Baguazhang is beautiful to whatch, healthy to practise and very effective in fighting application, but it is also one of the most difficult martial arts to learn. It is the youngest of the three main Chinese internal martial arts (Neijia), the other two being Taiji Quan and Xing Yi Quan. It was created in the 19th century by Dong Haichuan who learned from Taoist, and possibly Buddist, masters in the mountains of rural China. Dong Haichuan combined his martial arts knowledge with a form of Taoist meditative circle walking to create his new martial art. Baguazhang literally means “the eight tri-gram palms”, referring to the trigrams of the I-Ching (Book of Changes).
Master Han pushing the mountain into the sea
Technical Characteristics
Hans practising Bagua Sword
Common features of Baguazhang training are continuous motion, circular footwork, circular or spiralling body motion, complex internal mechanics and fa-jin (power release).
The fighting charateristic of Baguazhang is the use of clever guerrilla-style tactics. The Bagua fighter uses evasive footwork to escape the opponent’s strong power and when the time is right the Bagua fighter counters with sudden, ferocious attack, using any part of the body. Footwork and body placement are used to disrupt and unbalance the opponent, creating an opening for an attack. Most martial arts rely on a firmly rooted stance from which to launch an attack, but a Bagua fighter maintains his/her “rooting” while in motion and can launch an attack at any time, surprising the opponent. Bagua strategy emphasizes constant change in response to the spontaneous and "live" quality of combat.
Master Liu Deming
The practice of circle walking, or 'Turning the Circle', is Bagua Zhang's characteristic method of training. Practitioners walk around the edge of a circle in various low stances, facing the centre, and periodically change direction as they execute forms. Students first learn flexibility through such exercises, then move on to more complex forms and internal power mechanics. The internal aspects of Baguazhang are very similar to those of Xingyi and Taiji.
Master Fu baguadao
Many distinctive styles of weapons are contained within Baguazhang. Some can be concealed like the "scholar's pen" or the unique crescent-shaped deer horn knives. Baguazhang is also known for practicing with extremely large weapons, such as the Baguadao or 'Bagua Broadsword'. Other more conventional weapons are also used like the staff, double-edged straight sword, and spear. Baguazhang practitioners are also known for being able to use anything as a weapon by using the principles of their art.
Bagua dao (large sabre)
Baguazhang contains an extremely wide variety of techniques, including various strikes (with palm, fist, elbow, fingers etc), low and high kicks, joint locking techniques, throws, and distinctively evasive circular footwork.
Wudang Bagua circle walking
History
Sadly, the only portrait of Dong Haichuan
Dong Haichuan is widely credited as the founder of Baguazhang and most schools of Baguazhang place Dong Haichuan at the beginning of their lineage. He was born in 1797 in Zhu village, Ju Jia Wu Township, Wen An County, Hebei Province, China and died on the 25th of October 1882 in Beijing.
Dong Haichuan was very private about his past and never told his students his exact history. As a child and young man he trained the martial arts of his village intensely. The arts were probably Shaolin-based. He was poor and often got into trouble, but throughout his youth he practised the martial arts diligently. At some point in his life he received extensive training from a Taoist monk (or monks) who taught him circle walking techniques. According to legend Dong Haichuan spent so much time walking around a tree that eventually the tree’s roots were exposed.
Around 1864 Dong arrived in Beijing and he got a service job at the residence of the prince Su. He worked as a servant and waiter in the prince’s household. Fearing prosecution for transgressions of his earlier days, he kept his fighting skills a secret from the public. During a crowded banquet, however, he caught people's attention by lightly maneuvering through the banquet-hall packed with guests, and even climbing walls, serving drink and food. The prince recognized that Dong Haichuan must be skilled in martial arts and asked him to perform for him and his guests. Not being able to refuse his master's wish, Dong Haichuan did as he was asked, impressing the crowd with his performance. The noble's personal bodyguard - a muslim by the name of Sha Hui-Tsu - saw his position threatened by Dong Haichuan and so he challenged him to a fight. Sha was soundly defeated. Prince Su later appointed Dong Haichuan as head of the bodyguards in the palace… and as tax collector, basically the prince’s hard man.
