What’s the difference between Wing Chun & Bagua? Not the histories because I know those, but the actual combat priciples & moves? I’ve seen lots of Wing Chun, and absolutely no Bagua. But I’ve read heaps of stuff about Bagua and it sounds really similar in many respects.
Wing Chun is characterised by the sticking, close range deflecting sort of combat. In what way does Bagua differ?
Enlighten Me. 
“Pain is merely weakness leaving the body”
Might be worth asking the same question on the Taijiquan and Internal Arts Forum. Dedalus, a guy who posts there often, is a Bagua practitioner who previously spent years studying Wing Chun.
Max
Yooby Yoody
Hi Straight Blast,
This is not about your topic, but i notice you are training WC on the Gold Coast, is your instructors name Grant? If so can you please tell me the address of the school, i might be up there soon and might vist. (Jim Fung Lineage right?)
Hhhmmm
The main difference is that Bagua is wholly an internal art, where as Wing Chu just contains apsects of it. It is not a complete Internal art.
Wing Chun is an external as well as internal art.
echo?
All i wanted was some RICE CAKES! Now? WE MUST BATTLE.
Completely different footwork, stances, power generation, etc . . .
Bagua is external as well as internal, as are all arts
Though Bagua is “internal,” you need the external body to project the attacks and you have to have the physical movements mastered. You cant just project yor chi out of yor eyes. If you dont have the movements down, then you have nothing. That sounds kinda external to me.
Are you ready?
*** SPACE ***
Strategy
wing chun’s strategy is stick, get inside, beat the **** out of your opponent. Bagua is stick, re-route, and attack from your opponents weak side. At least that’s my understanding. Take it for what it’s worth.
The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is to win. Otherwise, why be a warrior? It is easier to count beads. -Miyamoto Musashi
FWIW
Hello,
My understanding of Bagua/Pakua is very basic so take this FWIW:
There are different styles or families of Bagua which emphasize different approaches. Just as in Wing Chun 
Bagua tends to emphasize the palms in attack while Wing Chun would tend to use more of a fist. However both arts have palms and fists as well as kicks.
Some of the footwork is different yet a lot of the linear motions are very similiar.
Wing Chun would tend to be based on a triangle while Bagua is based more on a circle.
The biggest difference would be on the circular emphasis, however there are some families of Bagua which would stress more linear approaches. There is a great deal of constant flow and movement found within Bagua. One of the key elements is to redirect and flow with an attack and then counter from a different direction then you originally were in. In other words the guy attacks from your right and you move and attack from the left, very simplified explanation.
Bagua stresses more locks and throws than the average Wing Chun person.
Bagua can not be said to be lower in stance as there are versions advocating high, mid and low level stances.
Hope this is somewhat helpful but as I said my knowledge is very rudimentary concerning Bagua.
Peace,
Dave
Bagua is totally different. As others have stated, it has a very circular framework and palms strikes. It is very internal and many argue the hardest to master of the three main Taoist internal systems of Bagua, Hsing-I, and Tai Chi.
Whipping Hand, your comment that wing chun is internal is misleading. The three internal arts use chi in fighting techniques. They can launch people a few feet away with a light tough and remain unmoved when bodybuilders try to move them. I’ve never heard of that in wing chun. Have you?
Their whole system is based on internal energy. Where is the internal energy in wing chun? It is strictly external. Yes, many use intent on the dan tien or other methods but that is more focus than real chi. We claim to have internal power? Try using your “internal power” in a real confrontation…all your moves will be strictly external. It is a whole different type of internal we’re talking about here…
Save that “internal vs. external” BS for the other boards
Whipping Hand, your comment that wing chun is internal is misleading. The three internal arts use chi in fighting techniques. They can launch people a few feet away with a light tough and remain unmoved when bodybuilders try to move them. I’ve never heard of that in wing chun. Have you?
I’ve heard of it and seen it. Haven’t we all read about Tsui Seung Tin and his Tan Sao?
