Eighth generation Li Chunmao (1568-1666) studied martial arts with Daoist priest Bogong Wudao in the Thousand Year Temple, wrote the ‘Wuji yangshenggong shisanshi quan’ (Infinity health cultivation thirteen postures boxing), and taught martial arts across several provinces.Douglas Wile, “Fighting Words” pg. 24

Pursuing his research further, in 2004, Li Libing was introduced to Li Lichao, who produced another manuscript that had been hidden in a space above a door lintel in his house. This document is a bona fide martial arts manual, consisting of 14 texts in three parts, the earliest of which is dated 1591 and attributed to Li Chunmao (1568-1666). The titles, texts, and postures are nearly identical to the corpus in the Wu and Yang lineages. If authentic, these manuscripts would be the urtexts of the ‘taijiquan classics’. All the hallmarks of taijiquan as we know it today are there: moving from center, distinguishing full and empty, erect posture, opening the qi channels, softness overcoming hardness, stillness overcoming speed, and four ounces deflecting a thousand pounds.

Examining the various texts in the Li family manual, eighth generation Li Chunmao’s 1591 ‘Wuji yangsheng quanlun’, (Treatise on infinity health cultivation boxing), although containing no martial applications, shows the mature fusion of inner alchemy with qigong and qigong with movement, together with the Confucian dedication to family health and long life. Chunmao’s 1591 ‘Shisanshi lun’ (Treatise on the thirteen postures) downplays inner alchemy, instead emphasizing the movement principles of root in the feet, whole-body integration, and global full and empty potential.

Ninth generation Li Zhong’s (1598-1689) ‘Shisanshi shiming’ (Defining the thirteen postures) uses the trigrams and five phases to analyze the eight hand techniques and five kinds of footwork. Li Zhong’s ‘Shisanshi xinggong xinjie’ (Elucidation of the practice of the thirteen postures) explains the roles of mind, qi, and spirit, using a series of vivid images to illustrate movement qualities: nine bends pearl, tempered steel, silk reeling, folding, mountains and rivers, bows and arrows, wheels and axels, birds and cats.

Twelfth generation Li Helin’s ‘Dashou ge’ (Song of sparring) applies soft style movement principles to self-defense techniques, with such familiar concepts as: following, sticking, neutralizing, emptying, yielding, and four ounces deflecting a thousand pounds. Li Helin is also credited with authoring the ‘Taijiquan lun’, (Treatise on taijiquan), which elaborates the self-defense principles of interpreting energy, sinking the qi, emptying, sensitivity, and avoidance of double-weightedness.Douglas Wile, “Fighting Words” pg. 24, 25