董海川 Dong Haichuan | |
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Born | or October 13, 1813 Zhu village, Ju Jia Wu, Wen'an, Hebei, China | October 13, 1797
Died | October 25, 1882 or October 25, 1882 (aged 69) Beijing, China | (aged 85)
Nationality | Chinese |
Style | Luohanquan Erlangquan Fanziquan (unconfirmed) Hongquan (unconfirmed) Xingmenquan (unconfirmed) Jingangquan (unconfirmed) |
Rank | Founder of Baguazhang |
Notable students | Yin Fu (尹福), Ma Gui (马贵), Cheng Tinghua (程廷华), Liang Zhenpu (梁振蒲) |
Dong Haichuan | |||||||
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Chinese | 董海川 | ||||||
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Dong Haichuan (13 October 1797 or 1813 – 25 October 1882) is regarded as a skillful martial artist and is widely credited to be the founder of Baguazhang.[1] Most, if not all, existing schools of Baguazhang place Dong Haichuan at the beginning of their lineage. Some traditional teachers in China do not regard Dong as the founder, though, but merely as the first identified transmitter of Baguazhang knowledge to the wider public. In their opinion, prior to Dong, Baguazhang teaching was conducted behind closed doors from one Taoist to another within the Taoist sect.[2][3] There are no historical evidence of practicing Baguazhang among the Taoists prior to the modern era, however.