Most Tai Chi Chuan practitioners are intimately familiar with their particular style of Tai Chi Chuan and have at least heard of the five most popular styles of "Grand Ultimate Boxing", the Yang, Chen, Wu, Sun and Hao family styles. One particular style of Tai Chi Chuan that is not yet that well known is Pai Family Tai Chi Chuan.

     The Pai Family Tai Chi Chuan is a unique style based on the late Grandmaster Daniel K. Pai's understanding of various styles of Tai Chi Chuan. Grandmaster Daniel K. Pai, who passed away on May 23, 1993, was the head of the Pai Lum Association, whose teaching of White Dragon Kung Fu and Tai Chi Chuan spread to thousands of students in the United States and Canada over the past forty years. Born in what today is called Waimea on the Big Island of Hawaii, Grandmaster Pai spent his life promoting his unique method of the martial arts, including his method of Tai Chi Chuan.

      The first form taught as the foundation of Pai Family Tai Chi Chuan is Grandmaster Pai's understanding of the Yang style short form. Unlike some other versions of the Yang style, the Pai Family approach is to train and teach the art as a serious internal martial art as opposed to just a series of healthful exercises. The form contains numerous martial chi kung postures that differentiate it from the more commonly taught variations derived from Yang, Cheng Fu's alteration of his father's form. It is believed that by learning the original intent of the martial purposes of the form that the practitioner will develop, as a side benefit, the healthful benefits that have been recently associated with Tai Chi Chuan.

     When Tai Chi Chuan was initially introduced in his teachings, many people did not understand how Grandmaster Pai could say the form he did originated with the Yang style when the movements were so different from what people generally accepted as the Yang style of Tai Chi Chuan. Some people incorrectly assumed that he must have created the form himself. However, since then, other Tai Chi Chuan practitioners have come forth with information about Yang, Lu Chan's original form, now known to some as the original or old Yang style. It was a form that apparently was not widely taught because it held the martial secrets to Tai Chi Chuan. Long time practitioners of Grandmaster Pai's style were certainly not suprised that he found a way to incorporate this rare form that contains the essence of the original Yang Tai Chi Chuan into the Pai Family lineage.

     The student studying Pai Family Tai Chi Chuan learns that the short form is but the first part of a three part long form. The student then begins a lifelong journey of perfecting the movements, theories and concepts of all three parts of Grandmaster Pai's version of the original or old Yang style long form. Although students who persist may eventually learn other Tai Chi Chuan forms and training methods that are unique to the Pai Family System, Grandmaster Pai's version of the original or old Yang style long form remains the heart and soul of Pai Family Tai Chi Chuan.

      Although not yet that well known, Pai Family Tai Chi Chuan is a precious legacy left by the late Grandmaster Daniel K. Pai. His legacy is alive, growing and actually very easy to spot. Grandmaster Pai used to perform a special chant that is translated as "Peace & Joy - We Wish You - Forevermore" that any instructor that claims to be from his lineage will not only be able to chant, but will also exemplify in his or her daily life.