Tai Chi Chuan is a famous form of Chinese martial art. The term "Taiji" means "the Supreme Ultimate" or "Great Pole", and "quan" is the short form for "quan fa" which means "fist techniques" or "boxing" . Thus Tai Chi Chuan is Great Pole Boxing , Supreme Ultimate Boxing or just Tai Chi Boxing. 

Yes. "Taijiquan" is the modern Hanyu Pinyin Romanized Chinese spelling, and "Tai Chi Chuan" the common English spelling. (The Wade-Giles system actually spells it as T'ai Chi Ch'uan). "Taijiquan" is phonetic, whereas "Tai Chi Chuan" may give rise to different pronunciation. Notice that the Romanized Chinese q is pronounced like the English ch'. The "chi" in "Tai Chi Chuan" is different from the "chi" in "chi kung". In the phonetic Romanized Chinese, the former is spelt as "ji", meaning "ultimate", and the latter as "qi", meaning "breath" or "energy".

Strictly speaking, they are different. "Taiji", literally meaning "the grand ultimate", is the cosmos, whereas Tai Chi Chuan is a martial art. The concept of Taiji is found in many Chinese disciplines, such as in Taoism, philosophy, metaphysics, feng shui (the Chinese science of Geomancy) and military strategy. The underlying principle of Taiji is yin-yang, which symbolizes the two complimentary yet opposing aspects of reality, which contain a seed of its opposite.

Nevertheless, many people, especially in the West but also some Chinese themselves, shorten the term Tai Chi Chuan to Taiji. Almost always those who say they "play" Taiji are those who practice a debased form of Tai Chi Chuan without its martial dimension. One may play Taiji, but not Tai Chi Chuan which is a serious martial art demanding great effort and endurance.

This is because both the philosophy and application of this form of martial art are based on the concept of Taiji with its operating principles of yin and yang. Indeed, if you fail to understand the concept of yin-yang, you would have missed the essence of Tai Chi Chuan. For example, if you think that Tai Chi Chuan is only soft and never hard -- a misconception not uncommon amongst many students of Taiji, and symbolized as regarding Tai Chi Chuan as only yin and never yang -- you would probably be doing a Taiji dance rather than Tai Chi Chuan. Understanding yin and yang in itself is not sufficient , it is the understanding of the changes of yin and yang as symbolised by the tai chi symbol that are fundamental to the art.

There was no single founder as Tai Chi Chuan has been developed over many centuries by countless people. From historical records, the earliest mention of the term Taiji in martial arts was made during the Tang Dynasty (618-906) in China. The earliest use of the term Tai Chi Chuan was during the subsequent Later Liang Dynasty (907-923). The master usually credited to institutionalize Tai Chi Chuan as a comprehensive system of martial art was Zhang San Feng who lived towards the end of the Song Dynasty in the 13th century. Zhang San Feng is regarded by many as the First Patriarch -- not the founder -- of Tai Chi Chuan.

Yes. Different styles of Tai Chi Chuan have developed. The oldest known form of Tai Chi Chuan is Wudang Tai Chi Chuan, developed by Zhang San Feng (13th century) at the Wudang Mountain. From this was evolved Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan, and Chen Wang Ting (1600-1680) was its First Patriarch. From Chen Style, Yang Lu Chan (1799-1872) evolved Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan. Combining the best of Chen Style and Yang Style, Wu Yu Xiang (1813-1880) developed Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan. A descendent from the Yang's linage, Wu Chuan You (1834-1902) developed another Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan. These two Wu's are pronounced and written differently in Chinese. Sun Lu Tang (1861-1932) combined elements from Tai Chi Chuan, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan into Sun Style Tai Chi Chuan.

Tai Chi Chuan masters have categorized the benefits of Tai Chi Chuan into three levels.

• good health
• self-defence
• spiritual cultivation

 Practising Tai Chi Chuan is an excellent way to promote physical, emotional and mental health. Some aspects of the training is gentle and graceful with no need for special apparatus. Tai Chi Chuan is a very effective martial art, where physical size and mechanical strength are not necessarily winning factors. However to use it effectively as a martial art one must undergo much more rigorous training than required for health improvement.

Spiritual cultivation was a goal of the early Taoists and they desired to reach an enlightened level of understanding of the Dao through meditation in action and harmonising first their own body, then with others and finally with the universe.

If practiced properly, every movement of Tai Chi Chuan is a training of body, breath and mind. Body, breath (energy) and mind (spirit), known as jing, qi and shen, are the "three treasures" of every person. If any one of these treasures are not in order, he (or she) becomes sick, leading to physical, functional or mental illness. While conventional western medicine separates physical ailments from mental problems, and is often undecided over functional disorders (such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, asthma and cancer), the Chinese approach health care and disease treatment holistically. In Chinese medical philosophy, health and illness belong to the same continuum; health is when the three treasures operate naturally, illness when one or more of them are out of order.  Practicing Tai Chi Chuan promotes good posture and balance thus reducing problems caused by bad posture such as backache , falling over etc. It exercises all the joints and stretches the tendons and ligaments thus having an ameliorative effect on arthritis and other joint problems. It regulates the breathing and the blood flow hand thus reduce the problems of asthma and high/low blood pressure. It reduces stress by consciously causing the practitioner to relax and focus only on the movements they are performing , thus clearing and calming the mind .

