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The full name of the system:

GuangHua (Mountain) ZeZong TongYi Pai （广华哲宗同易派）(108 Moves)

4 Big parts: Beng(本)， Jie(解)， Chai(拆)， Bian(变)

Beng is for XianTian Parts, Jie is for HouTian Parts, Chai is for two people sets, Bian is for free sparring with what be learned.

Xian Tian Portion: 先天龙形穿化掌( dragon changing) (14)

1. The Four Types of Postures (4)

站	zhan	standing
靠	kao	leaning
行	xing	walking
卧	wo	lying down

2. Single Palm Change (1)

单换掌

dan huan zhang

Single Palm Change

3. Xiantian Eight Big Circle Changes (8)

a. Four "Animal" Changes

蛇形顺势掌	she xing shun shi zhang	snake form moving with the force palm
龙形穿手掌	long xing chuan shou zhang	dragon form piercing hands palm
虎形回身掌	Hu xing hui shen zhang	returning body hitting tiger palm
燕形盖手掌	Yan xin gai shou zhang	swallow overturning & covering strike palm

b. Four "Body" Changes

转身反背掌	zhuan shen fan bei zhang	turning body against back palm
拧身探马掌	ning shen tan ma zhang	twisting body probing horse palm
翻身背插掌	fan shen bei chan zhang	overturning body back sticking palm
停身搬扣掌	ting shen ban kou zhang	stopping body, moving capturing palm

4. 五龙摆尾掌: wu long bai wei zhang: Five Dragons wave tails palm (1)

一龙摆尾	yì lóng bǎi wěi	first dragon waves tail
二龙分水	èr lóng fēn shuǐ	second dragon splits the water
三龙探爪	sān lóng tàn zhuǎ	third dragon stretches claws
四龙显身	sì lóng xiǎn shēn	fourth dragon shows the body
五龙搅柱	wǔ lóng jiǎo zhù	fifth dragon clings on the pole
燕子穿林	yàn zi chuān lín	swallow flies through the forest
拨草寻蛇	bō cǎo xún shé	separate the grass to find the snake

Hou Tian Portion: 后天蛇形缠连掌( snake winding) (94)

5.  。 Tian Gan 天干(10項单操） / Heavenly Stems Power Training (10)

扳	ban	move
砍	kan	chop
鵰	diao	whipping knock
撞	zhuang	knock
靠	kao	lean
崩	beng	ruin, crush
抓	zhua	grab
掖	ye	press in
挫	cuo	obstruct
松	song	loose up

6. 64 HouTien Combat Palms (64)

7. 地支 。 Di Zi 12 Animal (12)

龙	long	dragon
虎	hu	tiger
蛇	she	snake
豹	bao	cougar
鹰	ying	eagle
鸡	ji	rooster
凤	feng	phoenix
狮	shi	lion
猫	mao	cat
猴	hou	monkey
熊	xiong	bear
马	ma	horse

8. 八趟缠掌 。 Ba Chan Tang Zhang (Eight Sticking Palms) (8)

清	Qing
明	Ming
齐	Qi
全	Quan
合	He
顾	Gu
连	Lian
备	Bei

This is a brief introduction of the 八纲( Ba Gang) of the XianTian part of the system. Especially when considering circle walking, these 8 principals are a kind of the guide line for the best practice.

The 8 words are:

掩	yan	cover
掖	ye	press
穿	chuan	bore/pierce
压	ya	push down
蹬	deng	push off w/back foot
趟	tang	plow
踩	cai	trample/stomp
中	zhong	center

The first 4 words are for the arms, the next 3 words are for the legs, and the last word is for the body.

Let us use the "dragon stretches it's claws" posture to explain the first 2 words: Yan and Ye.  Yan is for the upper arm. With the arm stretched out, the palm points up. All five fingers are straightened and the tiger's mouth is fully open. Start by sinking the shoulder and try to feel the power transfer right down to the heel of the palm. While you still have power from the shoulder and back, wrap your whole arm inward (for instance if it's a left arm then wrap it counter clockwise). Your elbow should be leading this movement, thus this also be called Yan Zhou (elbow).

