The Baji On-Ramp:
Bridging the Baji Quan Training Gap
By Liu Chang Chiang

Baji quan is one of the most famous Chinese martial arts styles in Northern China, and is widely known for its clear, strong, powerful movements and concussive foot stomping. It is not uncommon for young or beginning Chinese martial arts practitioners to be impressed by the commanding presentation of the style and to immediately fall in love with it.
Once those baji lovers begin the training required for the system, they get an inkling of the source of baji's power and grace, as well as the kind effort required to master it. But without a qualified instructor and step-by-step training methods, the baji path is fraught with danger.
Traditional baji training is straightforward and formidable. The core baji training focuses on three levels of development: beginning, intermediate and advanced. Each level builds upon the previous level. After the first level training, called xiao baji (little baji), students progress to the second level, da baji (grand baji), and finally complete the third level, liu da kai (six grand openings).
In addition, ba da jiao (eight grand movements) could be added as an additional training for advanced level students. It is also quite common to include a number of miscellaneous forms and training methods within the different levels as the supplemental training, but the three core levels of development have been widely adopted and followed by the majority of the baji style practitioners.
The baji style reflects the original nature of martial art, which evolved in ancient times when self-defense and battlefield skills were important for survival. Confrontations involving hand-to-hand combat could occur unexpectedly, and there were no rules to follow. Martial artists needed to be ready anytime to defend themselves, their families, their villages and their country. Those who did not prepare themselves to take up the challenge might not have another chance. This harsh reality spawned a culture in which martial artists needed to improve their skills constantly. As a result, a long line of masters spent generations of effort to improve their martial arts and find the most effective way to train their students.

Baji Quan Training
Baji's three-level, step-by-step training followed the ancient way to make practitioners ready for martial challenges in a relatively short time. After the completion of the first and second level training, students would hopefully have enough skill and strength to survive in an undesirable situation.
Baji training involves far more than learning forms. The form itself is a just a container; ...

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