Of course, or else it would not be Tai Chi Chuan. Remember Chuan actually means fist (hence Boxing) or martial art. But if you practice only the stylised form, no matter how graceful your form may be or how long you may have practiced it,  it is only an exercise, and will not be effective for self-defence. Its health benefits, although very good, are reduced, because for maximum benefit all aspects of the art must be practiced. Martial practice will increase coordination, balance , perception, strength, stamina, resilience and precision in movement. It gives meaning to the movements in the form and hence enables it to be performed to a higher standard. It is necessary to find a competent instructor who can teach the self-defence aspects as they are not easy to master and require a special type of body conditioning (Nei Kung) to perform effectively. 

However, in practical terms, the first level of attaining good health is applicable to the great majority of Tai Chi Chuan practitioners today. Longevity is altogether another matter. If it means improving the chances of being physically and mentally capable until death then this is the case.

Many of the original practitioners of the art were simple illiterate peasants who practised the art for self protection. They had no pretensions of sagehood yet achieved the highest level of the art through diligence and hard practice. Understanding the theories of Taoist philosophy is a great aid to understanding the art but it is possible to excel without this

There are many misconceptions about this word as it used to mean many different things in different contexts. Chinese is a contextual language and words aquire meaning by the context within which they are put. The term Qi can mean breath, and breathing correctly is an important aspect of Taijiquan. Qi can mean full body power which can only be utilised if the body is relaxed and coordinated, thus creating the concept of stiffness blocking the flow of Qi. Exercise designed to increase Qi are a combination of stretching, relaxation, strengthening and coordination drills that exercise the muscles in a different way from Western Exercise regimes, the aim not being to develop bigger muscles or better body definition but to make the most efficient use of existing muscle. The exercises give the muscles an elastic quality that enables them to also absorb force enabling the practioner to withstand punches and kicks. I have found these exercise to be much tougher than Western exercise regimes and they have associated health benefits due to stress reduction.

There are many schools of thought about the reason for this. One is that Shaolin KungFu was introduced to China by Da Mo, an Indian Buddhist monk, and as such was an external art whereas Taijiquan was created by Zhangsanfeng who was Chinese. My personal observation is that all Martial Arts have external and internal components. The external is what can be seen , the blocks, punches , kicks , evasions etc. The internal is what cannot be seen i.e how is the block administered , how is the force generated for the punch, kick etc. External methods use a large degree of force to block an attack whereas internal methods focus on using minimum force to redirect the attack to the void.Thus to the untrained eye two practictioners who defend themselves with what may look like the same technique could be using completely different approaches. Secondly external methods are used to develop the body to give an external show of power, agility whereas internal methods concentrate on inner development such as sensitivity training , relaxedness, coordination of body movements with breathing , mental calmness and awareness. Since Taijiquan focusses on the internal methods it is termed an Internal Art.
Two key aspects that differentiate Taijiquan from external arts are Rooting , in which we develop our ability to root to the ground , and sticking whereby once we connect with an opponent we do not release until it is all over.

I recently read an article in Combat magazine about choosing a Martial Art which stated that it was uncertain whether the Internal arts (Bagua, Xingyi & Taijiquan) were effective in the short term. This begs the questions as how long is the short term and what is meant by effective. From my own experience I can state that it takes at least a year to understand the fundamentals of any art, another to assimilate the basic principles , and yet another to absorb them so that the usage becomes a reflex action. Of course this is dependent upon both the student, their dedication, how much time they spend practising and studying their art and upon the teacher who can either allow the dedicated student to progress at their own pace or whether he insists that they spend a certain time period just practising with everybody else who are progressing at a much slower rate.

It is thus possible to be effective with Martial applications of Taijiquan after one years training but this would require daily practise of the forms and ancillary exercises plus attendance at at least two classes per week to get the necessary two person practise.

Having said that certain skills do take a long time to develop and as with any Martial Art experience, study, understanding and development of internal strength improve over time. Thus even though practitioners of different levels perform the same technique the advanced practitioner will do so with much greater quality, precision , timing and much less effort.

Mastery is the endeavour of a lifetime, no matter how well you perform a technique there is always room for improvement.

The Black belt is taken as a mark of proficiency in Modern Martial Arts. It denotes a specific level of knowledge and is an indicator of the length of time a person has spent studying their art. Its role is useful in promoting and maintaining standards but can only do so if properly regulated. Modern life being what it is has meant that this system is insufficient for the egos of many and they have to Rank themselves using Dan System and the like. Belts and Rankings do not indicate the level of one's ability only the level of what has been learnt.

Traditionally Taijiquan has no belts or ranking system , you either can do it or you can't. The grading system that my teacher has introduced is to indicate what that person has learnt and can pass on to others correctly it is not an indicator of the ability of a practitioner to use what they have learnt.

Some people concentrate on the forms and their forms are better than mine. I choose to concentrate on the fighting aspect of the art and hence I am better at these aspects.

I have trained for a very long time, I have learnt many things, I can use what I have learnt and I can teach others to use it. Am I a Black Belt ? What do you think ?