If Yan is for the left arm then Ye will be for the right arm(the lower arm in this case).  When powered by the sinking and the twisting of the shoulder and back and then transfered by the elbow, the sinking kind of power can get right to the right palm's heel. The direction of the power points to the center of the circle you are walking and a little bit to your back. Now, your two arms are working against each other directionally and this will give you the feeling you are twisting a giant rope. These two words basically lock your upper body together,  and the pushing power from your right Ye palm will naturally "force" you to walk in a circle. By twisting the body and those two counter-opposing arm actions, you will feel the need to turn.

Thus in our system, walking the circle is not only to be done by Kou Bu and Bai Bu (feet and  stepping). Rather it is the result of the whole body twisting.

The other 2 words about the arms are : 穿(Chuan) and 压(Ya).  They come as a pair. I will use the final stage of "Single palm change" to explain them.  Let's use the example of when we have the the left arm stretch out and on top, and  right arm under the armpit (often called "Flower Under Leaf" or "Hiding the Flower Under/Between the Leaves" in some bagua styles).  Starting by slowly turning the body, the right hand lead the arm twisting, raising up and passing the head and uncoiling down at the other side of the body. The whole process is powered by uncoiling the twisted body. Usually we finish the change walking 8 steps around the circle. This right arm and hand movement is called Chuan. Now at the very beginning of the Chuan, the left arm on top (starting from the shoulder) starts to press down. There is not much visual movement of the left arm beside slowly uncoiling. This left arm pressing down  and trying to stop the raising of the right arm is called Ya. We get our own 2 arms against to each other until the last moment of the palm change. Thus Chuan and Ya in the Xian Tian 先天 usually come in a pair. One important note is not to let the shoulders up. These two words need real physical effort to do, not just some mental imagination or visualization. If we saw two snakes fighting by tightly coiling against each other, it would be very similar to what we want to see our two arms at this moment.

The first two words for the the Legs are 蹬(Deng) and 趟(Tang).

In the leg's portion of our "mud stepping", the rear leg is pushing the whole body's frame forward from the rear leg. Very simple but the key word here is "forward" not " upward"! The force must come down to the heel of the foot instead of ball of the foot. Also we don't do the low frame walk, because we think if the frame is too low, the leg will be struggling to hold the body weight, and not enough power will be available to push forward( which will be a useful force). Conversely if the frame is kept too high, then the leg will not bend enough to provide  the necessary force. The Chinese word for the rear leg pushing is called Deng 蹬 in our system.

For the front leg, our method stresses that while the rear leg pushing, the front foot heel must touch the ground, and, powered by the rear leg, it "plows" into the earth. This forces it along for about a foot or so of distance. In the beginning stages, we do the hard 'grinding' way, and this gives us a sinking feeling of our stepping. This will also prevent the floating and jumping sorts of problems.  In the first year of my circle walking, I made holes on my tough rubber shoes every 3 months. Later when we have that sinking feeling of our stepping, we don't grind that much, but still...  The Chinese word for this is called Tang 趟 (or Plow). So, The "mud" we are talking about here, it's really" thick mud". It needs real effort to "Plow" it open with the front foot.

The third word about the stepping is 踩 Cai , I think we can translate it to "step down". It is for the front foot Immediately after "Tang", the front foot steps down firmly, and at the same time transfers the body weight to the front leg and foot. This makes them ready to  become the next pushing leg. The key point of the Cai is that it is a solid step and we must keep balanced in between the transferring of the body weight.

The last word is for the body: 中 (zhong) means center. This means when we do the circle walking, we turn our body centerline and face to the center of the circle we are walking. By twisting the waist and hip, this whole body twisting plus the "Ye" palm pushing will make enough torque to turn us around in a circle.

