Sun Style Taijiquan

Teachings in the style of Grandmaster Sun Jianyan, daughter of Sun Lutang

Sun is the most recent of the classical tai chi styles and was developed by Sun Lutang in the first half of the 20th century, based on his wide knowledge of other styles and internal Chinese martial arts. It is characterised by an upright posture and narrower stances, with the back foot often taking a nimble half step up to come closer to the leading one. There is less stress on the knees and hips than with other styles, and for these reasons it is favoured as a more suitable for many people.

Sun Lutang deliberately designed the style to maximise its therapeutic potential, which is why Dr Paul Lam based his well known programmes for arthritis, diabetes, back pain, etc, on selected Sun style moves.

The original classical long form has 97 movements and the more recent competition form 73, and there are also shorter 47 and 13 forms, as well as a number of derived forms such as Dr Lam's.

We teach the original classical style as passed on by Sun Lutang to his daughter Sun Jianyun (孫劍雲; 1913-2003).

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The late David Martin was highly honoured by being accepted as a "bia shi" (formal apprentice) to Sun Jianyan and was requested by her to promote the Traditional 97 Step Sun Tai Chi Chuan Form in the UK. Both Sue Murfin, founder of Camrose Tai Chi, and Carl Bateman, the head of the lineage in the UK, trained with David.