Gao yisheng

Gao Yisheng's Life

Gao Yisheng was born in Da Zhuang Zi Village, Da Shan Township, Wu Di County, Shandong province, China in 1866. During his childhood his family fortune was lost so they moved to Wu Ching County, Shaogao township in Hebei province to find employment. When he was young his leg was broken by a mule cart and the bone was set incorrectly so Gao walked with a cane the rest of his life. As a boy he learned the art of Da Hung Chuan (Big Red Fist) in his home village.

In 1892 when Gao was twenty-six years old he began his study of Ba Gua Zhang with Dong Haichuan’s student Sung Zhangjun. After three years of practice with Sung all he had learned was basic circle walking and the single palm change. Gao asked for more instruction, but Sung refused and Gao left to find another teacher.

At age thirty, in 1896, Gao met Zhou Yuxiang. Zhou was a talented student of Cheng Tinghua. Zhou’s skill in fighting had earned him the nickname “Peerless Palm” Zhou. Gao and Zhou “crossed hands” three times and Gao was defeated each time. Gao knelt and asked to become Zhou’s disciple. Zhou said they were to close in age for him to bring him into the system so Zhou took Gao to Beijing to meet his teacher Cheng Ting Hua. Cheng accepted him as his student because of his previous experience with Sung and on Zhou Yu Xiang’s recommendation. Gao learned the majority of the system from Zhuo and would travel to Beijing periodically to study with Cheng, until Cheng’s death four years later. Gao learned the eight shen tien palms, weapons forms and applications.

After six years of intense study Gao began teaching Cheng Tinghua Style Ba Gua Zhang in Shao-gao township, Wu Ching County, Hebei province. Some time between 1902 and 1911 Gao also studied Xingyi Quan with Li Cunyi. In 1911 he returned to his home village Shandong province at the age of forty – five at which time he started teaching his Gao style Ba Gua Zhang.

Around 1912 Gao claimed he met Sung Yi Ren, a Taoist from Guang Hua Mountain who gave him the Hou Tien sets. It is likely that this is a fabrication because the Chinese attribute many of their martial arts to famous yet obscure sources. Even his direct students expressed doubts about this story. There are many Ba Gua Zhang systems with application based short forms similar to Gao’s Hou Tien Sets. It is not difficult to imagine that Gao had learned some of them from Cheng or Zhuo. Another student of Zhuo Yuxiang wrote a book that had thirty-one of Gao’s sixty-four Hou Tien palms in it. Han Mu Xia, grand-student of Cheng Ting Hua and friend of Zhuo Yu Xiang’s had forty - eight straight line Ba Gua Zhang sets almost identical to Gao’s. Based on the above facts, it is possible that Gao may have standardized forty-eight of the Hou Tiens from his experience with Zhou, Cheng and Li Cun Yi then rounded out the total number to sixty-four in accordance with well known Daoist cosmology.

Between 1911 and 1917, Gao moved to Yang village, Wu Ching county, Hebei province, about ten miles from Tianjin city. He taught in Yang village and in Tianjin city. Gao would also periodically return to his home village in Da Shan Township in Shandong province to teach. Tianjin was a rough and violent place with many experienced martial artists, gangsters and coarse people. Anyone who taught martial arts in Tianjin City had to have real fighting skill.

Gao’s main source of income was teaching martial arts classes so his class structure was designed to teach anyone who wanted to learn. His public classes contained multiple levels, each level of study costing more money; some students only wanted to learn Ba Gua Zhang for health, others for show, some could not afford to learn more than what was taught in the basic class and still others wanted fighting skill. He trained his students according to their interests, attitude, and physical condition.

In 1942 he fought with a Tai Ji Chuan teacher in the park. Gao defeated him but injured him so badly he died three days later. To avoid the police Gao fled to Wu Ching village outside Tianjin city. He never returned to Tianjin and spent his remaining years living in the back of a Chinese medicine shop; he died in 1951 at the age of eighty-five.

Gao Yisheng's Lineage

During his 40+ years of teaching Bagua Zhang Gao Yisheng's skill grew and developed. Accordingly his Bagua Zhang changed and developed as well. During his long teaching career he had hundreds if not thousands of students. These students and schools showed the progression of Gao as a martial artist. This does not mean that one lineage is better that another. What it does show is that Gao had a deep understanding of the principles of Bagua Zhang throughout his long carrier and all these schools are representative of Gao Yisheng's teaching and philosophy.

Today, there many schools and teachers that have descended from his lineage. There are many other schools not listed here. The main branches of his lineage come from Tianjin city, China, Taipei, Taiwan (there are two separate lineages there) and Hong Kong, China.

Tianjin City: Liu Feng Cai was Gao's nephew and studied with him in Shandong and followed him to Tianjin city when he moved there. He taught classes for Gao and was known for his skill in the Xian Tien (pre-heaven) palms.

In Taipei, Taiwan the older lineage comes from Wu Jin-Yuan and his son Wu Huai-Shan. Both of these men studied with Gao early on when he was teaching in Shandong province. It is possible that Wu Jin-Yuan, who was already an accomplished martial artist, helped Gao develop some of the Hou Tien sets. Wu Jin-Yuan was Gao's first disciple. The family fled to Taiwan during the Communist takeover of 1949.

The other lineage from Taipei, Taiwan comes from Zhang Junfeng. Zhang was an private student of Gao during his years in Tianjin city. He became Chairman of the Tianjin City Martial Arts Association and was known for his fighting skill. Gao gave his lineage the name "Yi Zong". He fled to Taipei, Taiwan during the Communist takeover of 1949.

The Hong Kong branch of Gao's art comes from He Kocai A.K.A Ho Ho Choi. Ho was a student of Gao’s who was small in stature and to work very hard against the larger students, thereby learning a great deal in the process.

The Gao Style System

The Gao style system is referred to as the Gao Yisheng branch of the Cheng Tinghua system of Bagua Zhang. Essentially Gao Style Bagua is a unique subsystem. The Gao style system, because of Gao's own martial progression over time, can be found to have a number of different permutations, represented in various lingages. All are valid examples of Gao style Bagua because they all represent Gao Yisheng’s progression as a martial artist. Not all of the lineages have all of the levels. Gao was refining and creating sets until he died. He changed his straight line, pre-heaven and weapons sets more than once in his life but at its core it is a complete Bagua Zhang system.

Gao's Bagua Zhang as listed in his book:

1. Basic Exercises (Start posture, standing postures, Tan Nei Bu, Wu Xing Bu, 8 Basic Stretches

2. Basic Forms - Turning Forms (static palms)

3. Main Forms - Changing Forms (8 Big Palms)

4. Beginning and Ending Palms

5. Ho-Tien 64 Palms

6. 12 animals

7. Push Hands and Attack & Defense

8. Weapons Forms

References

Miller, Dan. Pa Kua Journal 3.5, July/Aug 1993.

Miller, Dan. Pa Kua Journal 4.2, Jan/Feb 1994.

Miller, Dan. Pa Kua Journal 6.5, July/Aug 1996.

External links

• [1] Yi Zong Bagua in Colorado, USA.
• [2] Info and history of Yi Zong Gao Bagua.
• [3] The smaller Gao lineage from Taiwan.
• [4] Tianjin, Gao bagua events in the U.S.
• [5] The home of Gao Bagua in Hong Kong.

See also

• Neijia
• Neigong
• Neijin
• Chinese martial arts