This 8 words principles are not only are the guide lines for the circle walking, but also the basic requirements for the whole XianTian 8 palms practice.  The Eight Big Xiantien Palms are just some different expressions of those 8 words.

The other thing I would like to mention is when we do all those exercises, we don't do them in the relaxed way. The Jin is there from the beginning to the end. It is very physical demanding! It can make you sweaty and tired by just doing 10 circles of walking around each direction plus 2 sides of the single palm change. If you don't feel anything after that , it means either you are a super hero of cardio or you are missing some thing!

In the martial arts world, the Truth is "The fast beats the slow, and the strong beats the weak".

This sounds very lame, and maybe disappointing, does it not?

Internal martial art is not magic. It's just a different approach to power and speed than the approach most people follow. Fast is a relative term in the martial arts world. It is  about how fast your fist travels, but it is  also about how fast your opponent feels you are. The power is about mass and acceleration. The whole body power we are training now is to place  as much of our body mass behind the attack as possible. /we need the power to make the acceleration, the power sufficient to move that larger mass to accelerate from very low (perhaps even zero) to a certain speed over a short time. That power only our legs ( from the feet) can give us. That is why we are doing so much on the Deng and Tang steps to train that power. When we get the mass and power do the acceleration (mostly during the power transfer through our own body), then we don't need the distance to do the winding up, we can do the zero or very little distance Fajing. Speed is distance over time traveled, so to the opponent,  it can seem really really fast, because we minimize the distance, and our speed is hard to detect, making it seem faster (since it sometimes is only detected after the strike is felt).

The other kind of power we need in our system is the whipping power. That make the fist or palm travel like the tip of a whip. This kind of power is all about pure speed. The mass of the fist or palm are small, but the speed is very very high (powered by whole body wave like that of whip). The small mass times a high velocity can reach a peak, that energy also can cause a lot of damage.

Another factor is that  speed is as a quality of  two people interacting. For example, if your opponent charge at you and you (while facing him) step sideway forward( like our zig zag or seven star step), the time for you to be on his side gate will be cut in almost half. He is actually helping you to achieve your goal. If you simply back up, you will need twice of time to accomplish this compared to you standing still. So one can move relatively slow, but with the right timing and angles, one still can be fast enough to get where one wants.

Now, The strong beat the weak. here the strong is not about how much weight you can lift... it's first and foremost about the structure. A proper correct structure like a triangle  or the round kind of shape always beat the weak structures. Just look at the shape of the roofs in places where there is snow load expected!  Secondly  is the relative merits of a strong or weak position. When I stand at your side gate or flank and have your  center in my sights, but you do not have my center in your sights I don't need to be a superman to put you down. This is true even if one is facing a big strong opponent.

Some internal martial arts like Taijiquan looks like slow and soft. but when you know what you are aiming for, what the strategy of your game is, then you should be and seem very fast and strong. You don't need to speed up the form to create some so called 'Fast forms'. This is how internal power works in a nutshell.

What is this website I am reading?

  This is the website for the learning community associated with the Baguazhang teaching tradition of Wu Meng-Xia and Bi Motang, Wu is considered to be one of the best and most capable students of renowned Baguazhang master Gao Yi-Sheng. Everything on this website is tailored to helping the people who train under the tutelage of one of Master Wu's grandstudents,Mr. Yang Yusen, who resides in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Why is this material being taught? 

  The instructor Mr. Yang Yusen (who we usually refer to as "Laoshi") emigrated from his home city of Beijing, People's Republic of China over a decade ago. His teacher is Mr. Bi Tian Zuo. Mr. Bi visited his student in Canada and asked him to do something to spread the art, lest this stream of Bagua learning die out. Since Laoshi is one of the last and youngest full lineage disciples of Mr. Bi he feels it is his duty to honor his teacher's request and help pass the system to others so it can be preserved and transmitted into the future.

