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Yang Shao-Hou
1862-1930
(brother of Yang Cheng-Fu)
Yong Nian Village, Hebei Province
Grand Master Yang Shao-Hou was the oldest son of Yang Jian-Hou. He learned Tai Chi Chuan from his grand father Yang Lu-Chang, his father Yang Jian-Hou and his uncle Yang Ban-Hou.
Since 1902 both Yang Shao-Hou and his brother Yang Chen-Fu became assistants to his father’s. In 1912, Yang Shao-Hou was hired by Xu Yu-Sheng to teach Tai Chi Chuan at the Beijing Sport Institute and through these efforts he became a professional Tai Chi Chuan master. During 1902 and 1928, Yang Shao-Hou worked part-time as body guard and had also taught in Shanghai, Hangzhou, and Nanjing. Most his teaching was done in Beijing. It was in this period that Yang Shao-Hou was referred to as ‘The First Tai Chi Chuan Person’ due to his high level of expertise in Tai Chi Chuan.
Yang Shao-Hou was very assertive teacher and was fond of explaining Tai Chi with san shou (a type of sparring) examples. During his training, he would strike immediately and heavily. The main characteristic of Yang Shao-Hou’s san shou was to strike without waiting for an attack thus surprising his opponents. Very often when Yang Shao-Hou’s was teaching, a deep, not too hard sounding thud could be heard. This was Yang Shao-Hou throwing his opponent a few meters. His fa jin was crisp; both elastic and shocking.
It was at this time that the only people who afford to learn Tai Chi Chuan were the wealthy and most of Yang Shao-Hou’s students could not bear the harshness of his teachings. Although the Tai Chi Chuan of Yang Shao-Hou was very good, he was not well liked. His hard way of teaching is why he had very few students, which is the opposite case when compared to his brother Yang Cheng-Fu.
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2008