Pakua Wrestling By Brian Kennedy The audiences screams, in the cage the two fighters slam into each other both fighting for a superior position, a quick burst of pummeling leaves one of them with a body lock, he suplexes his opponent and his arm is raised in victory. Across town in the quiet of a park, a lone Bagua student walks the circle going through the 8 techniques that make up the Chinese martial art of Bagua. He quietly and calmly stares at his hand as he with light footwork quickly spins around the circle. It is a study in contrasts and it would seem that these two martial practices would have nothing in common but the Chinese martial art of Bagua and the wrestling tactics used in mixed martial arts do have many things in common, in fact their core fighting principles are identical. This might surprise people who are used to thinking of Bagua as the most intellectual or esoteric of the Chinese martial arts while mixed martial arts wrestling might be seen by some as the epitome of brute strength and crude techniques. Both views are mistaken; high level wrestling is as sophisticated as any other martial art and Bagua’s origins lie in Chinese wrestling and not is esoteric talk about the I-Ching. Modern day Bagua systems fall into two major categories, those deriving from the Cheng Tinghua system and those deriving from Yin Fu. The Cheng systems are slightly older than the Yin Fu systems and while Yin Fu’s system relied more on striking, the Cheng systems were based on Chinese wrestling. Although most modern versions of Cheng Bagua focus on the esoteric aspects of it, when the system was first developed its forte was close quarters standup grappling. Many, if not most, of the techniques in Cheng style Bagua are designed to tie up the opponent and then dump them on the ground. This is exactly what Greco-Roman wrestling brings to mixed martial arts and therein lies the similarity. Bagua “in your face” attitude An ‘in your face” attitude is not the normal image of Cheng style Bagua, Cheng style Bagua is normally put forward as some kind of “calm moving meditation”, which it certainly can be. Nonetheless when it was first developed it was developed as a hardcore martial art and reading some of the legends about the early generations of Bagua practitioners the impression one gets is that they certainly had an “in your face’ attitude. For example the founder of Cheng style Bagua was Cheng Tinghua. He died in a hail of German bullets when, armed just with a set of daggers, he single handedly rushed a group of German soldiers who had been looting and assaulting Chinese. Laying aside history, in practice both Cheng style Bagua and MMA wrestling focus on this “in your face” aggressiveness because to apply either system you are going to have to literally be face to face, torso to torso with the opponent. Wrestling and Cheng style Bagua are not for fighters who like to stand out at a distance and deal with opponents at long range. Developing this aggressive mentality requires constant training and mental training is very much a part of traditional Bagua. The internal martial arts of China, and Bagua is an internal art, emphasize the control of the mind and the ability to place oneself in certain mental states. What has to be added is a mindset, a mentality of aggressively getting way into the opponents personal space and staying there till the fight is over. The best practical way to train this is simply to have your “Bagua wrestling coach” encourage you to quickly and aggressively close with the opponent. An aggressive attitude is a habit and habits are built by repetition. One of the advantages of Bagua wrestling is that it can be practiced full speed and force against resisting opponents on a fairly regular basis. The way to build an aggressive Bagua wrestling attitude is to spar and to have your coach verbally push you towards that attitude. Again it may seem un-Bagua to talk about “aggressive Bagua” but is the way the art originally was. 4 Phase Approach This aggressive attitude comes out in the basic approach of the art. Cheng style Bagua when used offensively requires a four phase approach; closing the gap, getting a tie up, getting your hips properly set against the opponent’s and then doing the trip, throw or projection. Closing the gap entails four elements, the decisive courage to do so, getting an angle, foot speed and defensive arm formation. Taking them in order, the Bagua wrestler must use their “in your face aggressiveness” to fuel their courage to decisively move towards the opponent. In a combat situation it is not easy to have the guts to close the gap; there is a natural tendency to either stay out of range or make some half hearted attempt at closing the gap. The latter is suicide, once the decision is made to go, you must go full tilt. Foot speed, which has been developed by circle walking, is necessary or the opponent will simply dance away from you. But as important as foot speed is moving in at an angle. You do not step directly into your opponent, rather you will move in at an angle. In order