Baguazhang
八卦掌An internal Chinese style built on walking a circle and open-palm technique; its weight lies in evasion and change of direction. Founded by Dong Haichuan in the nineteenth century.
Quick Facts
ChinaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Baguazhang
About Baguazhang
Baguazhang, "eight trigram palm", is one of the three principal internal Chinese styles alongside tai chi and xingyi. Its creator is held to be Dong Haichuan, who taught it in Beijing in the second half of the nineteenth century; from his students came the main branches — Cheng, Yin, Liang and Gao. The defining element is circle walking. The practitioner walks around an imagined centre, body turned inward, changing direction through series of turns. This is not aesthetics: circle walking builds the ability to attack from the side and from behind, that is, to leave the line of attack and strike from where the opponent has no cover. It is also why baguazhang barely uses direct blocking. The hand is an open palm, not a fist. Techniques work with pressure, redirection and spiralling movement of the arms; elbow and shoulder work at close range is used a great deal. The eight basic palms and their changes are tied to the eight trigrams of the I Ching, which is a conceptual frame rather than a mysticism to believe in. The weapons are unusually large — baguazhang is known among other things for the paired deer-horn knives and an oversized sword, tools derived from circular movement. Learning is slow; circle walking loads the knees and hips and demands patient building. Martial application appears late, and as with the other internal styles it depends on whether the school also trains against a resisting partner.
Styles & Branches
The oldest family branch of bagua, from Dong Haichuan's first student. It is known by the axe palm: a short, penetrating strike with the edge of the hand.
The most widespread branch of baguazhang; Cheng Tinghua brought into it the grips and throws of shuai jiao wrestling.
The branch of baguazhang split into xiantian circular groundwork and sixty-four houtian palms along straight lines.
The baguazhang line from Dong Haichuan's youngest disciple; eight mother palms and an unusually wide weapons repertoire.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.