The History of Bagua Zhang

The Development of Bagua Zhang in ancient history:

Bagua Zhang - The youngest of the 3 main Chinese internal Martial arts, was created by Grandmaster Dong Haichuan (1799-1882), born in Zhu Jia Wu of Wen'an County in He Bei Province.

Bagua Zhang was popularised in Beijing whilst Dong Haichuan was working in Prince Su mansion during the late Qing dynasty. It became very popular with royalty at this time! It spread throughout Beijing and into Tianjin, He Bei province and eventually across the whole country. It greatly influenced the whole field of martial arts and was very popular amongst the practitioners.

Dong Haichuan had travelled all over China and was believed to have studied Taoist concepts and theories from the I-Qing (Taoist book of changes) he used these concepts and training methods and created Bagua Zhang.

Dong was said to have accepted over 50 disciples, all of which were already accomplished masters in their own martial arts, some even challenged Dong Haichuan to fight to prove their skills but none could beat him.

The Development of Bagua Zhang in modern history:

In September 1980, the first national Chinese Martial Arts Club organized by the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sport was founded in Dong Cheng district. A secondary group member of the Chinese Wushu Association, the Bagua Zhang Research Institute was founded in 1982.

The foundation has over 900 members nationwide. In 2002 the Institute was chosen as one of the "Outstanding Organizations" of the Beijing Wushu Association. They have regularly held annual Bagua Zhang competitions since 2001.

Bagua Zhang is now growing in popularity due to its health giving properties and has spread into many foreign countries such as England, United States, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Japan, South Korea, Australia, etc.