Bajiquan
八極拳A northern Chinese style from Hebei built on a single idea: get inside. Crushing close-range strikes, whole-body impact and work with elbow and shoulder.
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 Bajiquan
About Bajiquan
Bajiquan, the eight extremes fist, is a northern Chinese style from Mengcun in Cangzhou prefecture in Hebei province. According to China's national list of intangible cultural heritage, it has been practised there for 300 years and has passed through fourteen generations, but the list does not name a founder. Wu Zhong is usually regarded as the originator, though the sources differ on the dates of his life and on his birthplace, and we have not been able to confirm the theories of an older origin.
Read more
The style rests on simple movements, quick and explosive exertion of power, collisions, leaning, binds and throws, layered elbows and a firm lower body. At the core are the six great openings and eight great movements. Bajiquan works at close range, with strikes of the elbows, fists, hips and shoulders. One source of power is the stamp, timed to the moment of the full strike. In some lineages it is taught together with piguazhang, a style with long low stances and extended arms. According to the national list, Cangzhou pigua took over the strengths of bajiquan. The best-known master was Li Shuwen, nicknamed God of Spear. His pupil Liu Yunqiao brought the style to Taiwan after 1948. In 2008 bajiquan was added to China's national list of intangible heritage, and according to the Xinhua agency it is now taught in more than 30 Chinese provinces and regions and in more than ten countries.
History
Bajiquan, the eight extremes fist, is listed on China's national list of intangible cultural heritage as part of Cangzhou wushu under the name Mengcun bajiquan, also called Kaimen bajiquan. According to the list, it has been practised for 300 years in the town of Mengcun in Cangzhou prefecture in Hebei province and has passed through fourteen generations. The list does not name a founder.
Read more
The origin of the style is uncertain. Kung Fu Today magazine gives several theories, none of them proven: a development from the older Bazi quan style, associated with General Qi Jiguang and with the monk Zhang Yueshan of the Yue Shan temple in Henan, or the teaching of a wandering Daoist monk surnamed Lai. Wu Zhong is usually regarded as the actual originator. The sources, however, differ on the dates of his life (1712–1802 or 1732–1822) and on his birthplace (Mengcun, or the village of Houzhuangke in Qingyun county in Shandong). According to one article, Wu Zhong belonged to the Muslim Hui, like many later masters. The national list links bajiquan with Confucian, Daoist and Buddhist thought and with Islamic culture. At the end of the 16th century, General Qi Jiguang included 32 unarmed fighting stances in the work Jixiao xinshu. Their names appear in bajiquan, piguazhang and tanglangquan, but according to Kung Fu Tea this does not prove a common origin, because the names may have been spread by soldiers returning home. The best-known master was Li Shuwen, nicknamed God of Spear, who according to Kung Fu Today lived from 1864 to 1934 and studied under Huang Sihai and Zhang Jingxing.
How it differs
Bajiquan is often compared with piguazhang, with which it is taught together in some lineages. According to the national list, pigua spread in Cangzhou as early as the middle of the Ming dynasty, and Cangzhou pigua took over the strengths of tongbi and bajiquan. In the Ma shi tong bei system, pigua is physical conditioning with long low stances and fully extended arms, whereas baji concentrates on developing power at close range. It differs from xingyiquan, another northern style, in its foundation. According to the national list, xingyiquan rests on the five elements theory, begins from the sanshi stance and relies on five fists and twelve animal forms. It is attributed to Ji Jike (1602–1680) of Shanxi. The core of bajiquan is the six great openings and eight great movements. A Chinese saying, quoted by China Daily, sets it against taijiquan: taiji pacifies the world and baji sets the order of heaven and earth. According to UNESCO, taijiquan is a practice of relaxed circular movements coordinated with breathing, while according to the national list bajiquan rests on simple and explosive movements.
