Wu Jianquan (; 1870-1942) was a famous teacher and founder of the neijia martial art of Wu-style tai chi in late Imperial and early Republican China.
Biography
Wu Jianquan was taught martial arts by his father, Wu Quanyou, a senior student of Yang Luchan, and Yang Banhou.
At the time of the establishment of the Chinese Republic in 1912, China was in turmoil, besieged for many years economically and even militarily by several foreign powers, so Wu Jianquan and his colleagues Yang Shaohou, Yang Chengfu and Sun Lutang promoted the benefits of tai chi training on a national scale. They subsequently offered classes at the Beijing Physical Culture Research Institute to as many people as possible, starting in 1914. It was the first school to provide instruction in the art to the general public. Wu Jianquan was also asked to teach the Eleventh Corps of the new Presidential Bodyguard as well as at the nationally famous Ching Wu martial arts school.
As the focus of tai chi teaching in his time changed from a strictly military art to a discipline made available to the general public, Wu Jianquan modified somewhat the teaching forms he had learned from his father. Wu Jianquan's changes to the initial forms shown to his students included smoothing overt expressions of fa jin, jumps and other abrupt time changes in the training routines in order to make those forms easier for the general public to learn. What he taught has since become known as Wu-style tai chi and is one of the five primary styles practised around the world.