Baguazhang, the Book of Changes as movement

Frequently asked questions

Why do Baguazhang practitioners walk in circles?

Circle-walking trains the coordination the art depends on: a body that is permanently turning, with the hips, spine and feet in a fixed relationship, so that stepping and striking are the same motion. It also builds the habit of moving around an opponent's force rather than into it. Beginners often do nothing else for months, and advanced practice is still mostly walking.

How do the eight trigrams relate to the techniques?

The art's eight core changes, the mother palms, correspond one to one with the eight trigrams, and each is associated with the qualities of its trigram. Combining the eight with eight variations gives sixty-four techniques matching the sixty-four hexagrams. Gao style makes this structure most explicit, pairing circular pre-heaven palms with sixty-four linear post-heaven applications.

Who founded Baguazhang?

Dong Haichuan, who taught in Beijing from roughly 1860 until his death in 1882. He was a eunuch in the household of a Qing prince and began teaching openly only in his sixties. No comparable art is attested before him, and every existing lineage traces back to his students.

Did Dong Haichuan really learn from Daoists?

It is the traditional account and it cannot be confirmed. He is said to have learned circle-walking from recluses in the southern mountains, and Daoist circumambulation practices do exist, so the story is plausible. There is no independent evidence, and this remains the art's principal historical uncertainty.

Why are there so many styles?

Because Dong taught that way deliberately. He accepted students who already had substantial martial training and showed each how to apply circle-walking and the palm changes to what they already did. A striker produced a percussive style, a wrestler a throwing one. The branches had diverged before the founder died.

What is the difference between Yin and Cheng style?

Yin style, from Yin Fu, uses a flat ox-tongue palm with fast, direct, percussive striking. Cheng style, from Cheng Tinghua, uses a dragon-claw palm and favours throwing, wrapping and continuous change. Cheng style is by some distance the more widely practised, largely because Cheng taught openly outside the palace.

Is Baguazhang related to Taijiquan and Xingyiquan?

They are conventionally grouped as the three internal arts, a category owed largely to Sun Lutang, who trained in all three and argued they share one principle of whole-body connected power. Bagua and Xingyi practitioners in Beijing also formed a working alliance, agreeing not to compete and to cross-train students.

Do I need to study the I Ching to learn Baguazhang?

Not to begin. The walking, the palm changes and the applications are taught physically and most students learn them without reading the classic. Knowing the eight trigrams and their associated qualities makes the structure of the curriculum legible, and serious practitioners generally pick that up along the way.

What weapons does the art use?

Deer-horn knives are the signature weapon and extend the palm changes almost directly. The art also uses the straight sword, sabre and spear, plus an oversized broadsword used mainly for strength training. Weapons practice follows the same circular footwork as empty-hand work.

Is competition wushu Baguazhang the same art?

It shares the shapes and largely omits the fighting method. Standardised routines were developed from the 1950s for modern wushu competition and are judged on flexibility, speed and presentation. They are how most people first see the art, and they are not what Dong Haichuan's students were doing.