Tai Tzu Chang Chuan is a very cool system. It contains only two genuine styles, one from the North, and another from the South. The Northern is a compilation of the Emperor Chao, Kuang Yin's personal experiances mostly, and was founded around 960 Ad with the creation of the 32 move form. This set was documented somewhere during the Emperor's reing (960-976 AD), and several lines today still practice it.
The Southern has a bit more obscure history. It is said it too was developed by the ruling Chao family during the Southern Sung dynasty , but so far I have not ascertained who exactly developed it. It contains 6 core sets:
San Zhen
4 Doors
Cutting slice
Whipping Slice
Yi Lu
San Pan (the two man set).
Other lineages have also expaned on the original 6 sets to include as many as 12. Some of these are often non Tai Tzu sets added in as well though.
Also, there is said to be 2 more "Closed door" sets taught only to the Chao family, and potential inheritors.
The Northern appears to be a bit more complicated, with different lines containg 8-12 sets. Some lines also have the original 32 move form in thier curriculem (an internal set), and some do't. It is considered sacred, and like the 2 closed door Southern sets, it is restricted mainly to family members, and on rare occasions closed door desiples only.
Somewhere in there, the Six Step Monkey boxing was added in. I originally thought the Emperor was a practitioner of that system, and incorperated it, but it is now looking like it was incorperated later on. This is NOT the Tai Shing Pekwar that is widely known today, but a different Monkey system with different roots, possibly going back as far as 650 AD (Don't hold me to that though). It is technically a seperate style, but it is still part of the Chao family system, and said to be technically more sophisticated and richer in content than the Tai Shing Pekwar (Don't quote me on that, I'm just repeating what I have heard from someone who has practiced both)
Taiji, Hsing I and Bagua are completely different styles, each with their own unique and seperate histories that are often taught along with Tai Tzu as well as many other arts. Some like to teach them first as Chi Kung, but they are best mastered by those with existing external skills.
I have a Web site on the style at royaldragon.4dw.com
It's still a simple Kind of hokey site, but it has a cool message board with some Tai Tzu players from around the world on it representing at least 3 lines, if not more.
Hello all 
