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Southern Shaolin Taizu Chang Quan – Grand Ancestor of all Shaolin Boxing(Excerpt from an article written by Salvatore Canzonieri and published in Shaolin Kung Fu Tai Chi Magazine, May-June 2010)There is much controversy surrounding the origin of Shaolin Taizu Chang Quan – 少林 太祖 长拳. People from China ‘s Henan ( 河南 ) area believe that Taizu Chang Quan was developed in the early Song ( 宋) Dynasty era, under the sponsorship of first emperor Zhao Kuangyin – 趙匡胤. Others believe it was developed during the Ming ( 明 ) dynasty era and is only named ‘Taizu’- 太祖 in honor of either the Song Emperor or even the first Ming Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang – 朱元璋 , who was known as Ming Taizu – 明太祖 and also as ‘Hong Wu’ – 洪武 .There is much similarity between the Taizu Chang Quan set and Tongbi / Tongbei Quan – 通臂 / 通背拳 and also Taiji Quan – 太極拳, including whole sequences of matching movements and postures from routines. The Taizu Chang Quan style is characterized by powerful strikes and movements, body shaking, being structurally aligned, postures flowing with coordinated footwork, being very firm and stable both in standing and stepping and is effective in evading, grappling, joint locking, and takedowns. All of which are present in Chen style ( 陳氏 ) Taijiquan today. It is known that Chen Youben ( 陳有本 ) redeveloped Chen Wangting’s ( 陈王庭 ) original version of their family art by merging it with material from this Taizu Chang Quan style.Video:The video demonstrations are performed by Mr. Lin Jin and contains a mix of Chinese and English narration… really rough English translations, but good enough to follow.Enjoy!