---
title: Eight-Character Skills (八字功) — Xingyi
---

**八字功 (Bā Zì Gōng, "Eight-Character Skills"** — also **八字訣, "the Eight-Character Formula")** is an auxiliary training set of [**Xingyiquan**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/xingyi) built around **eight single method-characters**, each naming one essential attribute of the art — to expand, cut, wrap, straddle, lift, butt, cloud, and lead. Where the [five element fists](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/xingyi-linking-fist) train the elemental power and the [twelve animals](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/xingyi-twelve-animals) train the animal spirits, the Eight Characters drill the **body-methods (身法)** that make either work. They are strung together into a short routine, the **八字連環拳 (Eight-Character Linking Fist)**.

## The eight characters (八字訣)

The methods as defined in a classic Hebei **古拳譜**, reproduced under fair-use citation with the wiki's own glosses. (A parallel "unorthodox" set, 奇門八字功, opens with 斬 *zhǎn*, "to behead," in place of 展.)

| 字 | English | The method (古拳譜) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 展 zhǎn | Expand | *broadening* — extending the hands and feet to open the frame |
| 截 jié | Cut | *cutting* — to cut down and turn back the enemy's hand; the method that most shows **body-method (身法)** |
| 裹 guǒ | Wrap | *enveloping* the enemy's hand so it loses its use — the body turns, the force stays soft (柔克剛, soft overcoming hard) |
| 跨 kuà | Straddle | a propping straddle, "*like mounting a horse* (跨馬)" |
| 挑 tiǎo | Lift | *lifting* — power drawn from shoulder and leg, kin to the snake-form, the hand carried a touch higher |
| 頂 dǐng | Butt | *butting* — the power is in the head: lift the head, drop the shoulders (挺頭垂肩) |
| 云 yún | Cloud | a *circling return* — both palms drifting "like moving clouds (行雲飄忽)" |
| 領 lǐng | Lead | *receiving and leading* — following the enemy's force and drawing it away |

## The Eight-Character Linking Fist (八字連環拳)

The eight are then chained into a short routine. Its verse (歌訣) names eight movements, each carrying one of the characters:

> 起手鷹捉是真傳，鉤挂之中把敵斬。上步橫肘是截意，退步裹肘原是三。肘胯雙行側意猛，金雞上架挑意翻。白鶴亮翅換步頂，雲領式中腿相連。

| # | 式 (中文) | Character | English |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 起手鷹捉 | — | Opening eagle-seize |
| 2 | 鉤挂 | 斬 cut | Hook-and-hang, cutting the enemy |
| 3 | 上步橫肘 | 截 intercept | Advance, crossing elbow |
| 4 | 退步裹肘 | 裹 wrap | Retreat, wrapping elbow |
| 5 | 肘胯雙行 | 胯 straddle | Elbow and hip moving together |
| 6 | 金雞上架 | 挑 lift | Golden rooster mounts the perch |
| 7 | 白鶴亮翅 | 頂 butt | White crane flashes its wings |
| 8 | 雲領 | 云 · 領 | Cloud, and lead away |

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="xingyi" text="Xingyi (形意拳) — the style, the five elements, the twelve animals" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="xingyi-linking-fist" text="五行連環拳 Five-Element Linking Fist — the foundational linked form" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="xingyi-twelve-animals" text="十二形 Twelve Animals — the animal-form roster" />

## Sources

**[1]** *形意拳古拳譜* (old hand-copied Hebei manual) — the 八字訣 definitions and the 奇門八字連環拳 歌訣 reproduced here under fair-use citation, with the wiki's own glosses. Public domain by age; digitised at [ctext.org](https://ctext.org/wiki.pl?if=gb&chapter=195452).

**[2]** **李存義 (Li Cunyi)** and **劉殿琛 (Liu Dianchen)** Hebei-line manuals (public-domain-by-age) corroborate the eight-character method; open bilingual editions on [Brennan's site](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2017/10/30/teachings-of-li-cunyi-on-xingyis-five-elements/).