Fan Family Baguazhang was created by Fan zhiyong (1840-1922) of Zheng Bai Banner in Manchu nationality. Fan, also called “Fan the Madman”, started martial arts practice in bus childhood and for eight years learnt mainly Shaolin boxing and Tan Tui. Later, being already a skilful martial artist , Fan became Dong Haichuan’s discipic and studied Baguazhang with Dong. After years of hard practice, Fan received true transmission from his teacher and achieved a high level of skill. He was not only very powerful, but also proficient in free fighting and Qinna.
In 1898 Fan zhiyong, invited by Liu Baozhen ,moved with whole family to Gu’an County in Hebei Province, and stayed there for three years. At that time in Xi Hong Buddhist Temple he killed at a famous local gang leader, a bandit called “Hei Luozi “(Black Mule) , This incident was witnessed by Fan’s daughter, Fan Fenglan, at that time fourteen years old.
In the first years of the Republic of China (1911-1949), Lu Jinggui in his “Complete Manual of Gao”s Baguazhang” in the part on Dong Haichuan, wrote : (……)the most famous of his disciples were six man :Yin Fu, Cheng Tinghua, Ma Weiqi, Song Changrong, Liu Fengchun and Fan the Madman. Fan Zhiyong once spent 49 days in Prince Su Palace alone with Dong Haichuan where he learnt Buddhist and Taoist combined method called “Wu Ji Baguazhang”, also called “Nei Quan Baguazhang” (Inner Circle Haguazhang).
Inner Circle Baguazhang does not have fixed routines, but , everytime it is practiced it becomes a natural routine. However, since Fan zhiyong practiced external boxing prior to Bagua studies, there are fixed weapons and empty hands routines in his style.
Inner Circle Baguqzhang is practiced in a following way :
Beginners should first practice basic exercises like “Zhang Gong “(Standing Pole Method ) and “Dan Cao Zhang” (Single Technique Palm).Then ,after a year of two , the teacher takes them to a room where they first pay respect to the pictures of Da Mo (Boddhidarma ) and Dong Haichuan , and then the teacher leads them through exercise (this method is similar to that used in Qigong practice with ;the exception that in Qingong there are only few movements, while Fan family method has palm and fist techniques, body movements , footwork ), The essentials for this method are :sincerity during practice , Intention guides all the movements , being natural, Length of practice depends on the hasic skill of practitioner and his Wuxing (power of understanding).
Since Fan Family Baguazhang has exceptional teaching methods , therefore the teacher is very careful about choosing students and teaches them very strictly . For this reason there were only few practitioners of this style . Fan Zhiyong taught Wang Zhi .Ning Hongliang, Li Zifan. Ao Qinghua, Tao Yongfu, Fan Fenglan, Shi Qingsheng and others However, most of them did not inherit the art, only Fan Fenglan and Shi Qingsheng passed it to few disciples.
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