to protect your head you will hold your arms folding in some manner across your face and solar plexes. If you have chosen a good angle you should not take any shots going in, but keeping your arms in a defensive posture is nonetheless wise counsel. Once you get close enough to grab the opponent you will use some tie up to control them. Tie ups are arrangements of your arms, hip and head that will allow you to control your opponent. Cheng style Bagua shares with MMA wrestling the usual tie ups such as double overhooks, underhooks, collar ties and wrist controls. In the process of closing the gap and getting your tie up you have to position your hips in what is called “the danger zone”; which is the space between his two legs. You need to get your advanced leg deep in between his and get under his hips. The key points are: 1. your hips have to get through his legs 2. your hips have to be under his hips so he is basically ridding on your leg 3. your hips have to be at a 90 degree angle to his If you can do these three things you will get a dominate hip position and that is what will allow you to dump the opponent. The most common mistakes people make with this are: 1. Having your hips aligned with his-this puts both of you in an equal position, you want him in the worst position. 2. Not stepping in deep enough, many people keep far too much distance between themselves and the opponent. Standup grappling, be it Cheng Bagua or MMA wrestling, is “up close and personal”. That fact brings up a common failing of many Bagua applications that one sees. Many of the commonly seen Bagua applications are utterly unrealistic because they are attempted at too great of a distance from the opponent. The basic rule of thumb on applications is, if you can see daylight between the fighters, then they are too far away and the application is going to fail. Once you have the opponent locked in, the final step, dumping them, should be quite easy. Most of the technique discussion in Cheng style Bagua talks about the final technique, the move that dumps the opponent, but in fact without the previous steps being carried out correctly no matter which of the hundreds of Cheng Bagua techniques you choose they are not going to work. In contrast if you got the opponent tied up right, a simple spin of your hips will put him on the concrete. Moving in circles Of course Bagua is about circles. The most obvious trait of Bagua is its circle walking which entails the student walking around a 6 to 10 foot circle, stopping from time to time to perform one of the Bagua techniques then rapidly spinning back to walk the other direction along the circle’s circumference. This circle walking has two direct connections with the wrestling aspects of Bagua. First the circle walking is supposed to increase the speed of one’s footwork. In traditional Chinese martial arts thinking, people study Bagua usually for one specific reason, which is to increase their foot speed. Fast footwork is obviously important for closing the gap on the opponent which as we mentioned is a key component of the Bagua attack strategy. Circle walking involves spinning motions when the practitioner reverses directions. This involves quick hook steps in and out, in Cheng Bagua these are called “bai bu” and “kou bu”. In combat what a skilled Bagua wrestler will do is once they get a tie up then constantly move the opponent in circles making the opponent try and catch up to your movements. This is extremely important but often overlooked part of standup Bagua grappling. Many people when they get a tie up will stand there, face to face, torso to torso with the opponent. The is wrong and traditional Bagua teaches it is wrong. It is wrong because it is a neutral position, in combat you want a superior position and the way to get that is to move the opponent so he is always at right angles to you. Bagua footwork will allow you to move side to side in relation to the opponent while keeping whatever tie up you have. The purpose of this is to move the opponent and then either dump him or nail him with an elbow or uppercut. Traditional Cheng Bagua prefers the elbow and one their famous techniques is called “Tyrant ties his elbow” which is an upward elbow strike. Control the Head Any good wrestler knows that if you can control the opponent’s head you can control him. Cheng style Bagua knows this too and a number of their tactics involve getting collar ties on the opponent and using that to control them. Collar ties can be either single or double. Single collar ties are where you get one of your hands around the back of the opponent’s neck or head; a double collar tie is using both of your hands to pull down his head. Some teachers will advise on a double collar tie to put the hands either right at the base of the skull where it connects with the neck but others advise getting the hands higher on the opponent’s head, almost to the crown of their head. Cheng style Bagua teaches on the single collar tie to not simply grip the neck with your arms straight. This is a mistake because it allows the opponent to