the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

I am coming down from Shenyang to Beijing for 6 months next year and would like to study baguazhang with a good teacher. (only studied bagua for 6 months at the sports uni here so it doesn't count)

I know a number of people on the board have studied Baguazhang in Beijing, so can anyone recommend any teachers to me?

I have a few names (listed below) but don't know if they are still activlly teaching (as some are getting old now), how easy is it to become a student as a forgeiner or how good a teacher they are, do they do hands on explainations of movements (ie demonstrate the fighting apps). I am also interested in the health side of bagua, though i am looking for martial side. One with out the other isn't balanced in my opinion.

Zhang Quanliang (liang style)
Ma Chuanxu (liang style) He is getting old so may not teach much.
Sun Zhijun (Cheng style) He is getting old now so may not teach much.
He Junbao (yin style)
Wang Shang Zhi (yin Style)
Zhu Baozhen (Yin style) Think Greg from california is a student of his?
Li Baohua (Ma Gui style) I know some videos were posted by Andrea Falk of this style.

If anyone can recomend any other teachers i would be most grateful.
Many thanks for all your help as ever.
Allan

Master Gao was born in 1942 into a martial arts family. His grandfather Gao Wen Cheng was a disciple of 2nd generation baguazhang descendants Masters Yin Fu and Liu De Kuan. Gao Ji Wu's father, Gao Zi Ying, trained in baguazhang with his father and his martial arts uncle Guo Gu Min, in xingyiquan with Master Li Cun Yi, in taijiquan with Master Yang Cheng Fu and in dachengquan with the founder Wang Xiang Zai. Combining his knowledge and expertise in all these arts Gao Zi Ying passed them on to his son Gao Ji Wu. At the age of seven the young Jiwu started to learn changquan and traditional weapons before going on to learn his father's internal arts.

Master Gao has dedicated his life to passing on and promoting his father's art. He has served in a number of posts in the Beijing Baguazhang Research Association and is currently vice-chairman. He is co-founder and deputy principal of the Huairou County Martial Arts School. In 1999 he won the baguazhang section of the Yu Yang Cup traditional martial arst competition and in addition has enjoyed other competition successes. In 2003 he was awarded the rank of 7th Duan Chinese Martial Artist.

Master Gao's greatest hope now is that his family arts will continue to thrive and be promoted throughout the world.

zhu baozhen is an excellent teacher. it's 2 years since i met him but i'm pretty sure he's still going strong.

my bagua teacher's from beijing. the master he spoke most highly of was the late wang wen kuei. other's here have said he was one of the most respected bagua players there.

his closet student is named Bai Yun Cai. there's video of him teaching on youtube.

There is also a guy named Tian who teaches yin yang baguazhang in Beijing. Dunno his info though.

Ma Chuan Xu is still going strong, but if you are only planning to be there for 6 months, you may not get much out of him. He goes to his spot in the park to practice, and he'll probably make you circle-walk for two hours straight without much guidance, and then maybe teach some dan cao (single movement drills) and that's about. I don't know this for sure, but he seems very much into the circle-walking-develops-nei-gong-and-without-nei-gong-nothing-else-matters point of view, so he would probably just make you walk a lot. If that's what you want, however, go for it!

ninepalace wrote:my bagua teacher's from beijing. the master he spoke most highly of was the late wang wen kuei. other's here have said he was one of the most respected bagua players there.

his closet student is named Bai Yun Cai. there's video of him teaching on youtube.

Bai Yu Cai

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=OncS_54yMvw

i would check this guy out for sure.

Isn't Gao Jiwu also in Beijing?
I would study with him for sure!

Allan, weren't you also learning some Tongbei? If you're going to be in Beijing you really should try to check out my Baiyuan Tongbeiquan teacher, Li Zhanhua.
As for bagua, I studied with Liu Jingru, who I wouldn't really recommend as he is probably sending all newcomers to his students. I had several friends and regular sparring partners who were students of Zhu Baozhen and I think that they (and he) are very good (if you decide on that branch of Yin style, I would definitely recommend Zhu over Wang Shangzhi). I have heard the same thing about Ma Chuanxu as mentioned above by Swede, his rates are high and he makes beginners do a lot of circle-walking. I was pretty unimpressed with what I saw of Zhang Quanliang, especially when compared with some other of Li Ziming's disciples who I have seen on video.

josh wrote: he makes beginners do a lot of circle-walking.

Isn't that normal? I would be quite worried about a bagua teacher that would not emphasize circle-walking!

Thanks for the replies guys.

Gao Jiwu is someone i didn't know much about. So thanks for the info on him, i also dug out my old Bagua journal and read a little about his father. He defo sounds interesting, is there anything on the web that i can find out about him? (I have a quick search myself in a second)

[EDIT: Found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovkKiXedfNY and this http://www.51bgz.com/index.html (in chinese)]

I knew Ma Chuanxu emphsised the basics but i am happy with that also. And if i can return to Beijing regularly i could live with it.Though i am only goin for 6 months next year the new bullet train means i can be in Beijing in 4 hours from Shenyang so i will plan to returning every couple of months or so afterwards (family allowing!)

Thanks for the info on Zhu Baozhen as well, always good to hear from people who have 1st hand experience with a teacher.

Josh, still studying Tongbeiquan but my teacher's main thing is taiji, so i feel my tongbei is not progressing, though i will continue to practice it in conjunction with my taiji. (The jibengong fits very well with the taiji single movement stuff we do). So going to see your teacher would perhaps be a very good thing from that point of view and definately an idea at that.

Allan,

I can help you contact some of the aforementioned teachers, and others. PM me if you need anything.

regards,

Plante wrote:

josh wrote: he makes beginners do a lot of circle-walking.

Isn't that normal? I would be quite worried about a bagua teacher that would not emphasize circle-walking!

I'm not saying that it's a bad thing for teachers to emphasize the basics, but I would not want to spend the kind of money that people of Ma's rank usually charge for privates, just to spend the majority of my class time doing circle walking; maybe get some corrections but I'd rather do that kind of practice on my own time. Again, I don't have any personal experience with him, but what I have heard "through the grapevine" corresponds very closely with Swede's statement above.

I get your point.

Gao Jiwu's baguazhang is basically another flavor of Liang style (from Guo Gumin) a bit different from that of Li Ziming's line.

Zhang Quanliang is also a disciple of Wang Peisheng, so he has that influence as well.

Others in Beijing include Wen Dasheng (Fan style), Wang Zhengting (Cheng style), Xu Shixi (Yin style), etc...

(Also, He Junbao should be He Jinbao.)

Well, that's all from me!