108-form Wu Family Tai Chi Chuan

108-form Wu Family Tai Chi Chuan

The different slow motion solo form training sequences of T'ai Chi Ch'uan are the best known manifestation of T'ai Chi for the general public. In English, they are usually called the hand form or just the form; in Mandarin it is usually called ch'uan: 拳 (in Wade-Giles romanization: ch'üan², in the pinyin system: quán). They are performed slowly by beginners and are said to promote concentration, condition the body and acquaint students with the inventory of motion techniques for more advanced styles of martial arts training. There are also solo weapons forms, as well as much shorter and repetitive sequences to train power generation leverages as a form of ch'i kung. The various forms of Wu-style pushing hands have their own one person drill routines, as well, which fulfil some of the same functions as the power generation drills.