simply slip out of the tieup. The better way is to use a “Z” collar tie where your forearm and elbow press into his chest. This makes it significantly harder for him to “pop out” of the tieup. The Cheng Bagua form that directly addresses this is known as “White Ape Presents Peach”. On the defensive side one of Cheng Bagua’s chief structural requirements is to keep the head upright. Students are constantly reminded of this by their teachers and its emphasis reminds the student of the dangers of getting their head caught. The “White Snake Twists its Body” technique has the practitioner suddenly shooting their head up from a bent over position. The purpose is to develop the explosive power to “get their head back” from an opponent who has got a collar tie on them. Cheng style Bagua students who really want to improve their combat skills or study the traditional techniques of that art would do well to invest the time and money in learning a bit about modern standup grappling as it is used in mixed martial arts. Many of the drills, the physical conditioning programs and the techniques are directly applicable to Cheng style Bagua. Better Bagua Understanding the wrestling aspects of Cheng style Bagua will help improve one’s Bagua performance. Too often with Bagua the combat aspects are lost and the student is left wondering what exactly they are trying to do and why. Bagua has a rich martial heritage and that heritage lies in its wrestling principles, understand them and you will have better Bagua.
It's an interesting article, and one that makes some valid points. There is definitely a kinship between Ba Gua and wrestling technique, and there is definitely a case to be made for incorporating a martial attitude in one's Ba Gua practice, and these are points that Mr. Kennedy succeeds in making. However..... I would offer that Ba Gua is also a striking art, and that this aspect of it is equal to its grappling components. Aggressiveness in Ba Gua is not the adrenaline charged state many arts cultivate, but a calm fearlessness. This distinction, fundamental as it is, is easy to gloss over, and easier still not to recognize at all. The author then states that a Ba Gua practitioner has to "literally be face to face, torso to torso with the opponent." Torso to torso, maybe, but not face to face. One of the core strategies of Ba Gua is to get behind the opponent, or at least to the side of them. In their space, definitely, but not literally in their face. Lastly, while Ba Gua techniques definitely appear circular, the art is not about circles as the author states, but about spheres and spirals. Circles are two dimensional. Spheres and spirals are three dimensional.
Fair comment, which I'd agree with. I feel similarly toward tai chi - in that the wrestling, striking, kicking and qinna should be viewd as a whole. and sometimes to over emphasize one too much or one element over another is to short change the art on some level. particularly when looking at self defence applicability. It has always been and always will be safer and easier to train grappling skills. Like Kano, the taichi chuan masters discovered the same simple truth in my opinion. As well some of them had family history by way of wrestling backround. . i would point out how the writer is primarily talking about Cheng Style Bagua. Knowing Cheng was a Chinese wrestler it is probably fair to say that his fighting style/system was geared more toward grappling than striking as being the decisive method in overcoming an opponent. or you could say favoured.. So while over all you are correct re. Bagua, perhaps in the context (Cheng bagua) framed by the Author, he is "as correct" in his observations.. perhaps. Basically a general observation, that thin Yin favoured striking, and spectacles Cheng liked to dump you in the concrete. To be fair to the author, i don't think he in any way meant to promote an "adrenaline charged state" in the useage of bagua.. Although anyone who claims to have a complete mastery over there adrenal systems to the point of negation when faced with an a real attack from a dangerous person might be viewed with a certain suspicion. On further inspection, one might even conclude that calm and fearlessness (as far as that is humanly practicle and beneficial) is a state as much cultivated and coveted by many arts and martial artist/ fighters. Agreed.. But again for the sake of fairness I don't think the author meant that particular turn of phrase literally. Yourhonour I point to his discussing of ideal hip placements at 90 degrees and the importance of entering at angles. Well yea.. I guess people are 3 dimensional.. but then they are not physically like spheres or spirals either. In either case it's just simple theoretical talk. (description) There to get us moving and thinking in interesting ways - in my opinion. All three are valid descriptions of something or other found in the learning and practicing of the internal arts. Our movement can be traced in 2 dimensions - as you say, giving a circular appearance. Appreciate your thoughts on the article.
