Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #698556 in Books
• Published on: 1993-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

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Customer Reviews

A great reference for those unable to read Chinese
As usual, when writing on styles which he doesn't have extensive training in, Dr. Yang has provided the reader with an ample amount of translated documents. Included in this book are sections of Sun Lu Tang's *The Study of Baguazhang* and *The Real Meaning of Boxing,* neither of which have been released for general publication in English yet. The basic 8 palms Master Liang presents comprises the basic Baguazhang set that seems to have been taught at the Central Kuoshu Institute at Nanking. The lineage is Fu Chen-Sung's, and the form is also known by the name of "Old Eight Palms." A good standard form with a decent presentation. As usual, Master Liang concentrates heavily on the Shuaijiao elements of the form (as he did in his book on simplified Taijiquan). The "Swimming Dragon" form presented seems to have come from Sun Lu Tang's lineage. I have no clue as to where the Deer Horn Swords form comes from. While Dr. Yang and Master Liang do a pretty decent job of delineating general Baguazhang principles, as usual, when presenting form and application, the level isn't as high as most would like. The form, while more than compentantly demonstrated, doesn't give a good presentation of the precision footwork that is one of the trademarks of Baguazhang. The applications shown within are done at the lowest level; it would have been nice to see greater variations on technique based on simple things, such has a different positioning of the forward palm or smaller stepping, although I realize that due to the sophistication of the art and philosophy behind it, doing so would have been difficult. All in all, it's a good book to have if one is interested in pursuing Baguazhang. As a reference book, it's great. However, if one wishes to get a more in-depth look to the art via training methods, I would recommend Sifu Park Bok Nam and Dan Miller's *Fundamentals of Pa Kua Chang.*

Beautiful, poetic, and historically complete introduction.
This book provides the most complete history of Baguazhang to be found in print in the English language. It also uniquely contains the poetry of Bagua, which holds its fighting principles.

This book, like pretty much everything from Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming, provides almost more high-quality theoretical detail than we as readers ought to be able to expect. As usual, Dr. Yang and Master Liang take great care in illustrating the artistic aspects of the art through copious photographs. Another Yang trademark contained herein is the complete mismatch of photographs with textual explanation.

Almost invariably, one can expect to find the text corresponding to a given photo on a completely different page than the photo itself. He constantly uses the "see Figure 18-3" approach to technique illustration. This makes Yang's books very inconvenient to use for reference, and this one is certainly no exception.

Disappointingly, and also as per usual, very little technical focus is given to the actual combat application of the techniques contained in the art. What little is provided, is mixed in rather haphazardly with the solo practice form photos, rendering it out-of-context at best.

There is no systematized categorical structure to the organization of the combat techniques, which might allow a student to evaluate how Baguazhang would respond to standard forms of attack. Were this provided, it might also allow the reader to make easier contrasts and comparisons of Baguazhang to other styles with which they might be more familiar.

Overall, one can come away from this book knowing much about the theoretical, philosophical, aesthetic, and historical nuances of Baguazhang, but still not have learned a darn thing about how to actually fight. And where the rubber hits the road, that's still eventually what it's all about. And it's especially unfortunate given Baguazhang's extremely effective fighting methods; it's often referred to as a style designed to defeat martial artists.

Bottom Line: a must have book for martial arts historians. In that respect, it establishes a new and higher standard. For those looking for real self-defense skills, a nearly complete waste of time and a disappointing let-down, considering Master Liang's skill at Bagua.

Baguazhang: Emei Baguazhang Theory and Applications
There is such a short supply of books on Baguazhang in English that this book is a great joy to find. A large portion of the beginning of the book is a collection of classics writings taken from the near dozen or so books written at the beginning of the last century in China. Which are great to have all in one volume.
As well as showing two solo circular sets, a Qi Gung set and a weapons set, it also shows a group of two man fighting forms and applications are given to all the moves show in the forms. This again is refreshing and useful. As with all of YMMA publications (Not Crompton) (and the videos have been available for some time directly from the authors both in video and dvd) it is well produced, clearly laid out and systematic in it’s approach to the subject.
Ok now the negatives as I see them.
The author’s give their own interpretation of the old masters quotes. This potentially could be very useful but I found it not to be. Bagua first and foremost is practical system of self defence, a system used with effect by body guards and bounty hunters. I felt at times the authors continues drift into esoteric musings a little annoying and appears pretentious. This is a shame because I don’t believe that that they are actually like this.
I also felt that some of the core concepts of Bagua were not discussed, Circle Walking and Twist force, Fixed, moving and changing step practice,and the function of Single and Double Change Palm, being but a few of them. Again this is a shame as clear presentation of such important and pivotal concepts would be very useful to the Bagua player and to other martial artist to better understand what this method is really all about.
The book could really be a Taiji book when it comes to specifics about the actual art of Bagua.
In this age of the MMA explosion it would be nice if authors could actually show the really geniuses of the combat system of China with out continuously resorting to esoteric. When all is said and done these arts were extremely practical and functional before they become anything else.
If you do Bagua I think you should buy this book and its companion dvd. But we’ll still have to wait for a book to show the real Baguazhang