Hsu Chih Yi: The Accountant Who Explained Tai Chi with Science

Hsu Chih Yi (1892–1968), born Xu Chengji in Yuyao, Zhejiang, was the least likely-looking martial artist among Wu Chien Chuan’s (1870–1942) disciples: an economics graduate, a certified public accountant, and general manager of the Great China Match Company. Yet he wrote one of the most important theoretical works in the modernization of tai chi. In September 1927 his An Introduction to Tai Chi Chuan (Taijiquan Qianshuo) was published by the Wenhua Book Printing Company — the first book to interpret tai chi systematically through psychology, physiology, and mechanics, standing alongside Chen Xin’s Illustrated Tai Chi Chuan and Hsu Yu Sheng’s Tai Chi Chuan With Diagrams as the three great theoretical achievements of tai chi’s modern era (1912–1948). Decades later, the revised Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan he oversaw sold more than 300,000 copies — a milestone in the popularization of Wu Style that no other work has matched.

Key Facts

Name: Hsu Chih Yi (Xu Zhiyi, 1892–1968), original name Xu Chengji, from Yuyao, Zhejiang
Profession: economics graduate of the Peking School of Law and Political Science (1913), certified public accountant, executive of the Great China Match Company — not a lawyer, despite the school’s name
Lineage: began studying under Wu Chien Chuan around 1917, formally admitted as disciple in 1920; with Wu Tu Nan he formed the “two gates” of Wu Chien Chuan
Major works: An Introduction to Tai Chi Chuan (1927), Tai Chi Chuan (Wu Chien Chuan Style) (1958), Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan (retitled, 1964 revision)
Core contribution: the first scientific explanation of tai chi (psychology, physiology, mechanics); standardization and popularization of Wu Style
Notable students: Gu Liuxin, Bai Yuxi, Sun Nanxin, Wu Shuqing

From the Audit Court to the Match Company

Hsu’s scientific habit of mind came from systematic training in economics and auditing — precisely what later equipped him to examine tai chi with the eye of an auditor.

1910: admitted to the Qing Finance School to study economics; in 1912 it merged into the Peking School of Law and Political Science, from which he graduated in the economics program in 1913, aged twenty-two;
1913–1914: clerk in the Jiangsu Provincial Audit Branch of the Republic’s Audit Office; 1916: transferred to the Audit Court in Beijing — the same year he and colleague Lu Yinfu began practicing external martial arts together;
Summer 1927: moved to Shanghai as secretary at the Shanghai Cement Company; 1932: general manager of the Great China Match Company; in the 1930s also a director of the Huadong Coal Mine and Shanghai Cement Company;
He was a certified public accountant — he briefly deregistered in 1935 (too many concurrent posts) and re-registered in August 1936 (office at 33 Sichuan Road, Shanghai); in November 1948 he was elected to the council of the national Federation of Industries.

The word “law” in his school’s name has misled later writers into calling him a lawyer. In fact his career was accounting, auditing, and business management. A man who spent his days with ledgers and audits examined every line of the tai chi classics the way he examined a balance sheet — that is the intellectual signature of An Introduction to Tai Chi Chuan.

Studying Under Wu Chien Chuan: 1917 Beginner, 1920 Disciple

Two starting dates circulate for Hsu’s tai chi study: 1917 or 1920. Laid out on a timeline, both turn out to be true:

1916: while at the Audit Court he began external martial arts with Lu Yinfu; that year the Beijing Physical Education Training Institute opened, with Wu Chien Chuan among its teachers;
Around 1917: he began learning tai chi from Wu Chien Chuan as a student;
1920: formally admitted as Wu Chien Chuan’s disciple.

This reconciles with his own words: in the editorial preface to An Introduction to Tai Chi Chuan he wrote, “I have studied tai chi chuan under Mr. Wu Chien Chuan for close on ten years… the benefit has been considerable.” Counting back ten years from 1927 lands at 1917.

Contemporaries called Wu Tu Nan and Hsu Chih Yi the “two gates” of Wu Chien Chuan: anyone who came to test skills had to get past Wu and Hsu first. Chu Minyi’s tribute is oft-quoted: “Mr. Hsu is of average build, with far less strength than I; I assumed he was no match for me. Yet whenever we pushed hands, the moment I was careless I found myself jolted off my feet and flung a full ten feet away. His attainment is plain to see.” The martial scholar Chang Yi Shang wrote: “Of Wu Chien Chuan’s disciples, Hsu Chih Yi is the most famous… his book is better than all other tai chi works — he truly knew the real flavor of tai chi.”

