The history of baguazhang is not long, so we are able to state quite clearly who learned from whom. Not many people learned Ma Gui's system of bagua, and we are still trying to find some older teachers who we have heard about.
The History & Lineage of the Ma Gui Bagua System by Neil Bates
“Our kung fu comes from Ma Gui. It uses low basin, small steps, and particularly heavy power and strength.” - Liu Wanchuan
It is widely accepted that the martial art we know as Baguazhang was brought out of the shadows by Dong Haichuan (1813-1884). Dong generally taught his martial art system to students who had already mastered extant fighting systems. The two largest contemporary branches of Baguazhang are those from the schools of Yin Fu (1840-1909) and Cheng Tinghua (1848-1900). Both of these men had extensive martial training prior to training with Dong. Yin Fu had studied a Shaolin based system, while Cheng was famed initially for his skills in Chinese wrestling. It is testament to the skill of Dong Haichuan that he was able to take martial artists who were already deep into their training and “upgrade” their techniques and skill levels, turning them into Bagua boxers.
Where Ma Gui is different is in that he started training with Dong without prior martial experience. Being only twelve years of age when he commenced training meant that Ma Gui was forced to undergo training designed to build a bagua body from the ground up. It is in this facet of the origins of our system that we begin to see why it is so unique. With no previous training to “flavour” his system, Ma Gui could be said to have been the student most open to the basic nuts and bolts training offered by Dong.
There are numerous stories about the skills of Ma Gui which have been passed down to us via the current lineage holder Li Baohua. We include these here as they give the reader a taste of the flavour of our style and help inspire us to reach for the heights scaled by our ancestors. We include them with a word of caution from Li Baohua, “We have no way of differentiating the true from the questionable”.
All practitioners of MaGui Bagua will be well acquainted with the stringent demands of circle walking. The bear walk is the engine of our system and it is from this that all of the body transformation and martial arts possibilities ultimately grow. Li Baohua relates the following story passed to him by Liu Wanchuan about the leg skills of Ma Gui:
“The baguazhang passed on by Ma Gui emphasizes the lower basin walking, so his lower legs were extremely thick. Lower basin walking means that the strength of the whole body is concentrated on the lower legs and feet, using the hidden strength of the bones and tendons. Ma Gui’s lower legs were so developed that the shin bone was completely protected by tissue. He often had Liu Wanchuan look at his shins, and would occasionally allow people to hit them with wooden or iron staffs”.
After his morning training, Ma Gui would reportedly:
“Walk from Ba Wang Fen to Tong Zhou (nowadays Tong Xian) and back again. That was a distance of 40 li [about 20 km], and moreover, he would be back on time for breakfast!”
Many stories have come down to us from the notes of Li Baohua regarding the martial skills of Ma Gui. While we might wonder at the authenticity we may also be inspired by the implied possibilities to be derived from the training of traditional Kung Fu.
“According to Wang Jiaofu, from Shenyang, of the Ma Weiqi lineage, Ma Gui went to the North West once and visited Li Wenbiao, a famous apprentice of Cheng Tinghua. Ma Gui did not introduce himself, just said he that he came to test skills. Li Wenbiao was highly skilled, his nickname one ‘Mr. One Grab’, meaning that his hands and wrists were so powerful that he just had to grab onto you and you would be in so much pain your whole body would go weak and you would drop to the ground, defeated. Li Wenbiao looked over and saw an old man who was not very tall but whose spirit shone out from large eyes. They started to spar. Li Wenbiao reached out to touch Ma Gui’s wrist, but as his hand closed to grab, it closed on nothing. Ma Gui was already standing on Li’s outstretched arm, one foot on his arm, the other touching lightly on his face. Li could do nothing but stand there supporting Ma, and finally said, “Old master, please come down.” Ma Gui jumped down and introduced himself. Li Wenbin was very happy because he had heard a lot about Ma Gui”.
Even in old age, Ma Gui would continue to train his skills. In particular, he was said to favour the triple chuan zhang (spearing palm); a basic and yet characteristic skill of the style.
“When Ma Gui was in his 80s he would still train the triple chuanzhang. To Liu Wanchuan, watching from the side, Ma Gui’s body looked very light, as if his feet did not even touch the ground”.
From Ma Gui the next person of note within the system is Li Shao’an (1888-1982). Li Shao’an was a native of Haiyang County, Shandong province who moved to Beijing where he opened the Yuchun restaurant in the Qianmen district of the city. This restaurant was soon to become a gathering place for Shandong natives and for many of the heavyweights of Baguazhang.