Very nice article. Now I'll be historically nitpicky. As Yin was Tung's senior student,his PK is older than Cheng's. Other than the fact that every CMA seems to have at least some stand up grappling and downing,there is no basis to state that PK's origins lie in wrestling. Cheng's PK places more of an emphasis in that area as that was his background. (However,in spite of this it was Cheng who was hurled through a doorway by Yin, and not vice versa, over a disagreement while in Tung's presence). Not all balance attacks require grappling, and Yin's PK preference,due to his being taught Lohan by Tung, was more striking oriented. Tung taught his basic system to his students and their expression of it was a result of their previous backgrounds-note that if one had no experience to speak of he taught Lohan first, a striking system. If PK was truly originally based on wrestling it seems odd that a striking system would be taught,rather than basic wrestling. And now, a question- Has it ever been determined for sure how Cheng died?Many times over the years I've read both the death in the Boxer Rebellion story,and also that this was untrue,and he died after the rebellion.Last I remember the latter was given more credence. cloudz- "It has always been and always will be safer and easier to train grappling skills. Like Kano, the taichi chuan masters discovered the same simple truth in my opinion. As well some of them had family history by way of wrestling backround." Not enough wrestling background, I guess.The Wu family in Canada practices Judo after TC class, as someone in the family was bested by a Judoka at some point.
No, I would agree in that I don't think bagua was based on anything particularly by way of striking or wrestling etc.. My understanding of it is that it's not itself really a CMA system in the typical sense, more like a deep "make over" type process for your gong fu - hence the teaching of Lohan for the intial dose of gong fu, or there was in place the often talked about pre requisite of having an MA under the belt so to speak. It was often said Dong wouldn't teach someone without any MA backround. That may or may not exactly be the case, I'm not sure.. As you say he may have taught Lohan. Or perhaps Yin was a special case ? Not sure, like you I've heard the story of how he went for a bunch of German soldiers amid the days of the Boxer rebellion.. ha, well.. I was indeed thinking back some generations. The Wu family back then had a Manchurian backround, going back to Quan You s' time. It's just what I've heard, so I wouldn't take it as any more than being hearsay - that due to their Manchurian roots the family history of that time included a backround of wrestling. Given the families military involvement at the time that possibly stretched back a few generations before Quan You, that seems logical and quite normal. It's due to his military involvment that Quan You subsequently came into contact with YLC. It has been offered as an explanation why it seems that Wu style application tends to show or favour more of a grappling bias in comparison to what's shown by other styles tcc applications. It sounds like a reasonable assumption - but I think that's all you can say it is, an assumption. In my opinion there is no or little comparison to be made with the current Wu family. Those in Canada do well to practice whatever wrestling style is available to them, as I'm sure Quan You and probably his son had some decent working knowledge of Chinese wrestling..
Wow, interesting read. You guys sure know your stuff . Wrestling seems to have been very important. I heard somewhere that it was a meter of a styles potential, that they would always test stuff against grapplers to gauge its effectiveness. Bagua has plenty of escapes-to control type moves with uber powerfull palmstrikes . Cheng Bagua 8 Major Palms, must see on u-tube, amazing skills (Cheng Bagua 4th generation practitioner Yang Fuyu of Hebei)
Hello Cloudz, Very interesting article. I have no background in Chinese MA so I will not comment on any aspect. I have however seen some interesting demonstrations of the Ba Gua techniques which were essentially 8 strategic footwork options and corresponding strikes if I remember correctly. I am fascinated by this system and would very much like to see a video demonstration of the concepts you describe in your article. From one who does not study Ba Gua I feel this would be a good way to convey your point to a wider audience, should this be your intention. Dao
