Pa Kua Chang is a Chinese Martial Art thought to have been created in the middle of the 19th century by Tung Hai Ch’uan (Dong Haichuan).

It is characterized by complex palm turning, evasive footwork, walking the circle exercises, a circular nature, Taoist philosophy, ‘internal emphasis’ and excellent tactics and strategy. It also happens to be a part of the ‘nei ja’- a term describing all the internal martial arts or Taoist chi practices as one family. Pa Kua Chang is also a byword for adaptability as any and all means are used in defense inc. open hands, elbows, shoulders, arms, hips, knees, legs, feet, and the head plus throwing and joint-locking. It is these factors which separate it from the all pervasive Shaolin based martial arts. Indeed Pa Kua Chang offers a comprehensive analysis of the five traditional branches of the martial arts, Health, Healing, Peak Performance, Self-defense and Spirituality.

Stainable claim to be fully comprehensive and highly skilled as it is very well developed in the five integral elements of martial arts. Pa Kua Chang is Mandarin Chinese for ‘Eight Diagram’ Palm. Since there are three major systems for translating the language there are three corresponding ways of spelling and pronunciation. Pa Kua Chang is from the Wade-Giles option whereas Ba Gua Zhang is from the Pinyin system and Ba Gua Jang is from the Yale system. Wade-Giles is the most popular but Ba Gua Jang is probably the closest in pronunciation.

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