Imperial Baguazhang

[I-mon]

I like this performance. Does anyone know anything about it?

[Franklin]

wang zhuang fei branch of bagua

wang zhuangfei learned from gong baotien

[eshan]

I like this performance. Does anyone know anything about it?

Wang Zhuang Fei Bagua as Franklin said.
A very interesting branch of Gong Bao Tian´s Bagua.
My teacher learned with Wang Zhuang Fei and I believe with his son Wang Han Zhi as well.
His moves have pretty much the same flavour as the video, only difference is he keeps the back more straight.

I´m not sure why they call this branch Imperial though.

[Franklin]

re- imperial palace bagua

i was told it was called this- because that was what was taught inside the palace to the guards
or whoever was learning inside the palace because it was their job (not the royalty)


franklin

[winhawkman]

re- imperial palace bagua

i was told it was called this- because that was what was taught inside the palace to the guards
or whoever was learning inside the palace because it was their job (not the royalty)


franklin

Gong Bao Tian宮寶田　（1870-1943） lineage is basically the eunuch side of the Dong Hai Chuan 董海川
i.e. Dong Hai Chuan - Yin Fu - Gong Bao Tian

These men were all said to be eunuchs and worked inside the palace. Gong Bao Tian was said to be guarding the Empress Dowager 西太后. Guarded her and her entourage during the Boxer Rebellion (1900). He then was awarded "the yellow vest", a highest honor for eunuchs, by the Empress for his service. He retired from palace service in 1905. Gong then started to teach commoners (i.e. non-imperial folks)

[yeniseri]

The naming, or addition of the word "Imperial": was all about patronage, market visibility and affiliation with EMpress Dowager as diety, is pattern and practice of increasing the family heirloom to make more impressive than it is! Nothing is wrong with that but can the specific art perform as it is purported to do. I am imagining that this is the main criteria, or at best, a showstopper for those gymnastically inclined regarding nandu and sport performance.

Happy New Year 2016

[onebir]

Apart from kudos-gathering I think it might get called 'Imperial' because the full name "Yin Style Gong Branch Bagua Quan"* is a bit of a mouthful (looks like it's 尹氏宫式/派八卦拳).

*http://www.smilingtiger.net/Research%20on%20Gong%20Baotian.pdf

I was surprised to see a comment that Gong Bao Tian was a eunuch; he did have at least one child (Gong Bao Zhai). But I guess accidents can happen even in eunuchland

[lars]

Gong Bao Tian was said to be guarding the Empress Dowager 西太后. Guarded her and her entourage during the Boxer Rebellion (1900). He then was awarded "the yellow vest", a highest honor for eunuchs, by the Empress for his service. He retired from palace service in 1905. Gong then started to teach commoners (i.e. non-imperial folks)

Wasnt it Yin Fu, who is said to have escorted the Empress Dowager?

(sorry to derail)

[shawnsegler]

I'm pretty sure, neither Yin fu or GBT were eunuch's although they were both imperial sword carrying rank imperial bodyguards.

Gong Bao Zhai wasn't Gong Bao Tian's son, I think he was a nephew or they were from the same village or something (Hejinghan would be the guy to ask) Gong Bao Tian's Bagua is Based on the Lohan quan but when he was older (and an opium addict) he taught some people just kind of what they asked for rather than the system as he was taught and taught. So the story as I heard it is that Wang Zuang Fei just wanted fighting and so he got whatever he got but it isn't the lohan based bagua. Its real twisty and doesn't seem to have the structure the lohan stuff incorporates into it. Liu Yun Qiao got it but minus a bunch of the basics since he had those from other systems. Fu style has some of the same palace Lohan forms most notably Bagua Paochui which is their leopard form? Memory fades.

Anyway, I think that's all correct but it's what I heard, I wasn't there so don't quote me. Like I said. HJH is the guy to ask.

Best,

S.

[onebir]

Gong Bao Zhai wasn't Gong Bao Tian's son, I think he was a nephew or they were from the same village or something.

Oops I stand corrected! Does anyone have info on that lineage in China (especially Shandong)? English sources are really scant. Apart from the Smiling Tiger pdf I only managed to dig up a blog post re Huang Zhicheng (since deceased ) & Zhang Jipu* who seems too have been very old even 15-odd years back.

Outside China we seem to associated Shandong mainly with Tanglang, but It seems several other traditional CIMA styles (notable Gong Bagua, Shang Xingyi) should still have strong roots there.

*http://centeredandharmony.blogspot.co.il/2009/12/2001-trip-to-learn-more-about-my-ba-gua.html