Quote Originally Posted by shootingstar View Post
I did take a course on tai chi ages ago and practiced it briefly. Depending on the type/school of tai chi there is a whole sequence of movements to remember. 108 movements is the minimum...yea that's what you are seeing when you see that group of seniors doing their thing in the park.
You know I almost missed this.

You are mistaken. What you see the senior citizens doing in the park is the 24 form version.

The 108 form version is entirely different.

The 24 form version was developed in 1956 and Tai Chi purists HATE it, they consider it near sacrilegious because it's intended for exercise, flexibility, and a little bit as a form of moving meditation. It was developed to promote health and physical fitness by the communist regime in power at the time and almost totally ignores Tai Chi's origin as a martial art (at least according to the Tai Chi enthusiasts who hate it).

Sometime in the 70's the Chinese government sponsored development of a slightly longer, 48 form version.

That's exactly what I want out of Tai Chi.

There's another 37 form version which I'm pretty sure is a shortened form of the 108 form Yang version. That link someone gave to the Taoist Tai Chi Society is yet another shortened version of the Yang forms.

Tai Chi, even when practiced as a martial art, is extremely organic and there are more different versions out there than you can shake a stick at. I'm sure that's at least part of the reason there's no formal hierarchy like there is in some of the other martial arts.