Baguazhang

Baguazhang (Chinese八卦 掌, Pa Kua Chang W.-G. ) is a Chinese martial arts or Wushu style and is one of the so-called " internal martial arts " (内 家 拳Chinese, Pinyin Neijiaquan, short neijia ). Baguazhang is one of the intangible cultural heritage of the People's Republic of China (No. 797 ).

Importance

" Ba " means the number eight. " Gua " is an oracle character, in this case a trigram from the I Ching ( "Book of Changes " or "Classic of Changes" ), which consists of three either solid ☰ ( Yáng - the male principle and the sky ) or broken lines ☷ ( Yin - the female principle and the earth ) is. All combinations result in eight possible trigrams, the Ba Gua, which is also in Feng Shui is very important. " Zhang " means palm. It is here instead of the " Quan ", which means " fist " and is found in most Chinese martial arts in the name, such as in "Shaolin Quánfǎ " ( Shaolin Kung Fu ).

Style

The two most striking and distinguishing features of Baguazhang are running in a circle and the spiral body movements. Furthermore, techniques are in Baguazhang with the open hand over fist punches and other techniques in the foreground. The basic Baguabewegungen include eight small shapes that are executed each mirror in the two directions of the circle. From these eight basic techniques can then be hundreds of highly effective applications derived.

The importance of Eight

The number eight plays a very important role in Bagua. On the one being run in a circle at Bagua. A complete circle is to be executed in eight steps. Furthermore, the eight steps are related to the eight cardinal directions north, east, south, west, northeast, southeast, southwest and northwest. The night also refers to the eight general directions of life: success, family, fame, work, health, future, knowledge and relationships.

History

The origins of Baguazhang are not just to clarify. As one of the internal martial arts, it should go back to the traditions of the Taoist monasteries of Wudang Mountains. It is said to have evolved from a walking meditation in a circle around incense burner. Even today Baguazhang is practiced in Wudang.

Secured is the appearance of Baguazhang and the use of the name since the mid-19th century by Dong Hai Chuan in Beijing. Due to many very fragmented lines of tradition, there is a variety of styles in Baguazhang, but which differ only slightly in some cases. The most famous of these Bagua styles are the Cheng style Bagua according to Cheng Ting Hua and Yin style Bagua by Yin Fu, both direct disciple of Dong Hai Chuan. The Cheng style Bagua is the better-known by far Bagua, and most other Bagua styles quite strongly resemble him. It is characterized by especially soft, liquid spiral movements and is very visually appealing. The Yin style Bagua is characterized to a greater extent by powerful, explosive movements and is more oriented towards the application of the militant movement as the aesthetic impression or the pleasant feeling in the execution of movements.

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