Why is this material being taught online? Why not in person?

  Mr. Yang lives and runs his own business in Victoria, BC. He isn't very fond of traveling and he doesn't like the idea of starting a large commercial school. Since there were numerous people who wanted to learn the material he received from his teacher he made the decision he would offer the material online. The whole venture was a big experiment to be honest, which likely would have never happened without the need to pass on the ZeZong / Wu Meng-xia flavor of the Gao system. With Mr. Bi Tian Zuo's blessing, It has been very successful , and the lessons go on.

How long has this been going on?

  The first group or "cohort" has been learning for over a year with good results.The second cohort has been learning about half that long, the third cohort recently started in the last few months.

Why should I consider studying this system?

  You should consider studying the system if you like Baguazhang, especially Gao style, and you do not seem to have easy access to a comparable or better information source in person on a regular basis. Many of the students in our class live very far from any good Baguazhang teachers, and love the opportunity to be exposed to solid functional classical baguazhang from a teacher who has open stated goals (i.e. pass on the system) and doesn't desire or require a lot of drama. 

What is required to take this class?

  Well everyone who wants to join has to be approved by Laoshi. You may notice there is no obvious way to "register" for the classes here on gaobagua.net. You will need to contact Laoshi by email either here or on emptyflower.net and introduce yourself and give a bit of background. Then ask permission to be added. In terms of what is required once you are in a class... you will need a solid computer, internet connection, and a digital camera that can take short video clips (most of the inexpensive newer digital cameras have this function). In terms of software you will need a working operating system (Windows or Mac OS X or a Linux system - members use all three). A File Transfer Protocall client may be useful also but is not absolutely required. 

What sort of interaction will I have with the teacher?

  Laoshi monitors the "ZeZong classroom" sub-forums on www.emptyflower.net pretty regularly and is usually quite happy and pleased to answer questions and querries about the material taught in the lessons. Also there is a homework requirement, usually about every two weeks you will need to submit a short (0:30-2:00) video clip of your best efforts on the exercises in the last lesson. People do submit bigger clips or questions by video as well but this is optional. Also Laoshi's classes in Victoria are open to participating students who wish to visit for hand's-on correction.

How much does this cost?

  Well happily it doesn't cost much at all. Laoshi doesn't teach for money really. He has a duty to spread the art so it can be passed on, and he likes teaching us. There is a small fee ($15.00/month) of which 1/3 goes to keeping the server working and the hosting people. There is a fee because people have this idea that "costs nothing" means "worthless". Charging something makes sure only people who are actually interested in learning (as opposed to just window shopping) join and continue the class. Various people in the class are "comped" their fees in return for helping out with online chores (technology stuff mostly). No one who has joined the class and participated regularly and trained hard has EVER been disenrolled for financial reasons. This isn't truly about money. It's about something we love.

How do I know I won't get ripped off?

  Well basically you should go over to www.emptyflower.net and ask about the class. People there are taking it and will be glad to give you their thoughts. Training online isn't for everyone. If you absolutely cannot stand the sight of yourself on video then this isn't for you. If you aren't online regularly this isn't your best option. If you have a high-quality bagua teacher living down the street from you then you should probably go with what is "the bestest and the closest". Ask yourself this... would people work (volunteer) to put up a site of this complexity for the price of a cup of coffee each week unless it was something they just loved and wanted to share with others who might love it also? 

Is this stuff "real bagua"?