The 1927 Book: Science Meets the Classics

An Introduction to Tai Chi Chuan was published in September 1927 (a few sources say 1929, likely conflating a later reprint; this article follows 1927, corroborated by the author’s own “ten years of study” statement and multiple independent records). The title page bears the calligraphy of Chuang Yun Kuan, Qing-era juror and first curator of the Palace Museum Library; prefaces came from Hu Weide, Zhou Yichun (president of Tsinghua), Huang Zhonghui, and Lu Hongji; sixteen photographs of the author pushing hands face the title page.

Across nine chapters, the heart of the book is three “scientific dimensions”:

Psychology: “command the qi with the mind, move the body with the qi” is grounded entirely in psychological action — the power of focused intent can govern physiological processes;
Physiology: technical requirements explained through anatomy — “suspend the crown” corresponds to the cerebral cortex and nerve centers; “contain the chest, raise the back” to a relaxed waist and centered tailbone; “sink shoulders, drop elbows” to extended fingers and prominent palms; the book also preserves the earliest written record of the “Three-Line Stance” (Chuan-tzu step);
Mechanics: five principles of physics for martial application — Newton’s laws of motion, the principle of combined forces, reaction forces, opposing forces, and center of gravity — yielding four tactical maxims: stillness overcomes motion, softness overcomes hardness, the small defeats the large (“no great strength is needed; the opponent simply falls”), and yield to avoid harm.

Before Hsu, tai chi theory spoke in classics, songs, and yin-yang cosmology. After Hsu, tai chi possessed a scientific narrative the modern educational system could accept.

Teaching for Free: Never a Professional

In the winter of 1927 Hsu became tai chi instructor at the Chin Woo Athletic Association in Shanghai. After three months on salary he switched to teaching entirely for free, giving early-morning and evening classes for over three years — and for the rest of his life he “never earned his living from teaching.” That was his greatest difference from professional teachers: the art was cultivation and scholarship, not a trade.

His sports administration posts were equally distinguished: Ministry of Education Physical Education Committee (1932), deputy chief judge of the Shanghai Games martial arts contest (1933), vice-president of the China Athletic Association and Chin Woo councilor (1934), Chin Woo chairman (1937), chairman of the Shanghai Martial Arts Union (1950), chief judge of the national traditional sports meet (1953), chief referee of the national wushu evaluation meet (1957), member of the first and second Chinese Wushu Association councils (1958/1964), and first vice-president of the Beijing Wushu Association.

Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan: 300,000 Copies

Hsu’s other landmark was turning Wu Style into a standard textbook:

July 1958: Tai Chi Chuan (Wu Chien Chuan Style) published by the People’s Sports Press (volume four of the Tai Chi Chuan Series), with photographs of Wu Chien Chuan and Daoist Chao Shou-cun, supplemented by photos of Hsu himself — the moment Wu Style was confirmed as an independent school in national publication;
1961: second printing, with an errata sheet;
1963: retitled Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan from the third printing, now with hand-drawn illustrations by Zhou Yuanlong and Gu Liuxin’s introduction;
August 1964: fifth printing — Hsu presided over the revision of the form and its definitive naming, the landmark of Wu Style standardization;
By the ninth printing in 1988, cumulative sales exceeded 300,000 copies — an astonishing figure for a martial arts book, and the foundation of Wu Style’s popularity across China.

In 1964 his articles in the Sports Gazette on the “silk-reeling force” debate (and his reply to Luo Jihong) sparked a nationwide scholarly controversy. His position was consistent: the core of tai chi is circular turning, and Chen style’s silk-reeling concept should not be imposed on every school. The full debate, including the Chen Style counter-position, is told in Chen Style vs Wu Style: From Silk-Reeling to Softening.

One more family story: his son Hsu Yi Chuang (1924–1993) became a Tsinghua University professor and a leading authority in Chinese optics. The father audited tai chi theory with numbers; the son parsed light with physics — two generations of a family standing on science.

Timeline

1892: born in Yuyao, Zhejiang; raised in Shanghai
1910: enters the Qing Finance School to study economics
1913: graduates in economics, Peking School of Law and Political Science
1913–1916: serves in the Jiangsu Audit Branch and Audit Court
1916: begins external martial arts with Lu Yinfu; Beijing Physical Education Training Institute opens
c. 1917: begins learning tai chi from Wu Chien Chuan
1920: formally admitted as Wu Chien Chuan’s disciple
September 1927: An Introduction to Tai Chi Chuan published; that winter becomes Chin Woo instructor, free classes for three years after three paid months
1932: general manager of the Great China Match Company; Ministry of Education PE Committee member
1937: chairman of the Shanghai Chin Woo Athletic Association
1950: chairman of the Shanghai Martial Arts Union
1953 / 1957: national chief judge and chief referee
July 1958: Tai Chi Chuan (Wu Chien Chuan Style) published
1963–1964: retitled Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan; presides over form revision and naming
1964: launches the silk-reeling force debate
1968: dies, aged seventy-seven