Dong Hai Chuan's Tomb
Dong and his top student Yin Fu went to Mongolia to collect taxes for ten years. Upon his return he left the prince’s household and he began to teach publicly, giving up all other occupations to devote himself to developing and teaching Baguazhang. He synthesized his previous experience with village martial arts, travelling fights, Daoist studies, and also the skills he learned as a waiter, to create a unique art originally called Zhuan Zhang (Turning Palms). It was in his public teaching period that the art was given the name Baguazhang (eight tri-gram palm).
In his later years he was poor and lived with Yin Fu's student Ma Gui. Ma owned a lumber yard and Dong lived on the premises. He died in 1882. Baguazhang had become a well-known fighting style in Beijing and northern China by the late-1800s and Dong Haichuan and his students became famous.
Styles
There are many styles of Bagua Zhang today. The main branches are attributed to Dong Haichuan’s most influential students, Yin Fu (Yin Style) and Cheng Tinghua (Cheng Style). Master Dong only accepted experienced martial artists as students. He consistently taught only the first three palms, Single Change Palm, Double Change Palm and the Smooth Body Palm and then he would vary the last five depending on the individuals’ previous martial arts experience.
A massive picture of Yin Fu
Yin Style
The Oxtongue palm
Yin Fu studied with Dong Haichuan for about 20 years, longer than any other of Dong’s students. Yin Fu was one of the most respected fighters in the country in his time and became the personal bodyguard to the Dowager Empress, the highest prestige position for a martial artist. Before studying with Dong haichuan, Yin Fu was a master of Luo Han Quan, a Northern Chinese "external" style of boxing.
Yin style is very percussive in nature and contains a large number of fast striking combinations. The forms include many explosive movements and very quick and evasive footwork. The “Oxtongue Palm” is the characteristic Yin Style palm shape. The hand is held like a spearhead, ready to strike at the throat. Yin Fu was said to fight like a tiger, moving in very suddenly and knocking his opponent down.
Cheng Style
Dragon Palm
Chen Ting Hua was a master of Shuai Jiao (Chinese wrestling) when he started training under Dong Haichuan. Cheng studied directly under Dong for about 3 years, but in that time he reached a very high level and became famous for his fighting ability. Cheng was gunned down at a young age by German soldiers, during the Boxer Revolution. In his lifetime he taught a great number of students and there are many variations of Cheng style Bagua.
Cheng Tinghua
Cheng Style bagua is smoother and more flowing and more circular than Yin style with less striking and greater emphasis on grappling (Qinna) and throwing techniques (clearly influenced by Chinese wrestling). The forms use more spiralling and twisting body motions and the movements are more abstract and can be interpreted in application as throws, strikes or grappling techniques.
Cheng style is dragon style. The Cheng palm shape is called the dragon palm. The shape is good for grabbing and palm striking. The movement of Cheng style is like that of a dragon soaring in the clouds.
Pre-heaven trigram arrangement
Bagua Theory
According to Chinese cosmology (and quantum physics) all things come forth out of the Void (“Wuji”). The Wuji creates the Taiji (the polar opposites) and the Taiji creates Yin and Yang (negative and positive). All things and events in the universe are seen in terms of an extremely complex interplay of Yin and Yang. This interplay is represented simplistically by the bagua and the 64 hexagrams. The bagua and the hexagrams are symbols of binary combinatorial mathematics.
Wuji
The possibility of something beying either Yin or Yang represents one variable. Yin is represented by a broken line and Yang by an unbroken line.
Taiji
If Yin and Yang combine in sets of two variables, 4 combinations are possible (the four seasons).
The four seasons
If Yin and Yang combine in sets of three variables, eight combinations are possible (bagua, the eight tri-grams).
The Eight Trigrams
The 64 hexagrams can be seen as 64 combinations of six variables, or 64 combinations two tri-grams.
