Liang Style Baguazhang
梁式八卦掌Branch of baguazhang bearing the name of Liang Zhenpu, one of five students of Dong Haichuan who, according to Green, founded today's baguazhang schools.
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What the style is built from
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Catalogs & Databases for Liang Style Baguazhang
About Liang Style Baguazhang
The Liang school of baguazhang bears the name of Liang Zhenpu, a student of Dong Haichuan. In his encyclopedia of martial arts, Green counts Liang among the five students of Dong who took over the whole art and founded baguazhang schools still taught today. The Beijing listing of baguazhang on China's national intangible heritage list, dated 2011, names him among Dong's successors whose teaching was widely passed on. We have not found a separate national listing for the Liang branch. We found the other details only on English Wikipedia. According to it, Liang Zhenpu lived from 1863 to 1932, came from a village in Ji County in Hebei Province, became Dong's student in 1877 and was his youngest student. He also learned from other students of Dong, including Cheng Tinghua and Yin Fu, and according to Wikipedia his style combines Yin's ox tongue palm with wrestling elements of the Cheng branch. The technical basis consists, according to the Wikipedia article on the Liang branch, of eight mother palms and eight changing palms, from which the dragon form, sixty-four straight palms, linked palms and eight-direction palms are derived. According to it, most of today's lines lead to Guo Gumin or Li Ziming, and most practitioners are concentrated in Beijing. It is a little-described branch with few reliable sources, so we are still looking for them.
History
Green writes in his encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World that Dong Haichuan (1789 to 1879) had many students, but only five of them took over the whole art, and they founded schools of baguazhang that are still taught today. One of them was Liang Zhenpu. The Beijing listing of baguazhang (Xicheng district) in the Chinese national intangible heritage list of 2011 names him among Dong's successors whose teaching was widely passed on. Biographical data appear only in the English Wikipedia articles. According to them, Liang Zhenpu lived from 1863 to 1932 and was born in the village of Beihaojia in Ji county in Hebei province. In 1877 he became a direct student of Dong Haichuan, studied with him for about five years and was his youngest student. He also learned from other students of Dong: from Cheng Tinghua, Yin Fu, Shi Jidong and Liu Fengchun.
How it differs
The English Wikipedia article on the Liang branch says it generally resembles both the Yin and Cheng branches. The article on Liang Zhenpu states that his style uses Yin's ox tongue palm and wrestling elements of the Cheng branch, because Liang also trained with Yin Fu and Cheng Tinghua.
Technique
Only the English Wikipedia describes the technique of the Liang branch. It takes eight mother palms and eight changing palms, also called Lao Ba Zhang, as the technical foundation. According to it, the dragon form, sixty-four straight palms, linked palms and eight-direction palms derive from them.
Training
The English Wikipedia lists as weapons of the Liang branch the big saber, the straight sword, the spear, rooster knives, chicken claw knives, mandarin duck knives, crescent moon knives also called deer antler knives, the kunlun fan, the yin and yang brush, steel meteors, the seven star staff and the wind and fire wheels. We have not found this list in another source.
Today
We have not found a separate listing of the Liang branch in the Chinese national intangible heritage list. Liang Zhenpu is named only in the Beijing listing of baguazhang as one of Dong's successors. The same listing states that in 1982 a baguazhang research society was founded at the Beijing wushu association. According to the English Wikipedia, most of today's lines of the Liang branch lead to Guo Gumin or Li Ziming, and most practitioners are concentrated in Beijing.
Did you know
The English Wikipedia says that Liang Zhenpu had the nickname Liang of the Worn Clothes and that he is the only one of Dong's students buried next to Dong's grave.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the Liang branch of baguazhang named after?
After Liang Zhenpu. Green counts him among the five students of Dong Haichuan who learned the whole art and founded today's schools of baguazhang.
How does the Liang branch differ from the Yin and Cheng branches?
According to English Wikipedia, it is overall similar to both: it took the ox tongue palm from the Yin branch and the wrestling elements from the Cheng branch.
Where is the Liang branch practiced today?
According to English Wikipedia, most practitioners are concentrated in Beijing and most lines lead to Guo Gumin or Li Ziming.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.