Who was Bagua Zhang invented by and when? Nobody can answer that question. However, Dong Haichuan was the first person who taught Bagua Zhang publicly. For many reasons, we believe that Dong Haichuan was the founder of Bagua Zhang. Dong taught Bagua Zhang in Beijing. He had great reputation for his fighting skill. Many people studied with him. Later some of his students earned their own reputation and set up their own style. The most famous of them were Yin Fu, Cheng Tinghua, Song Yongxiang, and Liu Dekuan.

Yin Style  |   Cheng Style  |  Liu Style

Yin Style Bagua

Yin Fu was Dong's earliest disciple when Dong worked in King Duan's palace. Yin's gongfu (kungfu) advanced very fast during the next several years. The king liked him too and let Yin join the king's security guards. When Master Dong retired, Yin took over as the supervisor of the security guards. Then he worked for the emperor in the Forbidden City. The Empress Dowager liked his skill and even wanted to study with him. Yin taught Bagua and lived on the eastern side of Beijing city. So Yin style will always be called Dong-cheng Zhang (Eastern City Palm). The other name of Yin style is Niu-she Zhang (Ox Tongue Palm) because the palm's shape in this style looks like an ox tongue. Yin style Bagua Zhang includes eight sections, each section includes eight postures. So that the sixty-four posture palm change is practiced in circle walking. Later some of Yin's students reformed their practice. They did eight palm changes as a major practice. This approach is like Cheng style.

Ox Tongue Palm

Yin Bagua - Forward Thrust Palm

Yin Style  |   Cheng Style  |  Liu Style

Cheng Style Bagua

When he was twenty-eight, Cheng Tinghua studied Bagua Zhang with Master Dong. Before he met Master Dong, Cheng already practiced Chinese Wrestling for many years. His fighting skill was very good and he became famous by beating many challengers. He had many students resulting in more people studying Cheng style than any other style of Bagua. He lived and taught on the south side of Beijing city. So people called his style Nan-cheng Zhang (Southern City Palm). According to the palm's shape, the other name of Cheng style is Long-zhao Zhang (Dragon Claw Palm). In the second generation of Bagua group, Cheng's school was the biggest. The main practice of Cheng style consists of Eight Mother Palm Change which is called Ba Mu Zhang, Eight Big Palm Change which is called Ba Da Zhang, and sixty-four fighting skills. Master Cheng wanted his students to practice the basics very diligently and then develop application. Usually most Cheng style groups use Liu Style to practice sixty-four fighting skills.

Dragon Claw Palm

Cheng Bagua - Point the Sky and Hit
the Earth

Yin Style  |   Cheng Style  |  Liu Style

Liu Style Bagua

Liu Dekuan won his great reputation when he worked in a famous security company before he went to Beijing. He challenged Master Dong Haichuan but lost, so he decided to study Bagua Zhang with Master Dong. From his studies he found that many of the techniques in Bagua are taught from walking the circles; but this way always made it difficult for people to understand Bagua. If they paid attention to developing fighting skills when they walked the circle, they easily overlooked development of internal components. Only a few people could do both well. So he made a new form that included sixty-four fighting skills practiced in a straight line. Every skill came from traditional Bagua but was not practiced by walking the circle. He suggested that people should first practice internal components from circle walking, and then practice fighting skills using his straight form. Most Bagua masters accepted this idea. His form was called Liu style Bagua, Bagua Sanshow, or straight Bagua. Today most Bagua groups combine this straight Bagua style in their practice. Nobody practices it alone; most people study it in conjunction with circle walking.

Yin Style  |   Cheng Style  |  Liu Style

These three styles are taught in YCGFA-NAH. They include empty hand forms and weapons forms.

Circle Walking with the Spear