Technique
The national list of intangible heritage describes bajiquan as a style with simple movements in which long and short techniques are combined. Power is developed quickly and explosively, and the techniques rest on pronounced collisions, leaning, binds and throws, layered elbows and a firm lower body. At the core are liu da kai, the six great openings, and ba da zhao, the eight great movements. According to China Daily, typical techniques include strikes with the elbows, fists, hips and shoulders and repeated use of the elbows. Guangzhou Daily describes bajiquan as an art of close-range strikes that stresses body collision and explosive penetration. One source of power is the strong stamping step. It is performed with the heel, toes or the whole sole, with one or both feet, and timed to the moment of full exertion of force. According to Guangzhou Daily, beginners often do it wrongly, with noisy stamping and brute force.
Training
According to the national list, practice requires no special space or equipment and suits all age groups, men and women. In Mengcun, according to a student research paper from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, it is taught mostly orally and by demonstration, almost without textbooks. Teaching includes conditioning, forms and partner exercises. According to Kung Fu Today, the basic form is considered to be Jin gang ba shi with eight techniques, each practised on the left and right side. Practitioners in Mengcun also call it ba da zhao. The seventh movement differs according to teachers. In the Ma shi tong bei system, bajiquan is practised as an art of developing power, while piguazhang serves for basic physical preparation with fully extended limbs and long low stances, reports Kung Fu Tea.
Ranks and progression
We have not found a unified grading system for bajiquan. Lineages are counted by generations of transmitters, and the counts differ: China's national list of intangible cultural heritage records fourteen generations in Mengcun, while the Xinhua agency speaks of the ninth generation now teaching in Mengcun. According to the national list, the representative transmitter is Wu Lianzhi.
Today
In 2008, bajiquan was added to the second national list of China's intangible cultural heritage under number 292 as an extension of Cangzhou wushu. The safeguarding institution is the Mengcun County Kaimen Bajiquan Research Association, and the representative bearer is Wu Lianzhi, born in 1947. The list also warns that with the departure of older masters many manuals and techniques risk being lost. According to Guangzhou Daily, international exchange began in 1982, when Wu Lianzhi and Li Junyi, with special state permission, received a delegation of Japanese martial arts. Liu Yunqiao (1909–1992), a pupil of Li Shuwen, brought bajiquan to Taiwan after 1948. An international training centre was established in Mengcun in 2006. According to the Xinhua agency in June 2026, there are kaimen bajiquan schools in more than 30 provinces, cities and autonomous regions of China and in more than ten countries including Japan, South Korea and the USA. In Mengcun, bearers teach pupils free of charge in the square in front of the county cultural centre. A Hebei provincial report from 2023 estimates the number of practitioners in China at more than 100 000.
Did you know
According to Guangzhou Daily, the name means that the power of bajiquan reaches in all directions and far away. According to another version, given by Kung Fu Today, it derives from the work Huainanzi, which writes of nine provinces and eight extremes between heaven and earth, and the older name Bazi quan referred to an agricultural rake. According to Vice magazine, Li Shuwen boasted that he did not know what it was like to strike a person twice. In the same account, his pupil Huo Diange was a bodyguard of the last emperor Puyi and Liu Yunqiao trained Chiang Kai-shek's guards. We found no independent source for this. According to the local martial arts festival administration, Cangzhou has 53 styles, over 40 percent of the 129 styles registered in China. The international wushu competition in Cangzhou has been held since 1989, and its eleventh edition in 2024 attracted over 4 800 participants from 32 countries and regions.
Styles & Branches
Frequently asked questions
What is bajiquan?
A martial art of northern China, in English the eight extremes fist. China's national list of intangible cultural heritage describes it as a style with simple, violent and layered movements in which short and long techniques are combined with a firm lower body. China Daily emphasizes explosive power and fighting at short range.
Where does bajiquan come from?
From Mengcun in Cangzhou Prefecture in Hebei Province, where, according to the national list, it has been practiced for 300 years and has passed through fourteen generations. The list does not name a founder. Wu Zhong is often considered the originator, but sources differ on the dates of his life and on his birthplace, and some of them place him in Shandong.
Who was Li Shuwen?
A master of bajiquan and spear fighting from Cangzhou, nicknamed God of Spear. According to Kung Fu Today, he lived from 1864 to 1934 and studied with Huang Sihai and Zhang Jingxing. According to an account in the magazine Vice, his students became a bodyguard of Emperor Puyi and an instructor of Chiang Kai-shek's guard, and we have not found an independent source for this.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.