Gao Style BaGuaZhang

Submitted by Rick Matz on Fri, 04/10/2009 - 7:16pm.

I friend sent me an article which was very interesting, but the formatting wouldn't easily allow me to cut and paste a portion below. Please follow the link.

If you are interested in the martial of of Bai Guai Zhang (aka PaKuaChang), a must read is the back issues of the out of print magazine dedicated to it, the Pa Kua Chang Journal, published by Dan Miller.

This particular article was an interview with C.S. Tang, an expert in the Gao Style of BaGua, and the unofficial historian of the style. The full article appears on Mr. Tang's website here.

Gao Yisheng (simplified

Submitted by oracle on Mon, 03/22/2010 - 12:51am.

Gao Yisheng (simplified Chinese: 高义盛; traditional Chinese: 高義盛; pinyini: Gāo Yìshèng) (1866-1951) was the creator of the Gao style of the Chinese Internal Martial Art of Baguazhang. His life bridged the second generation and third generation of Bagua practitioners into the 20th century. He was one of the few third generation Bagua practitioners to live beyond the 1940s. His innovation and impact on Bagua as a fighting art cannot be underestimated. Gao Yisheng was born in Dai Zhuang Zi Village, Da Shan Township, Wu Di County, Shandong province, China in 1866. During his childhood his family fortune was lost so they moved to Wu Ching County, Shaogao township in Hebei province to find employment. When he was young his leg was broken by a mule cart and the bone was set incorrectly so Gao walked with a cane the rest of his life. As a boy he learned the art of Da Hung Chuan (Big Red Fist) in his home village it training.

In 1892 when Gao was twenty-six years old he began his study of Baguazhang with Dong Haichuan’s student Sung Zhangjun (Songi Changrong). After three years of practice with Sung all he had learned was basic circle walking and the single palm change. Gao asked for more instruction, but Sung refused and Gao left to find another teacher oracle 10g dba.

At age thirty, in 1896, Gao met Zhou Yuxiang. Zhou was a talented student of Cheng Tinghua. Zhou’s skill in fighting had earned him the nickname “Peerless Palm” Zhou. Gao and Zhou “crossed hands” three times and Gao was defeated each time. Gao knelt and asked to become Zhou’s disciple. Zhou said they were too close in age for him to bring him into the system so Zhou took Gao to Beijing to meet his teacher Cheng Tinghua. Cheng accepted him as his student because of his previous experience with Sung and on Zhou Yuxiang’s recommendation comptia a+. Gao learned the majority of the system from Zhuo and would travel to Beijing periodically to study with Cheng, until Cheng’s death four years later. Gao learned the eight shen tien palms, weapons forms and applications ase training.