In his youth, Li Shao’an had received training from both Yin Fu and in the courtyard of Cheng Tinghua. It is worth mentioning here that Yin Fu’s influence returns again and again in our lineage. At various times he taught Ma Gui, Li Shao’an, and Liu Wanchuan’s uncle, Liu Qingfu. Ma Gui was primarily a student of Dong Haichuan, but he also trained with Yi Fun, because he was a friend of Ma’s father. It was Liu Qingfu who told Liu Wanchuan that Ma Gui was the best, and that he should try to train with him – suggesting to us that the teaching differed by that time. The crisscrossing influences make the two lineages perhaps present day ‘cousins’.
Li Shao’an first got to know Ma Gui through the Yuchun restaurant. Li Shao’an became acquainted with Ma Gui quite late in Ma’s life when he had fallen upon hard times financially. Moved by the plight of Ma, Li Shao’an began to help him out and provide for him financially. At this juncture it is possible to see a little more of the characteristics of our style beginning to see the light. According to the records of Li Baohua
“Once Li Shao’an learned from Ma Gui he became like ‘a tiger that has grown wings’. His drawing palm (daishou) was practiced to perfection. He became known as Iron Arm Li. What is drawing palm? It a technique used in a fight to grab and pull the opponent so he falls behind you. Why did Li Shao’an prefer this technique? Because drawing palm does not injure the person. It is a way of winning a fight without injury – a high level technique”.
Once again, we move into the realm of oral history and allow stories of the old masters to afford us a glimpse of the possibilities offered by rigorous practise of the skills of MaGui Baguazhang. Why did Li Shao’an gain the name of “Iron Arm Li”?
“One day the restaurant delivery boy had taken a meal to Bada alley, and they refused to pay, preferring to give him a beating. Li Shao’an went to talk to them, but they still refused to pay. This was a gang of bodyguards, not afraid of anyone or anything, and certainly not afraid of Li Shao’an.
How could Li Shao’an allow this? In his youth he had come through the hails of bullets of the Boxer Rebellion. In his young adulthood he had been a sword carrying bodyguard for many years. Now he had matchless martial skills. He was one who looked on wealth as so much garbage, but he could not allow anyone to beat his people for the price of a meal.
The thugs surrounded him. He said that he didn’t care if they didn’t pay, but he wanted to have a sparring match. In an instant Li had tossed these big thugs on the ground like so many chickens. They looked at each other in blank dismay, and finally asked his pardon with hands folded in front.
This affair was as simple as that. But these big bodyguards had worked for so many years in such a rough world and had never met anyone so tough [translator’s note: and, as professional’s, probably needed to emphasize how tough he was to save face]. They spread the word that the Yuchun Restaurant owner had amazing kungfu, that his arms were as hard as iron, that you couldn’t grab him. This is how Li Shao’an came to be known as Iron Arm Li”.
Another version of this story has Li Shao’an allowing some squabbling children to bite his arms just for fun! Once again we are reminded of the possibilities inherent in the training methods of Ma Gui Baguazhang.
It was through the relationship of Li Shao’an that Liu Wanchuan was now drawn into the Ma Gui orbit. According to Li Baohua
“One day, Li Shao’an had invited Ma Gui to the restaurant, and they were sitting at a table in the back courtyard drinking tea and chatting. Liu Wanchuan was particularly excited because his uncle Liu Qingfu had often told him, “In Beijing, old Ma’s skill is the best, no one can compare to him.” Liu Wanchuan hurried from the front desk to the washroom in the courtyard, walking as fast as an arrow. As he came out of the washroom, hardly taking the time to arrange his clothes, he unwittingly crossed the courtyard doing changing steps threading palms (chuanzhang).
Ma Gui noticed him and said to Li, “Who is this young man? He’s not bad.” Li said, “You don’t know him? He’s Rice Liu’s nephew.” And he called Liu Wanchuan over to introduce him.
Ma Gui took a look at Liu Wanchuan’s manner and said, “He could really succeed at training the deep skills of baguazhang!” At this word, with one lucky chance, the history of one hundred years of baguazhang was settled”.
What follows are memories of Liu Wanchuan, the first being from the memory of Li Shou, his son-in-law.
“Liu Wanchuan was a gentleman, generous to people, and gave no thought to personal gain or loss. He always did things wholeheartedly, and excelled at ‘eating bitter’. He told me many times; ‘You must not study martial arts randomly, you must seek its essence. Training martial arts is not to show off, but to use appropriately. You must be ready to use your skills if necessary, but you must not go looking for a fight, and certainly must not injure anyone without reason. You must not use your skills lightly or randomly, must be modest when sparring, and know the proper limits in a sparring match.’ When he taught he always encouraged students to develop their characters so that they always behaved properly and always did the right thing. Liu Wanchuan was a true role model, he was as good a character as he was a fighter.”
