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.
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What the style is built from
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About Bajiquan
Bajiquan comes from northern China, from the area around Meng village in Cangzhou prefecture, Hebei province, where the lineage settled around the turn of the 18th century with master Wu Zhong. The name is usually rendered as the fist of the eight extremes or eight directions. The style is built on a single idea: get inside. It does not work at long range or trade blows, but with a step that breaks through the opponent and with the impact of the whole body. Characteristic is the zhen jiao stamp, which drives energy into the ground and back, and tie shan kao, the shoulder strike, which is rarely a technique in itself but the conclusion of an entry. For this reason bajiquan is traditionally paired with piguazhang, a style of long swinging arms. One supplies penetration up close, the other reach — masters have long taught them together. The style earned its reputation among bodyguards. Li Shuwen, nicknamed the divine spear, made it famous around 1900, and his students went on to serve at the highest levels of Chinese politics on both sides of the divide. That is the source of its standing as an art trained not for tournaments but for the moment decided in a single step.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.