About this website
The purpose of this website is to present taichi chuan-related resources. Because there exist many different transcriptions, pronunciations and translations of Chinese characters, some information is usually lost in the translation of Chinese documents and it is not always clear whether similar sounding transcriptions of Chinese characters refer to the same or different concepts. Ultimately, clarity is only provided if one can check whether the same Chinese characters are used.
This website provides Chinese texts with literal translations. The idea is that taichi chuan learners who do not speak and read Chinese but want more clarity about the core taichi chuan concepts have a web resource where they can compare English and Chinese versions of the texts. In contrast to translations of these texts on other websites, this website attempts to provide mostly literal translations which align Chinese and English words so that the translation becomes more direct and provides insights about how the concepts are expressed in Chinese.
What is Wu Cheng style?
On this website, the name Wu Cheng is used for Cheng Tin Hung's version of Wu style. Other names for this style are Wutan, Wudang Tai Chi Chuan or Practical Tai Chi Chuan.Simplified and Traditional Chinese Characters, Pinyin
Many of the listings in this website are provided in traditional and simplified Chinese characters. Simplified characters are used in mainland China, traditional characters as used in Taiwan and Hong Kong. The characters are transcribed in Pinyin which is the mainland Chinese standard.Form Names
Even within one style, different instructors use slightly different versions of the form names. Only one representative form will be chosen for each style and weapon. The names in taichi chuan forms tend to be poetic whereas the wushu forms tend to be more descriptive (the first two characters describing the stance, the next two characters describing the hand movement).Software
This website uses purpose-built software (MySQL database, web scripts, software for Chinese/English translation and Unihan-based character conversion). See the Contact page for further information.Copyright © marama.org.uk