Bājíquán (八極拳, literally eight extremes fist) is a Chinese martial art that features explosive, short range power and is famous for its elbow strikes. It originated in Hebei Province of Northern China, but is also well-known in other places as well today, especially Taiwan. Chinese martial arts, often abbreviated as CMA, refers to the enormous variety of martial art styles native to China. ... An elbow strike(commonly referred to as simply an elbow) is a martial arts and combatives term for a strike with the point of the elbow, the part of the forearm nearest to the elbow, or the part of the upper arm nearest to the elbow. ... Hebei (Chinese: 河北; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Ho-pei; Postal System Pinyin: Hopeh) is a northern province of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Alternative meaning: In geology, North China (continent) and South China (continent) were two ancient landmasses that correspond to modern northern and southern China. ...

Bajiquan was originally called Baziquan, or "rake fist", due to the fact that when not striking, the fist is held loosely and slightly open, resembling a rake. However, the name was considered to be rather crude sounding in its native tongue, and so it was changed to the more pleasing Bajiquan.

It was in some ways made famous by the Sega video game hit Virtua Fighter, as the style that the main character Akira Yuki practices, though none of the many representations of Baji Quan in popular media has ever been very accurate. Other video game characters that use this style are Kokoro from the Dead or Alive series and Li Mei from the Mortal Kombat series. Sega Corporation ) is an international video game software and hardware developing company, and a former home computer and console manufacturer. ... A computer game is a game composed of a computer-controlled virtual universe that players interact with in order to achieve a defined goal or set of goals. ... Virtua Fighter is a 1993 fighting game developed by the Sega studio AM2, headed by Yu Suzuki. ... Akira in Virtua Fighter 4 Akira Yuki is a fictional character in the Sega video game Virtua Fighter and its sequels. ... Kokoro is a character from the Dead or Alive video game series. ... Dead or Alive (DOA) is a video game series produced by Tecmo that is comprised primarily of fighting games. ... Li Mei is a character in the Mortal Kombat fighting game series. ... Mortal Kombat has multiple meanings. ...

The essence of Baji Quan lies in "Jin4" (i.e. power or power methods). Unlike most western forms of martial arts which require swinging motion to create momentum. Most of Bajiquan's moves utilise a one hit push-strike from a very close distance. The bulk of the damage is dealt through the momentary acceleration that travels up from the waist to the limb and further magnified by the charging step "zhen4 jiao3". Jin4 has many forms and is developed through many years of practice and "horse stance".

The major features of this somewhat rare school of Chinese Martial Arts include elbow strikes, hip checks, and strikes with the shoulder. All techniques are executed with a very distinctive form of short power, developed through rigorous training. Strategically, Baji focuses on in-fighting, entering from a longer range with Baji's distinctive Charging Step and issuing power up close.

Made famous in (by Chinese history standards) recent times by Li Shu Wen (1864-1934), a fighter from Shandong province whose skill with a spear earned him the nickname "God of Spear Li." His most famous quote about fighting was, "I do not know what it's like to hit a man twice." Certainly a bit of hyperbole, but still speaks for the shocking power Baji training develops. Li Shu Wen's most famous students include Huo Diange (bodyguard to Pu Yi, the last emperor of China), Li Chen Wu (bodyguard to Mao Zedong), and Liu Yunqiao (secret agent for the nationalist Kuomintang and instructor of the bodyguards of Chiang Kai Shek). Because of this, Bajiquan as come to be known as "The Bodyguard Style." Li Shu Wen (李书文) was a very well known Baji exponent who became famous for his ability to kill with one technique and use a spear with incredible skill. ... Shandong (Simplified Chinese: 山东; Traditional Chinese: 山東; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Shan-tung) is a coastal province of eastern Peoples Republic of China. ... Aisin-Gioro Puyi (February 7, 1906 - October 17, 1967) was the Xuantong Emperor (宣統皇帝) of China between 1908 and 1924 (ruling emperor between 1908 and 1912, and non-ruling emperor between 1912 and 1924), the tenth (and last) emperor of the Manchu Qing Dynasty to rule over China. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... The Chinese Nationalist Party (Traditional Chinese: 中國國民黨; Simplified Chinese: 中国国民党; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chung-kuo Kuo-min-tang; Tongyong Pinyin: Jhōngguó GuómíndÇŽng), commonly known as the Kuomintang (KMT), is a conservative political party currently active in the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. ... Chiang Kai-shek (October 31, 1887–April 5, 1975) was a Chinese military and political leader who assumed the leadership of the Kuomintang (KMT) after the death of Sun Yat-sen in 1925. ...

Baji, which comes from the oldest book in China named "Yi4 Jing1", is an extension of all directions. In this case, in Chinese Baji means including everything or say, universe.

In Chinese Martial Arts, Baji is famous of its most violent and fast movements. There are two sentences to describe the fame and features together with Taiji:

"文有太极安天下，武有八极定乾坤。"

"Wen2 You3 Tai4 Ji2 An1 Tian1 Xia4, Wu3 You3 Ba1 Ji2 Ding4 Qian2 Kun1"

which means,

"If we regard human body or Chinese Kung Fu as a goverment, Taiji is like a great policy to manipulate the country, while Baji is like a great army to protect the country."

Baji contains 6 series of type of Jing4, 8 kinds of ways to hit, and several different principles to use the power. Its "horse stance" is higher than the typical Longfist "horse stance". Like others, there are also "arrowbow stance", "one-leg stance", "Xu1 stance", "Pu1 stance", etc. There are 8 different poses of hands, plus different types of breath and "Zhen4 Jiao3".

The forms of Baji are divided into Fists(non-weapon) and Weapons. In Fist, there are more than 20 different forms, including 12 Baji Small Structure Fists, Baji Black Tiger Fist, Baji Dan Zhai, Baji Dan Da/ Dui Da, Baji Luo Han Gong, Baji Si Lang Kuan, etc. In Weapons, there are more than 8 different kinds of weapon, including the very famous "Liu He Big Qiang(Spear)" and "Liu He Flower Qiang(Spear)", "Chun Yang Jian(Sword)", "San Yin Dao(Blade)", "Xing Zhe Bang(Stuff)", "Pu Dao(Long Two-Hands Blade)", "Chun Qiu Da Dao(Long Two-Hands Heavy Blade, used by General sitting on horse)".

Today, the lineage holder of Bajiquan in China is Wu Lianzhi. He is also the prototype of Akira Yuki in Virtua Fighter. Through more than 50 years of training, he collected much material and records which were passed from generation to generation.

Ba Ji Quan is also referred to as Hakkyoku Ken in Japanese.

See also

• Piguaquan