# Yang Jun (martial artist)

Yang Jun is a Wushu master who was born in Taiyuan, Shanxi, China in 1968 into the famous Yang family of martial artists. A son of Yang Daofang (adopted by Yang Zhenduo) and a grandson of Yang Zhenduo, he is a direct descendant of Yang Chengfu and of Yang Luchan, the creator of Yang-style tai chi. Yang Jun is a sixth-generation descendant of the Yang family of tai chi, and is the fifth lineage-holder of the style.

## Biography

Master Yang Jun spent his childhood and formative years living with his grandparents. Growing up in a martial arts family, he saw and heard his grandfather training his students. It was in this nurturing environment that he became deeply immersed in his family’s tai chi heritage. Yang Jun began studying and training in the soft style martial art of tai chi at age 5 with his grandfather Yang Zhenduo, who raised him.
Proficient in Hand Form, Sword, Saber, Push Hands, and other forms of the art of the Yang-style of tai chi, Grandmaster Yang Zhenduo prepared him to continue and advance the martial arts tradition of the Yang family.
Since 1986 he has travelled to teach with his grandfather, first inside China and then internationally (to the USA) in 1990. After many years and dozens of seminars around the world, Yang Jun has now become an accomplished martial artist and a teacher in his own right. His forms seamlessly combine softness with hardness, finesse with spirit, and restraint with expression.
In 1989 he graduated with a degree in physical education from Shanxi University, China.
Between 1995 and 1997, Yang Jun served as the Vice President of Operations, Techniques and Training, and since 1997, as First President of the Shanxi Province Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association, which now has over 30,000 members in the province of Shanxi alone. In October 1998 Yang Jun and his grandfather Yang Zhenduo founded the International Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Association in Seattle, Washington, United States, and has served as its President since. In August 1999 he moved to Seattle with his wife Fang Hong (Chinese: 方虹) to establish the International Association there, and in September 1999, he started the Yang Cheng Fu Tai Chi Chuan Center in Seattle's International District (Chinatown).
In 1995 the Chinese Wushu Academy recognized Yang Jun as a famous Wushu master in Shanxi Province. In 1996 he was certified as the highest level national judge and served as the head judge at the 1998 National Tai Chi Competition in China.
Master Yang Jun has been interviewed by several martial arts magazines due to his lifetime expertise in tai chi. As the assistant to his grandfather, he has also appeared in several educational videos, such as Yang Style Taijiquan by Yang Zhenduo and Taijiquan, Sword and Saber (1996), produced by China Sports Publishers. Master Yang Jun has published several educational videos of his own, including Yang Style Taijiquan Form 49 (2001) and Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan Traditional Form (2005).
Yang Jun has a daughter, Yang Yaning (Chinese: 杨雅宁), born in 1992, and a son, Yang (Jason) Yajie (Chinese: 杨雅杰), born in 2002.

## Lineage holder

In July 2009, at the First International Tai Chi Symposium, current lineage holder, Grandmaster Yang Zhenduo, announced that Yang Jun is the fifth lineage-holder of the Traditional Yang-style tai chi.

## Tai chi lineage tree with Yang-style focus

vteYang-style tai chi lineage tree :
Key:NEIJIA
Solid linesDirect teacher-student.
Dot linesPartial influence /taught informally /limited time.TAI CHI
Dash linesIndividual(s) omitted.
Dash crossBranch continues.CHEN-STYLEZhaobao-style
(陈长兴) Chen Changxing 1771–1853 6th gen. Chen Chen Old Frame
(杨露禅) Yang Luchan 1799–1872 YANG-STYLE Guang Ping Yang Yangjia Michuan
(王蘭亭) Wang Lanting 1840–? 2nd gen. Yang(杨健侯) Yang Jianhou 1839–1917 2nd gen. Yang 2nd gen. Yangjia Michuan(杨班侯) Yang Banhou 1837–1892 2nd gen. Yang 2nd gen. Guang Ping Yang Yang Small Frame(武禹襄) Wu Yuxiang 1812–1880 WU (HAO)-STYLEZhaobao He-style
(李瑞东) Li Ruidong]br />1851–1917 Li-style(杨少侯) Yang Shaohou 1862–1930 3rd gen. Yang Yang Small Frame(吴全佑) Wu Quanyou 1834–1902 1st gen. Wu(王矯宇) Wang Jiaoyu 1836–1939 3rd gen. Guang Ping Yang
(杨澄甫) Yang Chengfu 1883–1936 3rd gen. Yang Yang Big Frame(田兆麟) Tian Zhaolin 1891–1960 3rd gen. YangQi Gechen(吴鉴泉) Wu Jianquan 1870–1942 2nd gen. Wu WU-STYLE 108 FormKuo Lien Ying 1895–1984 4th gen. Guang Ping Yang(孙禄堂) Sun Lutang 1861–1932 SUN-STYLE
(褚桂亭) Chu Guiting 1892–1977 4th gen. Yang Beijing form(傅仲文) Fu Zhongwen 1903–1994 4th gen. Yang Beijing form(董英杰) Dong Yingjie 1897–1961 4th gen. Yang(郑曼青) Zheng Manqing 1902–1975 4th gen. Yang Short (37) Form(陈微明) Chen Weiming 1881–1958(杨振铎) Yang Zhenduo 1926-2020 4th gen. Yang(杨振铭) Yang Shouzhong 1910–1985 4th gen. Yang(張欽霖) Zhang Qinlin 1888–1967 3rd gen. Yangjia Michuan(田英嘉) Tian Yingjia 1931–2008 4th gen. YangWudang-style(吴公儀) Wu Gongyi 1900–1970 3rd gen. Wu(吴公藻) Wu Gongzao 1903–1983 3rd gen. Wu
TaiwanU.S.A.
Robert W. Smith 1926–2011(黃性賢) Huang Xingxian 1910–1992Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo b.1927William C. C. Chen b.1935Big Six Tam Gibbs Lou Kleinsmith Ed Young Mort Raphael Maggie Newman Stanley IsraelLittle Seven Victor Chin Y. Y. Chin Jon Gaines Natasha Gorky Fred Lehrman Wolfe Lowenthal Ken VanSickle(杨军) Yang Jun b.1968 6th gen. YangIp Tai Tak 1929–2004 5th gen. YangChu Gin Soon 1932-2019 5th gen. Yang(王延年) Wang Yennien 1914–2008 4th gen. Yangjia Michuan(田邴原) Tian Bingyuan b.? 5th gen. YangYao Guoqing b.? 5th gen. Yang
CHEN-STYLEYANG-STYLEWU-STYLEWU (HAO)-STYLESUN-STYLE :
Note:
This lineage tree is not comprehensive, but depicts those considered the 'gate-keepers' & most recognised individuals in each generation of Yang-style.
Although many styles were passed down to respective descendants of the same family, the lineage focused on is that of the Yang style & not necessarily that of the family. :
Yang-style tai chi lineage :