Shaohou can be translated as "young noble", and makes use of the "hou" (侯) character from his father's and uncle's names in a reflection of respect for his lineage and his status as grandmaster of his generation.

[1] Many of his contemporaries called him "Mr. Big" (大先生, Pinyin: dà xiānshēng), which can also be translated as "Mr. Eldest" or "Mr. Great" — a play on words as he was the eldest brother in his family, the senior disciple and grandmaster of his tai chi generation, and a great fighter who loomed large in the fears of many — while others called him "Thousand Hands Guanyin" (千手觀音, Pinyin: Qiānshǒu Guānyīn) or "Holy Hands Guanyin" (聖手觀音, Shèngshǒu Guānyīn), which was in praise of his pushing hands techniques, as unlike that deity he was not known for his compassion.

[2] Yang Shaohou had a very forceful nature, and like his uncle Banhou he was a demanding teacher, only interested in students that could stand their tough training regimes.

It is said that he enforced low stance training by making students perform postures underneath food preparation tables, he preferred to demonstrate rather than explain, and he was not known for pulling his punches.

Upon curing one municipal official of a liver ailment with just such a combination, he gained a great following and 200 citizens of that town asked him to train them in tai chi.

The large frame can be easier to teach to a big group, with relatively wide easy-to-see movements, and can be learned for health or for martial application.

[6] In the first two generations, all variations retained sudden bursts of speed, high kicks, low stances, leaps, and "fa jin" (發勁; Pinyin: fājìn) or explosive energy.

Second generation master Yang Jianhou developed his "middle frame" (中架, Pinyin: zhōngjià) form with a focus on bringing all the benefits of tai chi to more people, while his older brother and the grandmaster of that generation, Yang Banhou, concentrated on a more demanding range of training that appealed to few students.

As noted above, small frame tai chi was particularly effective for those wearing imperial robes.

He and his disciples established many training classes across China and published many books, all on only the large frame slow form and its associated two-person sets and applications.

Twenty-one years older than Chengfu, he was of a more traditional generation that did not reveal everything about a martial art to the general public, and he did not have the temperament for such promotion anyway.

[9][8] Yang Shaohou's tai chi is characterized by high and low postures, small complex circular movements, frequent changes of pace, and sharp crisp fa jin techniques accompanied by "heng" (哼, Pinyin: hēng) and "ha" (哈, Pinyin: hā) sounds.

[6] According to an authoritative survey published in 2006, this has come down to us through just a few small select lineages today, each with at least one unique "application frame" form developed in collaboration with Yang Shaohou as he built on his students' previous training with others:[10][11][12] Yang Shaohou → Wu Tunan (吴图南, Pinyin: Wú Túnán; 1884–1989) Yang Shaohou → Zhang Huchen (张虎臣, Pinyin: Zhāng Hǔchén; 1898–1979) Yang Shaohou → Gu Lüping (顾履平, Pinyin: Gù Lǚpíng, courtesy name 顧麗生, Gù Lìshēng, 1904–1978) Others Weapons Wu Gongyi and Wu Kung-tsao trained with Yang Shaohou, based on a tradition that required they be taught by teachers of the same lineage generation as their grandfather, Wu-style cofounder Wu Quanyou, who died while they were infants.

[29] Tung Hu Ling (Dong Huling) may be our only source for an example of a Yang Shaohou saber form.

As noted above in the Weapons section, although due to his young age when Yang died it is not clear if Tung trained in this directly with Shaohou or Shaohou's student(s), it is important to note that he respectfully credited Yang Shaohou as the source of the challenging techniques in the advanced single and double saber and stick forms Tung created for his family's tai chi curriculum.

During the Japanese occupation he went missing in Hebei and was never found,[31] but three of his sons and their many descendants have continued the Yang family tai chi lineage.

[32] Wu Tunan (吴图南, Pinyin: Wú Túnán; 1884–1989) was Yang Shaohou's last living direct disciple.

Born into a prominent Mongolian warrior clan in Beijing and originally named Ulabu (烏拉布, Pinyin: Wū Lā Bù), he was not strong as a child and so his father had him trained in martial arts.

As explained above, those four years were equivalent to advanced graduate training offered only to those who had already mastered the Yang large frame or the Wu style.

An educator and a scholar, Wu wrote extensively on tai chi, founded the lineage described above, and at age 100 was still performing his small frame form for the public.

[33] Other disciples and close students of Yang Shaohou include the two disciples mentioned above, Gu Luping (顾履平, Gù Lǚpíng) and Zhang Huchen (张虎臣, Zhāng Hǔchén), as well as Tian Zhaolin (田兆麟 Pinyin: Tiān Zhàolín; 1891–1959; adopted by Yang Jianhou, disciple of Jianhou and Chengfu), Dong Runfang (東潤芳, Dōng Rúnfāng), You Zhixue (尤志學, Yóu Zhìxué), Ma Runzhi (馬潤之, Mǎ Rúnzhī), and Li Shou Jian (李壽箋, Lǐ Shòujiān).

[34][35] Yang Shaohou found himself living in increasingly strained circumstances in Beiping after the government moved south to Nanjing in 1927.

In 1928 his younger brother Yang Chengfu led a group of disciples south to establish training classes across the region, and found success.

Yang Shaohou eventually accepted an invitation to teach in Nanjing arranged by a patron, the minister of transportation.

He returned to Beiping, but by that winter had traveled back to Nanjing after being unable to arrange new work.

According to newspaper reports at the time, he took his own life with a pair of scissors while living as a guest at the home of his patron, the transportation minister.

His patron brought him to a hospital but was unable to save him, then raised funds to assist the family, now led by Yang Chengfu, with the funeral arrangements.

杨少侯太极拳用架真诠 [Yang Shaohou Taijiquan Application Frame: The True Explanation] (in Simplified Chinese).

楊少侯太極拳用架真詮 [Yang Shao-hou T'ai-chi Ch'üan Application Frame: The True Explanation] (in Traditional Chinese).

"杨氏太极拳大、中、小架的实践与认识" [Yang Style Taijiquan Large, Medium and Small Frame Practice and Understanding].