For 150 years, Tai Chi was a Chen family secret — no outsider was taught, no outsider was allowed to watch. Then came Yang Luchan.
In the early 1800s, he arrived in Chen Village from Hebei Province and somehow convinced Chen Changxing to accept him. He trained for 18 years.
When he finally left, he was a master. His technique was described as "cotton in iron" — impossibly soft on the surface, devastatingly powerful beneath.
In 1850, he was recruited to teach the Palace Battalion Imperial Guards protecting the Qing Emperor. Overnight, Tai Chi went from a village secret to the practice of China's ruling class.
Yang-style Tai Chi, descended from his teaching, is now the most practiced martial art on Earth.