The Origin of the First Combined Forms

After the creation of The 24 Forms (the most popular Forms in the world, created by 4 Chinese experts in order to popularize Tai Chi), &  for the purposes of demonstration. In 1976, the Combined 48 Form was created by three Tai Chi experts headed by Professor Men Hui Feng. The Combined Forms were created based on combining and condensing classical Forms of the four major styles, namely Chen, Yang, Wu and Sun. 

Origin of the 42 Forms

Tai Chi has become more popular and competitions flourish, especially within China. In the late nineteen eighties, the Chinese Sports Committee standardized competition Forms. It had chosen the four major styles and combined Forms. These five sets of Forms were created by different teams of experts, and later approved by a committee of Tai Chi experts in China. All sets of Forms thus created were named after their style, e.g., the Chen Style National Competition Forms is the 56 Forms, and so on. The combined Forms are The 42 Forms or simply the Competition Forms, as it is known in China.  In  1990, the 11th Asian Games were held in Beijing, China. For the first time in the history of the Asian Games, martial arts was included as an item for competition. The 42 Forms is the only Form being chosen to represent Tai Chi. This set will be the official Form in the year 2008 Olympics Games. This form is based on all four Tai Chi styles. The 42 Forms is that it is a condensed version of The 48 Forms, and is based mainly on The 48 Forms. One of the main differences is that where are three repetitions in The 48 Forms, The 42 Forms has only two repetitions.  

It starts with Form 2 Grasp Sparrows Tail immediately after the Form 1 Commencing Form. The second section starts with the Sun style's Form 11 Opening and Closing, not only is this the most characteristic movement of the Sun style, it also signifies the importance of Qigong within the set. Near the end of this section, the first climax appears with the Form 17 Cover with Hand and Punch with Fist and Forms 18 Parting Wild Horse's Mane from the more vigorous Chen style.  Section 3 starts with Form 19 Waving Hands Like Clouds, a slower and easier movement to break up the intensity, then to more difficult movements to prepare for the next. The second climax starts with the fourth section by the movements such as Form 32 Body Thrust with half Horse Stance, Form 33 Turn Body with Full Roll-Back and Forms 34 Hold and Punch in Crossed Squatting Stance. Then logically the winding down comes in to finished off with another Form 40 S Grasp Sparrows Tail on the other side.

Form 11 Opening and Closing of Hands, Forms 12 Single Whip, Forms 14 Turn Body and Push Palm are Sun style. They are characterized by flowing movement like water in a stream, much Qigong (Chi Gong) practice such as Form 11, and whenever one foot stepping forward or backward the other foot follows. Practitioners of Yang style will notice the significant difference of Form 12 in Sun and the Yang styles.

Form 17 Cover with Hand and Punch with Fist, Form 18 Parting Wild Horse’s Mane and Form 32 Body Thrust with Half Horse Stance are Chen Style. Chen is characterized by being more vigorous, containing attacking movements and more obvious self defense application. Punching movements are abundant in Chen style and Form 17 is a typical example of them.

Forms 20 Step Back to Subdue Tiger, Forms 21 Kicking with Toes Forward, Form 34 Hold and Punch in Crossed Squatting Stance and Forms 35 Thread Palm and Lowering Movements are Wu style, which is characterized by close to body movements and agile steps.

While the competition time limit is 6 minutes, which does not allow a fuller expression of slowness with inner force, for normal practice it is recommended to do the Forms from 6 to 10 minutes.

http://www.taiji.de/taiji/head5_6/42-form.mpg

http://mediatheek.thinkquest.nl/~lla067/media/movies/taichi/42form.mpg