Taijiquan or Tai Chi Chuan? What’s the Difference?

If you have been reading about the Daoist martial arts you may have noticed these different names but what is the difference? In fact there is no difference at all, these are two different translations of the same Chinese name. The older version “Tai Chi Chuan” is from the Wade-Giles romanization system of Mandarin Chinese created in the 19th Century. “Taijiquan” is the newer way of writing the same Chinese characters in the modern official system of Hanyu Pinyin. Despite this being the official system the older one continues to be used and is often still more recognizable than the official system! I have made the decision to use the modern official system even though I am personally more familiar with the older one. In the spirit of accepting change I will do my best to keep to the Pinyin but no guarantees I won’t still slip up from time to time!

David Allen Smith

-Founder, Snake and Crane