Hao and Yang taichi

[dre_doggX]

What are the main differences between the two styles

[bob10]

IME the Hao style is very close to the Yang small frame fast set. There are also some similarities with the Sun form (didn't Sun Lutang study with the Hao's?).

From what I can remember it is also pretty much the same posture sequence as large / medium frame.

[GLW]

Sun's Taijiquan is a combination of Wu/Hao style with Bagua and Xingyi. Sun Lutang was a master of Bagua and Xingyi before learning Taijiquan from Hao Weizhen.

Differences...Stepping is a big one. The stances are almost not there with Hao style. Hao approaches a formlessness while Yang style has a very definite structure.

Hao is definitely small frame. The spirit when you do them is different as well.

Sun's is also different. for example, Yang's style has a stateliness to it. If you try to imagine yourself being big and spehrical (like Yang Chengfu...:) ), and moving very deliberately and in some ways leisurely and proud...these are flavors that can be there in Yang's. In Sun, a playfulness and even an arrogance with the stepping...and a twining and evasiveness can come out...

If you try to do Sun with the same mindset as Yang, it doesn't seem to fit. With Yang, the Sun mindset doesn't fit. Hao, that has its own. They are ALL Taijiquan but each has its own flavor and personality.

[bob10]

Yang Cheng Fu was largely known for the large frame form, as you say it is almost "stately" in its pace. However the Yang small frame is very much in the same vein as Hao. I did have some video clips of the small frame, I'll see if I can dig them up again.

[dre_doggX]

I would like to see the Hao style.

[GLW]

Considering that Wu/Hao was from Wu Yuxiang (spelling???) and tied back to Yang Luchan and then back to the Chen, the surprising thing to me about it is that it does NOT look like a combination of Yang with Chen or Zhao Bao...as one might expect....instead, it is nearly formless in some aspects.

A gentleman out of Canada, Y.C. Tong, sells several tapes of a number of famous grandmasters performing (Fu Zhongwen, Gu Luxin, Wu Yinghua, Mah Yueliang, Pu Bingru, one man doing Wu/Hao, and one doing Sun style). They are pricey, no sound, and obviously transfers from film...but for historical value and for a collector, darn near priceless.