---
title: Baji (八極拳)
---

**Bajiquan** (八極拳, "Eight Extremes Boxing") is a **close-range** northern art of explosive short-power. Where Taiji yields and Xingyi advances on a line, Baji **demolishes from contact distance** — close enough that practitioners say *"a needle could not fit between us."* Its hallmark is the **震腳 (zhenjiao)** — a ground-stamp that grounds the structure and drives whole-body shock into the strike — combined with **沉墜 (sinking)**, **十字 (cross)**, and **崩** (collapsing) power-methods that issue power in instants. The full traditional pairing is **Baji for close range, Pigua for long range** (八極對劈掛) — together via the Ma family's *Tongbei* (通備) framework.

## Origin and lineage

Baji's recorded line begins in **Cangzhou / Mengcun (滄州 / 孟村), Hebei** — a Muslim (Hui) region famous for martial arts — with the figure of **Wu Zhong (吳鍾, 1712–1802)** of the Wu family. From him the **Mengcun Wu family** transmission is direct and unbroken into the present.

The most famous outside line:

- **李書文 (Li Shuwen, 1864–1934)** — "**Divine Spear Li**" (神槍李書文), the great Republican-era spear master and Baji teacher, whose students included the bodyguards of the deposed Manchu emperor.
- **霍殿閣 (Huo Dian'ge)** — Li Shuwen's disciple, who became the personal bodyguard of **Puyi** (the last Qing emperor) in Manchuria. The **Huo family Baji** (霍氏八極) is the lineage that descends from this branch.
- **劉雲樵 (Liu Yunqiao, 1909–1992)** — Li Shuwen's late disciple; took the art to Taiwan in 1949, formed the Wutan (武壇) school, and trained Chiang Kai-shek's personal bodyguards. The major source of Baji's spread in Taiwan and the West.

In the People's Republic, the **Wu Lianzhi (吳連枝)** branch in Mengcun is the orthodox living transmission of the original Wu family.

## What it looks like

- **發勁 (fajin) by ground-stamp** — the foot stamps the ground and the resulting shock travels through the body into the issued strike. Done well it's silent inside; loud outside.
- **沉墜勁 (sinking power), 十字勁 (cross power)** — the body sinks at the moment of contact and the structure twists into a cross-shape (one shoulder forward, the opposite hip back), so the force arrives whole.
- **頂抱單提胯纏** — the classical eight-character power formula: **頂 ding** (crowning / pushing up), **抱 bao** (embracing), **單 dan** (singular), **提 ti** (lifting), **胯 kua** (hip), **纏 chan** (coiling), with two more depending on the lineage.
- **Distinctive footwork** — the **闖步 (chuang bu)**, lunging step that crashes through the line; the **碾步 (nian bu)**, grinding step that pivots into the close.

## Signature material

- [**金剛八式 (Eight Vajra Postures)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/baji-vajra-eight) — the eight foundational power-postures, the basics drill trained before the forms.
- [**小八極 (Small Baji)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/baji-small) — the root short form, taught first (full 36-posture script).
- **大八極 (Big Baji)** — the longer, more elaborated form.
- **六大開 (Six Big Openings)** — the six core power-openings the art is organized around: **頂** crown, **抱** embrace, **單** single, **提** lift, **胯** hip, **纏** coil. (A second tradition names them 靠崩捅塌攔撲.)
- **八大招 (Eight Big Techniques)** — the eight signature combat methods: 閻王三點手 · 猛虎硬爬山 · 迎門三不顧 · 霸王硬折韁 · 迎風朝陽掌 · 左右硬開門 · 黃鶯雙抱爪 · 立地通天炮.
- **劈掛 Pigua pairing** — long-range whipping-arm work; classically every Baji practitioner also trains Pigua (八極對劈掛).

## Primary sources

The Baji document situation is harder than the other styles: the major **李書文 / 霍殿閣 / 劉雲樵** lineage texts are 20th-century and **mostly still in copyright**. We hold:

- \*\*吳金賢 ed. \*\****八極拳國術秘本*** (1936) — *Bajiquan Guoshu Secret Text*; an anonymous Republican-era manual edited by Wu Jinxian. **The only fully open public-domain dedicated Baji manual currently locatable.** Held in the codex's `Sources/northern-kungfu-manuals/`.

For everything else (Liu Yunqiao's *八極拳*, Wu Lianzhi's *吳氏開門八極拳* series, the Huo family's published material): citation-only.

## Video

- [小八極 Small Baji full form](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p74W9X6Mhn4) — root form, clean walkthrough.
- [大八極 Big Baji (NMNS museum demo)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZOrNlJHXBM)
- [六大開 with 六字訣 — narrated breakdown](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKIEINm12Qo)
- [孟村八極拳 小架一路](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySE4y5iQZuw) — Mengcun Wu-family orthodox.
- [霍氏八極拳 小架式](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSoOVd8DDc8) — Huo Dian'ge branch.
- [1987 孟村八极拳 演练 (original sound) — archival](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Zz4y1F7BW/)
- [吳連枝 Wu Lianzhi — official teaching series](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1js411o7JU/)

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="baji-pigua-video" text="Baji &amp; Pigua on Film — video index (archival + lineage demos)" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="northern-styles" text="Northern Kung Fu Styles — Baji in the broader Northern canon" />

## Sources

**[1]** *Baji Quan*, Wikipedia ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajiquan)) — Mengcun origin, Li Shuwen and Huo Dian'ge / Liu Yunqiao lineages.

**[2]** *八極拳國術秘本*, ed. Wu Jinxian (1936) — the held public-domain manual.