  This stuff is simply put as real as it gets! Gao style is a well known system in the Baguazhang families, and Yang Yusen's lineage is impeccable and top-notch. Gao Yi-Sheng spent upwards of 50 years teaching Baguazhang, much of it in the parks and soccer greens of the English concession in Tienjin city, People's Republic of China.  He was extremely well known in a time when public teaching in public places meant accepting challenge from anyone who wanted to try you out. Towards the end of his public teaching career he had a challenge that ended with a critical injury to his opponent. Wu Meng-Xia was a notoriously skilled student of many teachers, not only Gao Yi-Sheng but also Han Mu-xia (also a teacher with a rather violent history). Master Wu was skilled in all three internals, and published works on Yang Ban Hou style Taiji ("Annotations on Taijiquan's Nine Songs and Eighty One Postures") and was in charge of publications at the National Guoshu Institute. Mr. Bi Mo Tang was a martial arts brother of Wu Meng-Xia, and trained with Wu under both Han Mu-Xia and Gao Yi-Sheng. He was a very busy businessman and asked his brother Wu to teach his second son, Mr. Bi Tian Zuo. Wu Meng-xia trained young Bi Tian Zuo until he went to university in Bejing. Wu was a party official in the Koumintang (Chinese Nationalists) and got in political trouble shortly thereafter. Bi Tian Zuo completed his training under his father Bi Motang. Decades later he trained a teenager named Yang Yusen for years until Mr. Yang immigrated to Canada. 

So how exactly do I get lessons , how often and so forth?

  Laoshi films a lesson every two weeks (we should say "circumstances permitting" but he hasn't missed one yet!). It runs from 20-45 minutes of lecture and demonstration. One of the Victoria students usually plays demo partner. Laoshi uploads this into the file spaces we have and it is then downloaded, converted and put up in the videoplayers here on gaobagua.net. Anyone who can play youtube clips can easily watch the lessons here on gaobagua.net. Keep in mind this is a "technical" ability. Some people using some institutional computers or in places behind the Great Firewall cannot view youtube (they can't get to it) but they can still see our videos because we are not political or a "site of abuse". Each new member joins a cohort (there is usually a waiting list for the next cohort to form) and thereafter when it's "Lesson Sunday" every two weeks.. a new lesson shows up in their videoplayer on site. They can watch the video, full-screen it, and watch till they feel comfortable with it. Then they go practice and rewatch. Repeat as neccessary, film their homework clip for Laoshi to check and ask any questions they have on the forum. 

How long will it take to "finish" the system? How can I be sure I will get the "whole enchilada"?

  The "correct answer" would be that "it takes as long as it takes"! In practical terms we are thinking it will take something around 5 years to get "exposed to" the whole Gao system. Laoshi teaches very methodically (he claims he is disorganized but the system is so well-designed it makes him look very organized!) covering around 1 of the "major movements"  or exercise or changes per 2 week period. In the beginning lessons Laoshi spent a few lessons covering one major movement, at some point he sped up a bit and now over a year in he is reviewing the previous exercise or change and introducing a new one with each lesson. There are 108 "Big Exercises" in the ZeZong system of Gao/Guanghua Bagua. For instance Single Palm Change is 1 of 108. Each of the Eight Big Changes is 1 of the 108. Each Tien Gan or Houtien is 1 of the 108. So figuring 108  Big exercises at 1 per two weeks means it will take around 216 weeks to be exposed to everything. So at a guess it's probably safe to say 5 years or so. Laoshi's main priority is to pass on the whole system, complete and finished, to each person who is willing to commit to learning it. Some students in the class are teachers themselves and have recommended their own students or friends into later cohorts because they agree with this idea of "art for the art's sake".

   The best answer to this is that the Gao system has a great deal of material. It is very possible to do outstanding baguazhang with a relatively small amount of material (say perhaps Single Palm Change, an Eight Palm Change form and supplemental exercises), many schools or systems of Baguazhang do this. Gao style is especially suited for people who like being shown things in a detailed manner, with alot of very cohesive material that is rooted in the idea that the movements teach a great deal about art itself. Many systems do have extensive qi gong work which may be emphasized by the *apparent* (but not actual) brevity of their physical practice syllabus. Still what Wu Meng-Xia passed down prefers the idea of training a lot of things that are very useful in fighting. And that means there is ALOT of material.