Legend has it that the founder and acknowledged patriarch of Tai Chi was a Taoist Priest by the name of Chang San Feng (1270-1364). He is credited with reworking the original Fighting Forms as developed at the Shao-Lin Temple to incorporate a new emphasis on breathing and inner control.

It is reputed that he created this "internal" form either as a result of a dream, or, by observing the details of a fight between a bird (crane/stork) and a snake. From this he deduced that despite the clearly different 'nature', size and shape of the two animals there was no clear winner as each canceled the other out with specialist moves appropriate to, and in keeping with, their own abilities, nature size and shape. Other scholars contest that Chan San Feng was himself no more than a mythical figure.

It is a distinguishing feature of oriental cultures that fact and fiction, and truth and myth are allowed to mix or merge. For instance, bridges there are either curved arcs or, if horizontal, the crossing is zigzag. This is not for structural engineering purposes; in fact this makes construction more difficult! The reasoning behind is that evil spirits can only travel in straight lines. This also explains the shape of the roofs there. At each end of these roofs there is usually an ornamentation of a Dragon. This is not any old Dragon; it is specifically a Water Dragon and this manifestation is used to protect the building from fire.

Given all of this it perhaps better to assume that in Tai Chi - nothing is 'real' and nothing is fact. Of course, it is also permitted to assume that everything is real and everything is the truth, bearing in mind the wise words of the Tao Teh Ching that reminds us "value lies in what is not there and not in what is" and to "dwell in the gold and not in the glitter".