Editing Tai chi (section)

== Etymology ==
The name "tai chi", the most common English spelling, is not a standard [[Romanization of Chinese|romanization]] of the Chinese name for the art ({{lang-zh|s=太极拳|t=太極拳|l=[[Taiji (philosophy)|Taiji]] boxing|links=no}}). The Chinese name was first commonly written in English using the [[Wade–Giles]] system as "{{tlit|zh|t{{wg-apos}}ai chi ch{{wg-apos}}üan}}". But English speakers abbreviated it to "{{tlit|zh|t{{wg-apos}}ai chi}}" and dropped the mark of aspiration. Since the late twentieth century, [[pinyin]] has been officially adopted in China and replaced Wade–Giles as the most popular system for romanizing Chinese. In pinyin, tai chi is spelled {{tlit|zh|pinyin|tàijíquán}}.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bacher |first=Bob |date=2022 |title=Tai Chi? T'ai Chi? or Taiji? |url=https://dochenstyletaichi.com/tai-chi-chuan-tai-chi-chuan-taijiquan/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230628062017/https://dochenstyletaichi.com/tai-chi-chuan-tai-chi-chuan-taijiquan/ |archive-date=28 June 2023 |access-date=28 June 2023 |website=Wang Xi'an Taiji International}}</ref><ref name="fox">{{Cite news |last=Margalit Fox |date=14 January 2017 |title=Zhou Youguang, Who Made Writing Chinese as Simple as ABC, Dies at 111 |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/world/asia/zhou-youguang-who-made-writing-chinese-as-simple-as-abc-dies-at-111.html |url-status=live |access-date=28 June 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170120191947/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/14/world/asia/zhou-youguang-who-made-writing-chinese-as-simple-as-abc-dies-at-111.html?smprod=nytcore-iphone&smid=nytcore-iphone-share&_r=1 |archive-date=20 January 2017}}</ref> In English, tai chi is sometimes referred to as "[[shadowboxing]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last=Defoort |first=Carine |date=2001 |title=Is There Such a Thing as Chinese Philosophy Arguments of an Implicit Debate |url=https://lirias.kuleuven.be/handle/123456789/538453 |journal=Philosophy East and West |volume=51 |issue=3 |page=404 |doi=10.1353/pew.2001.0039 |s2cid=54844585 |quote=Just as Shadowboxing (taijiquan) is having success in the West|url-access=subscription }}{{pb}}{{cite news |last= |first= |date=2010-06-17 |title=Wudang Martial Arts |newspaper=[[China Daily]] |url=https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/m/hubei/2010-06/17/content_9985740. |quote=Wudang boxing includes boxing varieties such as Taiji (shadowboxing)}}{{pb}}{{Cite book |last=Bai Shuping (白淑萍) |title=Taiji Quan (Shadow Boxing), Bilingual English-Chinese |date=2009 |publisher=Beijing University Press |isbn=9787301053911 |translator-last=Luo Bin (罗斌)}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" width="auto" style="text-align: center; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"
|-
! [[Chinese Characters|Characters]] !! [[Wade–Giles]] !! [[Pinyin]] !! Meaning
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{linktext|lang=zh|太極}}||t{{wg-apos}}ai chi|| tàijí|| {{tlit|zh|pinyin|[[Taiji (philosophy)|Taiji]]}}, the cosmological relationship of Yin and Yang
|- style="text-align:center;"
| {{linktext|lang=zh|拳}}|| ch{{wg-apos}}üan || quán || fist, or boxing
|}

The etymology of tai chi's Chinese name is somewhat uncertain because of the lack of a record of spoken usage. Before the mid-nineteenth century, it appears that outsiders generically described the art as {{zhp|p=zhanquan|c=沾拳|tr=touch boxing}}, "Long Boxing"({{lang|zh|長拳}}),{{refn|group=note|"Long" as in "Continuous"; not to be confused with the external martial art also known as Long Fist or [[Changquan]].}} {{tlit|zh|pinyin|[[mianquan]]}} {{citation needed span|date=July 2023|1=("Soft/Cotton/Neutralizing Boxing"; {{lang|zh|軟/棉/化拳}})}} or {{zhp|p=shisan shi|c=十三式|tr=the thirteen techniques}}.<ref name="egreenway">{{Cite web |last=Michael P. Garofalo |date=2021 |title=Thirteen Postures of Taijiquan |url=http://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/powers13.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230416140636/https://www.egreenway.com/taichichuan/powers13.htm |archive-date=2023-04-16 |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=Cloud Hands blog}}</ref> In the mid-nineteenth century, the art began to be associated with the philosophy of {{tlit|zh|pinyin|[[Taiji (philosophy)|taiji]]}} (see [[#Philosophical background|Conceptual background]]).<ref name=":0" /> This association may have originated in the [[Wu (Hao)-style tai chi#TJQC|writings of the founders of Wu (Hao)-style tai chi]], perhaps inspired by a tai chi classic attributed to the semi-mythical [[Wang Zongyue]] that begins with the words "{{tlit|zh|pinyin|[[Taiji (philosophy)|Taiji]]}} is born from {{tlit|zh|pinyin|[[Wuji (philosophy)|Wuji]]}}; it is the mother of [[Yin and Yang]]".{{refn|group=note|Original text: {{lang|zh|太極者. 無極而生. 陰陽之母也.}}<ref>{{Citation |last=Wang Zongyue (attributed) |title=[[:zh:s:太極拳經|Taijiquan Jing]] |script-title=zh:太極拳經 |author-link=Wang Zongyue}}</ref>}} However, as the Wu (Hao) founders had no financial need to promote their art, their contributions to the "tai chi classics" were not distributed widely for many years. The first public association between {{tlit|zh|pinyin|taiji}} and the art was a poem by Imperial Court scholar [[Weng Tonghe]] describing a tai chi performance by [[Yang Luchan]].<ref name="Davis2004-3840">Davis 2004, p. 38-40</ref><ref>Wile 1996, p. 20</ref><ref name="LJQ37">Li Jianqing, p. 37-38</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Yang Zhenji ({{lang|zh|杨振基}}) |title=Yang Chengfu Style Taijiquan |date=1993 |publisher={{lang|zh|广西民族出版社}} (Guangxi Minzu Publishing) |isbn=7-5363-1984-3 |at={{lang|zh|前言}} (Introduction) |script-title=zh:杨澄甫式太极拳}}</ref> It is not clear whether Weng was making a new connection or whether the new name was already in use. Written evidence for the Yang family's adoption of the name {{tlit|zh|pinyin|taiji}} first appeared in a later text, possibly completed in 1875 by Yang Luchan's son, [[Yang Banhou]], or no later than the first decade of the twentieth century by one or more of Yang Banhou's disciples.{{sfn|Davis|2004|loc=3840}}<ref name="YBH1875">Yang Banhou 1875</ref>{{sfn|Wile|1996|pp=57–89, 135–153}}<ref name="LJQ37" /> By the second decade of the twentieth century, [[Yang Chengfu]]'s disciples and [[Sun Lutang]] were using the term {{tlit|zh|pinyin|taijiquan}} in their publications, including in the titles of some of the tai chi classics. It then appeared in a book by a Chen family member, Chen Xin, published after he died in 1929.<ref name="Davis2004-3840" /><ref name="SLT1921">Sun Lutang 1921</ref>