Chinese Taiji

Chinese Taiji Sword introduces 32 forms of taiji sword. And Xue Anri, renown Chinese martial arts coach, instructs 42-form taiji sword competition routine in detail. 32-form taiji sword was adapted from Yang-Style Tai Chi Sword by Chinese martial arts master Li Tianji. It is supported by the National Physical Education Committee. 42-form taiji sword is a competition routine which is set up by the Wushu Research Institute of the former National Sports Committee.

Sword play is brisk, agile, elegant, easy, graceful and natural in action. The movements are flexible, as well as variable. Attention is paid to both motion and stillness. Hardness and suppleness supplement each other. So sword play is likened to the "flying phoenix."

The sword is called the "gentleman of all weapons." It is the most widely used of all weapons and its influence goes beyond the field of Wushu. Every school of wushu uses the sword as the basic weapon for rigorous training.

Like taijiquan, taiji sword play contains both gentle and vigorous movements, proceeding from the principles of "combining vigor and gentleness" and "subduing the hard with the soft." This can be explained from the ancient philosophical view of taiji, which holds that there are two aspects to everything - the positive and the negative.

There are many techniques in sword play. The main techniques include hitting, piercing, pointing, lifting, jumping and leaping, hanging, chopping, floating, poking, sweeping, wrestling, blocking andwipingg. These actions, combined with body movements and footsteps, form various of sword play. There are varied styles of sword play routines, handed down from ancient times. The popular ones include taiji, wudang, bodhi-dharma, longxing, lianhuan, sancai, qingping, baxian, mantis, drunkard and xingyi. The Chinese Physical Culture and Sports Commission has also worked out new routines for competition and physical exercises.