Wu Yuxiang was a scholar from a wealthy and influential family who was a friend of Yang Luchan and financially supported him in his endeavor to study Tai Chi with Chen Chang-Xiang 陈长兴. Upon Yang's return from his studies Yang transferred the knowledge to Wu because of the financial support. Upon the third time Yang returned from study he said he had promised his teacher he could not teach to others, so Wu went to Chen Village try to learn directly. However, Chen Chang-Xiang was too old and referred him to a friend Chen Qing-Ping 陈清平 in the neighboring Zhaobao village. Wu studied for a few months and returned. Wu's older brother on a chance visit to a salt store found a Tai Chi Classic and provided the book to Wu. Wu upon getting the book, he gathered Li Yi-Yu 李亦畬 his nephew to work on combining what is described on the Tai Chi Classic and what he has learned to form the bases for Wu 武 style Tai Chi. Wu and Li spent over 20 years in formulating this new style, that is why it is very different from other style of Tai Chi. Since Wu and Li both are scholars - they have written substantially on what they discovered and published the body of writing on the subject of t'ai chi theory, writings that are considered influential by many other schools not directly associated with his style. Li Yi-yü had a younger brother who was also credited as an author of at least one work on the subject of t'ai chi ch'uan, Li Ch'i-hsüan. It is a little known fact that Wu Yu-xiang also taught Yang Luchan 2nd son Yang Ban-hou 杨班候; which are known for his small frame style that are the hall mark of Wu-Hao Tai chi. Li Yi-yü best student was Hao Weizhen, who brought the Wu-Style Tai Chi outside the village. He taught Li Baoyu, Li Shengduan, Sun Lutang, his son Hao Yueru and others. Sun Lutang after learning from Hao Wei-zhen later created Sun style Tai Chi. Hao Yüeh-ru in turn taught his son Hao Shaoru, so that it is now sometimes known as Wu/Hao or just Hao style t'ai chi ch'uan. Hao Yüeh-ru was teaching in the 1920s, a time when t'ai chi ch'uan was experiencing an initial degree of popularity, and he is known for having smoothed out and standardized the forms he learned from his father in order to more effectively teach large numbers of beginners. Other famous t'ai chi ch'uan teachers, notably Yang Ch'eng-fu, Wu Chien-ch'üan and Wu Kung-i, made similar modifications to their beginning level forms around the same time. Wu Yu-hsiang's t'ai chi ch'uan is a distinctive style with small, subtle movements; highly focused on balance, sensitivity and internal ch'i development. It is a rare style today, especially compared with the other major styles. While there are direct descendants of Li Yi-yü and Li Ch'i-hsüan still teaching in China, there are no longer Hao family members teaching the style. The inheritors to learn under Hao Shaoru currently living are: In addition, Master Dong Zeng Chen has demonstrated some portions of Hao t'ai chi under lineage from Li Baoyu to Dong Yingjie to Dong Hu Ling to Dong Zeng Chen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIPglGJ9CCk Master Dong is part of the Dong/Tung family lineage.
