Kung Fu collection
Bagua Zhang
八卦掌 • Eight Trigrams Palm
The Eight Trigrams Palm, an internal style based on circular walking and changes of angle.
Bagua Zhang, or "Eight Trigrams Palm", is one of the traditional internal Chinese martial arts. Zhang means "palm", referring to the many open-hand attacking techniques that characterise the style.
The Eight Trigrams form the 64 hexagrams of the Yi Jing, a major classic of ancient culture and an important reference for Taoism. The founder Dong Hai Chuan initially taught only experienced practitioners. His system was based on sequences combining circular walking with changes between inward and outward palms.
The strategy of Bagua Zhang relies mainly on evasion and counterattack. Changes of direction use the circular force generated by body rotation, while evasions and responses follow one another continuously from the eight directions, seeking to disorient the opponent through changes of attitude, direction and rhythm.