I've begun to take an interest in Tai Chi and have been doing (a little) reading. I've also seen the name "Taiji". My question is: "What is the difference?" Thanks.
Hi TT, As far as I know (and please forgive me as I speak with very limited knowledge being very new to IMA) they are both the same. I have read in many places people using the term Taijiquan and then putting (Tai Chi) in brackets like this directly afterwards. Have a read through the threads here and under the Internal Martial Arts section and you will dig out some very helpful info. There is a lot of book titles mentioned under a thread on page 2 i started a while ago, something like Question about Tai Chi. One member here called Syd is really helpful and has a lot of knowledge about material (I believe he worked in a book shop for a while?) so if you have questions I would say he is a good person to speak with. As for the interest in Tai Chi, this is great to hear I can wholeheartedly recommend that you look into starting. Just take your time to research a bit and find a good teacher who will be able to lead you down your chosen path.
Shade, Thanks for the info (you too, johndoch ). I train in a rural area, so there aren't too many places to train, but there is a 3rd Dan Taekwondo Black Belt that I train with who has (also) been training in Tai Chi. She is now offering a 6-week beginners course (which will turn into an ongoing class) in Tai Chi. (Please forgive me if I mispell anything, this is all new to me). She is teaching Yang style, and starting with the Chen form. I have started this beginners class out of curiosity. I have only been to 2 classes so far, but I enjoy it immensely. I just registered on the forum recently, so I am gradually searching older posts (lots of great info!).
as afore-mentioned it just spelt differently.. there is no clear-cut spelling of chinese characters into english.. sometimes chang-san feng's name is spelt zhangsan feng... same with taiji and tai chi
It's just the spelling - there's no difference. Personally, I prefer taiji. The term Tai Chi has been *******ized in the West so that now most people think of it as a flowery health exercise. I use 'Taiji' instead to try to disassociate what I practice from the 'normal' perception of the art (also, it looks a bit cooler).
It's just a different dialect. Like kung fu vs gong fu. I personally have no problems with people thinking tai chi is just something that I do for relaxing...
It's something along the lines of mixtures between the wade/gilles and Pin Yin anglicized versions. You see it allover the place such as... Hsing I = Xing Yi Baguazhang = Pakuachang Tai Chi Chuan = Taijiquan Whats worse is when you get mixtures of the two like... Hsing Yi Pakuazhang Taijichuan...urgghhhh Keep in mind the different anglicized spellings of Mandarin and Cantonese names for these arts... Dim Mak = Cantonese Dian Mai = Mandarin You get the idea... mix em all up and you've got a big ball of confusion for newcomers.
Ooooh, I hate it when people mix 'em. I personally prefer the one where it is qigong, tajiquan, etc. (Pin yin? I can never remember.) Anyone else prefer one to the other?
Guys I have enough to worry about right now with where do my hands and feet go, let alone what all these names mean And do you pronounce Taiji like it looks (i.e. Tie G) ? If so tht sounds good to me
Syd has said it all,there have been numerous romanized styles to express Chinese dialects.Given that the PRC are firmly in charge the choosen style is the PRC Pinyin derived from the Russian phonetics.Ofcause its better if you can just type or write the characters. So in Pinyin Taijiquan Baguazhang Xingyiquan Qigong Yiquan Man zou,bie zhaoji Man man lai!
