Meaning
Yang Chengfu’s goal, in the words of the family today, was to adapt the art to a changing society: a form open and extended, simple and direct, done at an even pace, that a beginner or an older person could practise in a high stance and an expert in a low one. The martial content stayed — every posture has an attack or defence inside — but the hand form hides it under calm.
The repetitions are the method. Grasp the bird’s tail and single whip come back many times; each return is a chance to correct one detail, so that after thirty minutes the core of the style has been rehearsed over and over without ever feeling like drilling.
Variations between styles
| Style / body | What changes |
|---|---|
| Yang family 103 (Yang Zhenduo, Yang Jun) | The count used on this page: three sections, 1–16, 17–54, 55–103. |
| 85, 88, 108 counts | Other Yang schools number the same Yang Chengfu form differently, joining or splitting repeated postures. |
| Middle frame (Yang Jianhou line) | An older version still taught by some lineages: more compact, closer to Chen style, with more visible martial intent. |
| Short forms | Cheng Man-ch’ing’s 37-posture form and the 1956 Beijing 24-form were both drawn from this material; the Yang family also teaches its own shorter forms. |
Principles and applications
Ward off, roll back, press and push are the base of push-hands: meet force, absorb it, redirect it. Single whip and brush knee are deflect-and-strike patterns; fist under elbow, punch to the groin and twin fists to the ears are direct strikes; the separation and heel kicks train balance on one leg while striking.
For health, the long form gives what the short ones cannot: thirty minutes of continuous, low-impact work in a bent-knee stance, which is real leg training. Learn it section by section; many people practise section 1 alone for months before adding the rest.
Common mistakes
- Speeding up in familiar passages and slowing down in hard ones — the pace should stay even.
- Bobbing up and down between postures instead of keeping one height.
- Knee collapsing inward or locking straight in the bow stance.
- Leaning the trunk to kick instead of staying upright.
Sources
Content written by Wabukan from the sources below (checked on 2026-10-30). External links are references only.
- Yang Family Tai Chi — Yang Lu Chan (Yang Jun) — yangfamilytaichi.com
- Wikipedia — Yang Luchan — en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia — Chen Changxing — en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia — Yang-style tai chi — en.wikipedia.org
- Yang Family Tai Chi — Yang Cheng Fu (Yang Jun) — yangfamilytaichi.com
- Yang Family Tai Chi — Traditional Hand Form 103 — yangfamilytaichi.com
- Wikipedia — 103-form Yang family tai chi — en.wikipedia.org
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Updated: 2026-10-30