Pa Kua Chang (BaGuaZhang)

Pa-Kua Chang or BaGuaZhang is the second of the "three sisters" of Neijia, or Internal Martial Arts (Kung Fu) practice. The Neijia School of thought is comprised of Pa-Kua, Hsing-I and Tai-Chi as primary disciplines.

There are many different styles of Pa Kua Chang being practiced today. It has been long thought that the diversification stems from early teachers of this art imparting different training structures to their pupils depending on the prior martial background the student carried into the study of Pa Kua. Regardless of the reasons, the yield is a multitude of different styles in practice and widely recognized today.

Each style of Pa Kua Chang has a different flavor, but the appearance of the form, regardless of family, will have certain characteristics that remain a constant. Each method will also contain certain unique techiques and training methods that may set it apart from the other methods, or families, as they are sometimes called.

For example: The Lung Hsin (Dragon Heart) style is a powerful integration of smooth angular transition coupled with the characteristic spriral winding and unwinding of Pa-Kua, yielding an appearance that is not entirely unlike stringing together a series of Hsing-I turning sequences in terms of visual effect.

In contrast, the You Lung Hsing (Swimming Dragon Form) has the appearance of a languid, continuous expanding and contracting spiral that is truly inspiring and visually stunning at high speeds.

Compare any of the other methods to these two and you will get yet again the combination of same, yet not same, which is perhaps fitting for an art that derives its principles from the I Ching or Book Of Change.

Pa Kua's tactical principles of constant motion, bait and switch, hit and run, and blending with the ever changing canvas that is combat remain a constant throughout all the various styles. As do the mechanical methods of closing and opening the body with spiral-like power.

There are several recognized spelling and/or renderings of this arts name. The most common being Pa-Kua Chang, from the Wade/Giles, or BaGuaZhang from the newer PinYin system of Chinese phonetics. Other common spellings include the abbreviated Pa-Kua, BaGua or Pa Kua. Also, on occasion an apostrophe is added, as in Pa Kua Ch'ang to further emphasize the pronunciation.

Let me share with you a few of our perspectives on the key aspects of the Chinese Internal Art forms of kung fu: