Brief chronological frieze to identify the main areas of the life of Master Sun Lu Tang at a glance.

Timeline

- 1859, 1860, 1861 or 1862 depending on the source (his daughter quotes 1862): Born in Baoding in Wan County, Hebei Province. His first name, Sun Fu Quan will only change in 1894, Cheng Ting Hua renaming him Lu Tang.

- 1869: Educated for two years, the young Fu Quan shows a keen interest in literature and study. Loss of his father’s farm and then of his actual father.

- 1872: First encounter with the Shaolin martial arts with his teacher, whose nickname was "Wu".

- 1875: Fu Quan's mother attempts to make him quit martial arts but after observing that her son was in better health, will not oppose herself again.

- 1875: First martial confrontation with his boss's nephew, to whom he will make him render his meal in one blow/strike. Sun Fu Quan is fired. Shortly thereafter, Sun tries to commit suicide, not wanting to cause any more grief to his mother, and not wanting to be another mouth to feed. Two passers-by narrowly save Sun Fu Quan’ s life and give him a little money. Making use of it to visit his uncle, this one hires him as a clerk in his shop of calligraphy supplies.

• 1877: Struck by the precocious beautiful calligraphy of Fu Quan, a friend of his uncle, Zhang takes  him under his wing and teaches him his knowledge, introduces him to another friend of his uncle, Li Kui Yuan, who owns a caravan escort company, and practices the internal Gong Fu of Xing Yi Quan. He turns out to be the pupil of the great Guo Yun Shen. San Ti practice for one year.

- 1882: Li Kui Yuan introduces Sun to Guo Yun Shen: development/improvement of Xing Yi Quan. Skilled particularly in the form of monkey, Guo gives him the nickname of "Smarter than an Active Monkey"

- 1889: After eight years spent with Guo Yun Shen, Sun Fu Quan becomes the formal heir of Guo Yun Shen’s Xing Yi Quan, receiving a volume on this art from the hands of his Master, that he himself received from Li Neng Ran . Guo Yun Shen sends him to meet Cheng Ting Hua in Beijing. He is then 27 years old if we take 1862 as being his year of birth.

- 1892: After three years of studying Ba Gua, Sun masters the Dragon Style of Cheng Ting Hua, sword Ba Gua and that of the spear. Cheng Ting Hua, having nothing more left to teach him, advises him to study the Yi Jing in the province of Sichuan. Cheng gives him the name of "Sun Lu Tang”.

- 1892: marriage to Zhang Shou Xin (or Zhang Zhou Xien) and moves to Ding Xing in Hebei province, where he teaches. He was then 30 years old. He remained there three years and had his first son, Sun Xing Yi.

- 1894: He traveled to Sichuan province and met a monk  (Zhi Zhen) who taught him the Yi Jing and the Emei Qi Gong. Studies the “elixir of immortality" with the patriarch Jing Xu in Wudang.

-1896: Two years later he returns to his wife and son, and moves to Baoding. His best pupil Qi Gong Bo, practices the San Ti posture for 3 years. Creation of a literary society in which Sun enables citizens to learn to read.

- 1899: Sun travels to Xing Tang town 120 km from Beijing, Hebei province. He teaches there for a period of 8 years. He stops a bandit by making use of the gong fu of lightness.

- 1907: Xu Chang Shi invites Sun to teach in northern China in Feng Tian. He defeated here a villain nicknamed "Invincible in the provinces of the East" and his reputation grew. He prepared to confront a stranger in combat. Xu judging that Sun would win, aborted the meeting, fearing a diplomatic incident.

- 1907: Back in Baoding, and his hometown.

- 1910: Sun decides to migrate to Beijing to promote the martial arts. He founds three schools: two in Beijing and one in Tianjin. Many trips of Sun to accept new students and scholars among his schools. Many trips to the small schools also to disseminate his art.

- 1914: Birth of Sun Jian Yun, his daughter.

- 1914: During the summer he takes in Master Hao Wei Zhen, exhausted and sick, without knowing that he withholds the legacy of Wu Yu Xiang’s style of Taiji Quan and takes care of him until his complete recovery. Hao Wei Zhen passes on his Taiji to Sun Lu Tang to thank him for having looked after him.

- 1915: First book on the study of Xing Yi Quan.

- 1916: The martial arts are growing in Beijing. He joins other masters (such as Wu Jian Quan, and Yang Cheng Fu or Li Jing Lin) to promote the Gong Fu and provides literal instructions and demonstrations.

- 1916: The book on the eight trigrams boxing is published.

- 1919: Spring of this year, Xu Shi Chang persuades him to join the government until 1924, where he teaches martial arts. He will teach martial arts in the palace of the president where he will receive/be promoted to the rank of lieutenant.

- 1919: End of his manuscript on Tai Ji Boxing . During this time Sun Lu Tang helps the inhabitants of his village to come out of the drought and makes them very proud as he had predicted as a child.

- 1921: The book on Tai Ji Quan is published. His reputation for the method of Tai Ji that he developed spreads throughout China and beyond. Battle against a Japanese man who asked the Emperor of Japan permission to go and challenge Sun Lutang.

- 1922: Death of his son Sun Huan Min in Shanghai. Sun moves to Shanghai and Hong Zhou. He accepts a hundred or so students. Theft of  Sun Lutang’s personal diary in which he had disclosed all his secrets and related all his fights.

- 1924: Sun resigns from his government job and joins the Shanxi to oversee the martial practice. Chen Wei Ming, student and friend of Sun establishes a school of Sun style Tai Ji in Shanghai. Great propagation of the style thanks to the school.

- 1925 Edition of the treatise on the essence of true boxing.

- 1927: Publication of the book on the sword of the 8 trigrams.

- 1928: Zhang Zhi Jiang and Li Jing Lin, president and vice president of the National Academy of Martial Arts of Nanjing invite Sun Lutang to teach in Shanghai. Accompanied by his disciple Yang Yuan Shi he resides for a short time at Chen Wei Ming’s and then travels to Nanjing where he is named adviser for the branch of internal martial arts at the national academy of martial arts in Nanjing.

• 1928: Sun and his disciples Sun Zhen Dai, Sun Zhen Chuan and Qi Gong Bo run the school based in the province of Jiangsu and Zhong Jiang. Frequent travel between Nanjing, Shanghai, Su Zhou and Hang Zhou.

- Death of Sun Huan Min, eldest son of Sun Lu Tang.

- 1930: Severe flooding in Jiang Su and Zhe Jiang. Sun holds a voluntary demonstration of Gong Fu with his students and donates the full benefits to the locals. His demonstration remains the culmination of the event.

- 1931: Sun Lutang breaks an ancestral rule and opens a training school for women at the school of Zhe Jiang.

- 1931: the Japanese invade China and Sun resigns in order to return to Beijing.

- 1933: Sun Lutang dies after having predicted his death 15 days before through the Yi Jing. He returns to Baoding, declaring wishing to die in the house he was born in. His predictions are confirmed and turn out to be true. His autopsy reveals that he has the body of a 40 year old man, when he is actually 71 (or 72, 73 or 74 depending on the date of birth).