---
title: Small Baji (小八極) — Bajiquan
---

**小八極 (Xiǎo Bājí, "Small Baji"** — also **八極小架, "the small frame")** is the **foundational form of **[**Bajiquan**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/baji) — the first set every Baji student learns, and the form that banks the art's whole short-range vocabulary. Baji is the **explosive, close-quarter** art of [**Li Shuwen (李書文)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/li-shuwen) ("Divine Spear Li") and [**Liu Yunqiao (劉雲樵)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/liu-yunqiao), who carried it to Taiwan through his **武壇 (Wutan)** school. Small Baji drills the **heart-thrusting elbow (頂心肘)**, the **silk-reeling (纏絲)**, the **propping palms (撐掌)**, and the **stamping advance (震腳)** that issues the famous Baji power — in **36 postures**, in the Wutan (Liu Yunqiao) curriculum below.

## What it trains

- **頂心肘 (the heart-thrusting elbow)** — Baji's signature close strike, here drilled twice (postures 6, 15)
- **The six openings (六大開)** in embryo — 頂 (butt), 抱 (embrace), 單 (single), 提 (lift), 胯 (hip), 纏 (coil) — the methods 小八極 plants
- **震腳 / fa-jin** — the stamping step that delivers whole-body short power
- **Silk-reeling (纏絲)** — the spiralling 大纏 / 左右纏絲 that links the strikes

## The form — move-by-move (拳譜)

The 36-posture sequence of the **武壇 (Wutan / Liu Yunqiao) 小八極**, reproduced under fair-use citation; the English are the wiki's own working glosses.

| # | 式 (中文) | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 雙手抱拳 | Both hands cup the fist (salute) |
| 2 | 屈膝雙伸 | Bend the knees, double extension |
| 3 | 左蹬足 | Left stamping kick |
| 4 | 右蹬足 | Right stamping kick |
| 5 | 右提膝 | Raise the right knee |
| 6 | 頂心肘 | Heart-thrusting elbow |
| 7 | 黑虎偷心 | Black tiger steals the heart |
| 8 | 大蟒纏身 | The great python coils the body |
| 9 | 榻掌 | Sinking (collapsing) palm |
| 10 | 托掌 | Propping palm |
| 11 | 白鶴亮翅 | White crane flashes its wings |
| 12 | 避襠捶 | Groin-guarding punch |
| 13 | 探掌搋捶 | Probing palm, kneading punch |
| 14 | 右提膝 | Raise the right knee |
| 15 | 頂心肘 | Heart-thrusting elbow |
| 16 | 雙抱捶 | Double embracing punch |
| 17 | 雙栽捶 | Double planting punch |
| 18 | 大纏絲 | Great silk-reeling |
| 19 | 崩步捶 | Avalanche-step punch |
| 20 | 拗步捶 | Cross-step punch |
| 21 | 右纏絲 | Right silk-reeling |
| 22 | 弓步衝捶 | Bow-stance charging punch |
| 23 | 馬步捶 | Horse-stance punch |
| 24 | 弓步撩捶 | Bow-stance lifting punch |
| 25 | 左纏絲 | Left silk-reeling |
| 26 | 弓步衝捶 | Bow-stance charging punch |
| 27 | 封面掌 | Face-sealing palm |
| 28 | 捨身下勢 | Throwing the body into the low posture |
| 29 | 斜單鞭 | Diagonal single whip |
| 30 | 金雞獨立 | Golden rooster stands on one leg |
| 31 | 抖翎 | Shaking the feathers |
| 32 | 崩撩掌 | Avalanche-lifting palm |
| 33 | 左撐掌 | Left propping palm |
| 34 | 退步右撐掌 | Retreat, right propping palm |
| 35 | 退步挑肘 | Retreat, lifting elbow |
| 36 | 收勢 | Closing posture |

## Place in the curriculum

小八極 is the entry form; it is followed by **大八極 (Large Baji, the major form)**, the core method sets **六大開 (Six Big Openings)** and **八大招 (Eight Big Techniques)**, and the weapons — above all the **六合大槍 (Six-Harmony Big Spear)**, Li Shuwen and Liu Yunqiao's signature.

<Callout type="note">
  **Two small-frames.** The 36-posture form above is the **Wutan (劉雲樵)** 小八極. The mainland **Mengcun (孟村)** lineage has its own **八極小架** with a different naming (拉弓式, 兩儀頂, 獅子張口, 霸王舉鼎 …), traced to 姜容樵's 1928 *國術教範大小八極拳圖說*. Both are "small frames," but they are distinct sequences from distinct transmissions of the same root.
</Callout>

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="baji" text="Baji (八極拳) — the style, the six openings, the lineage" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="li-shuwen" text="Li Shuwen (李書文) — 'Divine Spear Li,' the Baji great" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="liu-yunqiao" text="Liu Yunqiao (劉雲樵) — who brought Baji to Taiwan, founder of Wutan" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-forms" text="Mantis Forms — the script-and-video map (Eight Step Mantis shares the Wutan/Su Yu-chang thread)" />

## Sources

**[1]** 劉雲樵 (Liu Yunqiao) Wutan curriculum, *大內八極拳：小八極* — the 36-posture sequence reproduced here under fair-use citation, with the wiki's own glosses. The list is corroborated by the *小八極* article on [Chinese Wikipedia](https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%B0%8F%E5%85%AB%E6%A5%B5) (CC BY-SA) and two independent Wutan-lineage transcriptions.

**[2]** The Mengcun small-frame and the broader Baji form/weapon inventory derive from 姜容樵, *國術教範大小八極拳圖說* (1928, public domain by age) and the Mengcun (吳連枝) lineage materials.