The 64 Hexagrams (King Wen Arrangement)
The relevance of the I Ching (Bagua Theory) to the martial art of Baguazhang
Post-heaven trigram arrangement
The theory of the I Ching is a cornerstone of Taoist philosophy and is intrinsic to ancient Chinese cultural beliefs. It is useful background information, but it is not essential for the understanding of the martial aspects of Baguazhang.
It was only in the later period of Dong Haichuan’s life that he started talking of his martial art in terms of bagua theory and the I Ching. Baguazhang was not created on the principals of bagua theory, but on Dong Hai Chuan’s personal martial experience which included the practise of Taoist meditative circle walking. It is assumed that he incorporated the Taoist circle walking into his martial art and then found that there were strong correlations between his martial art and I Ching theory.
Dong Hai Chuan’s students and later generation teachers of Baguazhang had varying levels of understanding of bagua theory and some emphasised it less than others. Sun Lu Tang, a student of Cheng Ting Hua, researched the I Ching extensively and created Sun Style Baguazhang, which has strong correlations with bagua theory.
The basic parallels between Baguazhang and I Ching theory: Change and Adaptability: The universe is in a state of constant change. The Yi Jing was developed as a tool to monitor and read the universal changes, enabling the reader to adapt to change and to take correct action.
Change and adaptability are central characteristics of Baguazhang. A Baguazhang practitioner develops a strong awareness in order to become sensitive to changes and also develops the ability to adapt in accordance to external change. The ability to change and adapt demand sensitivity and flexibility. The Cyclic Nature of Events: The ancient Taoists understood that all events in nature follow cyclic patterns. The tri-grams were developed as tools to codify and represent various stages in these cyclic changes.
The circular forms of Bagauzhang also follow cyclic patterns. Through the constant repetition of cyclic movements the Baguazhang practitioner learns to recocnise and create cycles. In combat the cycles of events are very short (fast) and a fighter must learn to recognise these patterns in order to adapt and to take correct action. The skills of “rhythm”, “timing” and “distancing” are essential for dealing with cycles in combat. The Eight Directions: In the Post Heaven Bagua arrangement, the eight tri-grams are placed in fixed positions along the circumference of a circle. The circle represents a cycle and each tri-gram represents one of eight stages in the cycle.
In Baguazhang circle walking the eight tri-grams symbolise eight stations on the circumference of the circle. These stations form eight directions around the centre of the circle. The centre of the circle represents the opponent, and the Bagua practitioner can attack the opponent from any one of the eight directions. Baguazhang practise develops an awareness of the eight directions (front, back, left, right, and the directions in between). A Bagua fighter can deal with an attack coming from any direction, and can move and attack in any direction.
The I Ching (Yi Jing)
The I Ching (Book of Changes) is one of the oldest of the Chinese classic texts (written about 2400 BC). The book explains the use of the 64 hexagrams as a means of interpreting and ordering cyclic events. The cosmology centres on the ideas of the dynamic balance of opposites, the evolution of events as a process, and acceptance of the inevitability of change. The I Ching is a "reflection of the universe in miniature." The word "I" has three meanings: ease and simplicity, change and transformation, and invariability. Thus the three principles underlying the I Ching are the following:
1. Simplicity - the root of the substance. The fundamental law underlying everything in the universe is utterly plain and simple, no matter how abstruse or complex some things may appear to be. 2. Variability - the use of the substance. Everything in the universe is continually changing. By comprehending this one may realize the importance of flexibility in life and may thus cultivate the proper attitude for dealing with a multiplicity of diverse situations. 3. Persistency - the essence of the substance. While everything in the universe seems to be changing, among the changing tides there is a persistent principle, a central rule, which does not vary with space and time.
Master Han Yanwu shows Hans Menck some bagua applications:
Hans Menck 9 Pallace Form:
Hans' 8 Palm Change practise (Munich):
Master Han Yanwu: bagua circle walking:
Master Han Yanwu: Swimming Dragon bagua:
Master Han demonstrates the 10 Methods. Hans attacking:
Liu De Kuan Bagua Spear:
...and Master Han's spear foundation training:
Bagua Cheng style applications from a good school in Canada:
Bagua form and applications by Master Wei-Chung Lin
Baguazhang (Pakua) 
