10/14/2026
Beijing, the 1860s. A martial artist from the countryside took work in a Manchu prince's household and began teaching the men around him. His students spent a strange amount of time walking in circles.
His name was D**g Haichuan. He came from Wen'an County in Hebei province, in Qing dynasty China. Even his birth year is uncertain. The sources give 1797 or 1813. By the traditional account handed down through his students' lineages, he came to Beijing around 1864 and served in the household of Prince Su, a hereditary Manchu prince, where he began teaching martial arts.
He went on to teach in Beijing for years. His art was first called Turning Palm, and during his teaching years it took the name Baguazhang, Eight Trigrams Palm. He mostly accepted students who were already skilled in other fighting arts, men like Yin Fu, Cheng Tinghua, Ma Gui, and Liang Zhenpu. Each kept something of his own background, which is why the Bagua styles that came down from them look different from each other. Some of their names are recorded on his grave. He died in Beijing in 1882.
The training at the center of it all is circle walking. You walk the edge of a circle, six to twelve feet across for a beginner, with your body turned toward the center. Your eyes stay on the middle while your feet keep moving. Then you change direction without stopping, turning so you walk the other way. The first changes students learn have plain names: Single Change Palm and Double Change Palm.
Insight for anyone who trains: most attacks need a settled base. A fighter plants their feet, then throws. Circle walking trains you to move off that line and still face your opponent. In partner work, when your partner sets their feet to attack, take one step to the side and turn to face them again. Now they have to reset before they can throw, and every reset costs them time. Change before they settle.
-Sifu Michael Johnson
Cloud Forest Martial Institute