Liu Wanchuan clearly took his training under Ma Gui very seriously. Below are some recollections of his skills, both in Baguazhang and in iron palm and the Seven Star Staff. These recollections come from Liu Wanchuan’s nephew, Liu Enmin.
“My fourth uncle didn’t just have great baguazhang. He was also really great in iron palm and seven star staff. When he visited at home he would daily hit a bag filled with iron sand, to train his iron palm. They say that he could put mung beans on a flat stone and turn them all to powder with a light slap.
One day as my third uncle was leading his ox out to work he passed his brother training. He laughingly said, “I see you training all the time, but don’t really know if you’ve really got kungfu or not. Why don’t you hit my ox to show me?” My fourth uncle lightly slapped the ox, at which it moaned and shook all over in pain. My third uncle exclaimed, “Wow, I guess you have real kungfu after all!” My fourth uncle said, “If I really slapped it I would have broken its bones.”
Liu Wanchuan was prevented by the political circumstances in China from teaching until his later years. Liu Wanchuan taught several students and in an echo to the teaching methodology of Dong Haichuan, he tended to teach people slightly differently depending upon their prior training experience.
Of this generation of the Ma Gui lineage, Bi Jie is one of Liu Wanchuan's earliest students. He wrote down many of Liu Wanchuan's verbal teachings. He is one of the few to have learned the routine paochui. Thankfully, Fan Yaohua was one practitioner who did much to preserve the teaching and skills of the system. A native of Hebei province, he learned from Liu Wanchuan for forty years. Although he was learning mainly for enjoyment, he was able to retain many of the traditional routines and to help preserve them for modern day practitioners.
In addition, amongst Liu Wanchuan’s main students were Pan Guangzhang (1924-1999), from Shandong. He met Liu Wanchuan where they worked in the same Beijing factory and is the student who trained with Liu the longest time. Sun Wuling (1921-2001) was a famous all round bagua master, studying both Yin Fu and Cheng Bagua in his youth. In the 1960s he learned from Li Shao'an and Guo Guming. In the 70s he once again met with Li Shao'an in Shandong. At that time Li Shao'an was over ninety years old, so he encouraged Sun to go back to Beijing to learn from Liu Wanchuan. From 1981 to 1993 Sun travelled between his home in Jilin in the northeast and Beijing to train with Liu Wanchuan. Another convert from the Cheng system was Li Wenling who following a career in the army where he learned many fighting styles, gained an introduction to Liu Wanchuan and began to learn the Ma Gui system.
A key figure for modern day exponents of the Ma Gui system is Yu Zhiming, the teacher of current lineage holder, Liu Baohua.
Yu Zhiming (1918- ) was originally from Shandong province and like many before him he was drawn into the Bagua orbit after moving to Beijing. He trained with Liu Wanchuan for over thirty years. Liu Wanchuan taught a lot of students, but Yu Zhiming is a key personality within the system as he was the main Bagua teacher of the current lineage holder. Lui Baohua provides the following details about his teacher via his website
“Yu Zhiming was born in Hai Yang county, Shandong province. He began to learn bagua from the famous bagua master Liu QingFu when he was 16 years old. He trained very hard for three years, but had to move to Beijing because there were a series of kidnappings in his hometown at that time. After moving to Beijing he had to support himself and his new family and was unable to continue training. Due to his busy work schedule, and a shortage of food at that time, he developed a serious stomach disease.
At the end of the 1960's, he met Liu Wanchuan in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution. He began to learn bagua from Master Liu, and spent more than twenty years learning from him and inheriting the complete Ma Gui bagua system. He achieved a very high level of bagua, he was especially good at the stretching palm, the spearing palm, the shoving palm, striking with the shoulder, the dragging palm, the pressing-down palm, and the covering palm. He was also very good at the bagua kicking techniques, and his understanding of the internal dan tian training reached an especially high level”.
Yu Zhiming continues to live in Beijing and has now passed on the title of lineage holder to his student Li Baohua.
Li Baohua had previous training before he came to the Ma Gui system. He spent almost ten years learning Ma Weiqi bagua, Yang style Taiji, and Xing Yi from his teacher Shi. In 1986 he began to learn Cheng style bagua, a style he pursued for four years. In 1989 he was fortunate enough to meet Ma Gui bagua inheritor Yu Zhiming.
The history of Baguazhang is one peopled by colourful characters whose approaches to training, health and combat continue to inspire us continued dedication in raising our skills to ever higher levels. In the words of Li Baohua:
“The training is bitter but the results are sweet. You pour out your muddiness in sweat and gain purity of spirit and qi”.
article by Neil Bates, grassroots instructor at Basingstoke, UK.
