Wu Kung-i

Wu Kung-i also known as Wu Kung-yi or Wu Gongyi (吳公儀 1900-1970), was a well known teacher of the soft style martial art known as T'ai Chi Ch'uan in China, and, after 1949, in the British colony of Hong Kong. He was also the "gate-keeper" of the Wu family from 1942 until his death in 1970.

Wu Kung-i was the grandson of the founder of Wu style T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Wu Ch'uan-yü (吳全佑, 1834-1902). Wu Ch'uan-yü was taught T'ai Chi Ch'uan by Yang Lu-ch'an (楊露禪 1799-1872), starting in 1850. Wu Ch'uan-yü eventually became the senior disciple of Yang's son, Yang Pan-hou (楊班侯 1837-1890), and was given permission by the Yangs to teach his own students in 1870. Wu Ch'uan-yü's son, Wu Chien-ch'üan (吳鑑泉 1870-1942), became the best known teacher in his family, and is therefore also considered the co-founder of the Wu style. Wu Kung-i was his eldest son. Wu Kung-i's younger brother and sister, Wu Kung-tsao (吳公藻 1903-1983) and Wu Ying-hua (吳英華 1906-1996), were also well known teachers. The Wu family were originally of Manchu ancestry.

There was an old tradition in the Chinese martial arts that youngsters be taught by teachers of a generation older than their parents'. Since Wu Ch'uan-yü had died while Wu Kung-i was an infant, he and his brother were taught as young men by Yang Shao-hou (楊少侯 1862-1930), who was technically a generation senior to their father. Both Yang Shao-hou and Wu Chien-ch'üan were famous for their "small circle" martial expertise. The motions of T'ai Chi forms and pushing hands are all based on different sized circles, small circle movements in the forms and applications follow a more compact pathway for different leverage applications than larger circles.

After the fall of the Ch'ing dynasty in 1912, a new teaching environment was created. More people became aware of T'ai Chi, and the former dynamic of small classes and intensive military instruction of relatively young students became less practical. Wu Kung-i responded to the new demands of larger class sizes and older beginning level students by changing some aspects of the beginning level hand forms he taught. His modifications of the "square" forms he had learned from his father and the slightly different form he learned from Yang Shao-hou, distinguished by clear sectional instructions for each move in the form sequence, more compact "small circle" movements in the body and somewhat higher stances with the feet relatively closer together than in other styles of T'ai Chi. Wu also formulated new styles of pushing hands based on smaller circles, most notably the "four corner" method of basic pushing hands.

Wu Kung-i's children were also full time T'ai Chi teachers; his oldest son Wu Ta-kuei (吳大揆 1923-1972), his second son, Wu Ta-ch'i (吳大齊 1926-1993) and his daughter, Wu Yan-hsia (吳雁霞 1930-2001).

In 1953, the fifty three year old Wu was publicly challenged by to a fight by the thirty-something Tibetan White Crane stylist Ch'en K'e-fu (陈克夫). The contest was arranged and fought in Macau in January, 1954. The ring was set up as if for a Western boxing match, and there were many rules prohibiting various techniques being used by the fighters; kicks, throws or joint locks, for example. The contest lasted not quite two rounds. During the second round, the judges ended the fight, declaring the contest a draw. This was done to ensure that there was no loss of face to either party. Both Wu and Ch'en invited the opposing sides to celebratory banquets. The contest was reported in detail by the media of the day, and resulted in many new students for the Wu family school, including a martial art teaching contract for Wu Ta-kuei from the Kowloon police.

Family tree
This family tree is not comprehensive.

LEGENDARY FIGURES | Zhang Sanfeng* circa 12th century NEI CHIA | Wang Zongyue* T'AI CHI CH'ÜAN | THE 5 MAJOR CLASSICAL FAMILY STYLES | Chen Wangting 1600-1680 9th generation Chen CHEN STYLE |   +---+    |                                                                   | Chen Changxing                                                     Chen Youben 1771-1853 14th generation Chen                                    circa 1800s 14th generation Chen Chen Old Frame                                                    Chen New Frame |                                                                  | Yang Lu-ch'an                                                      Chen Qingping 1799-1872                                                         1795-1868 YANG STYLE                                                         Chen Small Frame, Zhao Bao Frame |                                                                  |    +-+-+   |    |                                 |                             |   | Yang Pan-hou                      Yang Chien-hou                   Wu Yu-hsiang 1837-1892                        1839-1917                        1812-1880 Yang Small Frame                     |                             WU/HAO STYLE |                                +-+                      |    |                                 |                 |                      | Wu Ch'uan-yü                      Yang Shao-hou     Yang Ch'eng-fu          Li I-yü 1834-1902                        1862-1930         1883-1936               1832-1892    |                              Yang Small Frame  Yang Big Frame            | Wu Chien-ch'üan                                       |                    Hao Wei-chen 1870-1942                                          Yang Shou-chung         1849-1920 WU STYLE                                           1910-1985                 | 108 Form                                                                     | |                                                                       Sun Lu-t'ang Wu Kung-i                                                                  1861-1932 1900-1970                                                                  SUN STYLE |                                                                         | Wu Ta-kuei                                                                  Sun Hsing-i 1923-1972                                                                  1891-1929

Note to Family tree table

Names denoted by an asterisk are legendary or semilegendary figures in the lineage, which means their involvement in the lineage, while accepted by most of the major schools, isn't independently verifiable from known historical records.