Maybe he doesn’t know the REAL Wing Chun though. Go tell him. 
You’ve heard and seen wing chun practioners do what I said using no external force and strictly wing chun techiques? You’re full of BS
To S. Teebas
Yep. My soon-to-be-instructors name is Grant Mathers. And yes, he’s from the Jim Fung lineage. I’m due to start training in February, and time is just passing too slow at the moment. I’ve been really quiet in the MA sense of late. I haven’t kickboxed for about 8 months due to a string of breaks (thumb, elbow, etc) and as such I am quite a bit out of shape. Another reason I’m looking forward to getting back in training!!! Maybe I’ll see you there at some point.
The address is: Cavill Park Buliding, Level Two, 46 Cavill Ave Surfers Paradise. It’s above Melbas nightclub, so it can be fairly easy to find.
Another question. If Bagua is circular, are the principles similar to Aikido? Aikido seems to have the circular movement thing down quite well last time I looked.
Empty Cup. Please forgive my ignorance (because in that sense MY cup is awfully empty 
) but isn’t the 1 inch punch (Wing Chun stlye, not JKD) an internal technique? I have certainly seen a big bodybuilder launched by one of those. Mind you, I suppose that the 1 inch punch isn’t a “light” touch.
I think I’m learning a little about Bagua now
“Pain is merely weakness leaving the body”
People have been fighting for thousands of years. There is no such thing as a “strictly Wing Chun technique”.
So, is Tsui Seung Tin a phony or not? You tell me.
EmptyCup
You wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE><font size=“-1”>quote:</font><HR>They can launch people a few feet away with a light tough and remain unmoved when bodybuilders try to move them. I’ve never heard of that in wing chun. Have you?
[/quote]
Yes, I have seen a Wing Chun person do these types of things, and yes, using Wing Chun. While I am no bodybuilder, I have felt the type of force generated. It gets your attention, ahem, in a highly understated manner of speaking.
No “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” but solid Wing Chun basics and a lot of dedicated effort over time. I don’t believe either of these can be overstressed.
Regards,
I have never heard of Tsui’s tan sau…could you please tell me the story? I know the sifu you are referring to, just not the stories…
kj - I don’t think you people know what I’m talking about. A tai chi teacher once touched the tips of his fingers against a students chest. Nothing but featherlight and the student flew back a half dozen feet into a wall. His chest had bruises where the sifus fingers had been imprinted. Another tai chi teacher in china, a dozen bodybuilders tried to push, pull, or pick him up from the ground. This guy was 80something and 5 feet max. He couldn’t be moved. I’ve seen a master smash GRANITE BLOCKS, not slabs with his head, bend iron pipes used for roads, eat glass, cut granite slabs into pieces with his fingers, etc
Another master, his students jumped 7 stories and got right back up. They also ran through a dozen panes of glass without getting cut (well, one got a nasty cut on his leg, but the rest were fine), and got boiling oil poured all over their torsos without getting burned in any way. I could go on but i don’t think I need to.
What I’m trying to say is those are displays of internal power. It’s from chi. Wing Chun is from TECHNIQUE. One is a special force the other just body mechanics. Wing Chun is not internal in that sense.
Chi? Maybe not.
Wow. That’s an awful lot of very different examples, with an awful lot of possible and different explanations. Or so it seems to me. I’m not sure that chi would necessarily be required to explain any of them, or that it’s a vital (sic) common denominator in the phenomena described. It’s not the individual observations I doubt as much as a chi explanation for them.
I stand by my observations of the Wing Chun demonstrations; there is no way through this medium we’ll know if you and I are describing the same sort of thing or not. But caveat emptor on uncritical acceptance of the chi paradigm to explain things, whether it be Bagua, Xingyi, Taiji, Wing Chun, or using a hand to spontaneously combust someone.
I’m not saying there is no such thing as chi, nor discounting its importance if it exists (assuming people could actually and ever agree on what they mean by it). I am saying it’s wise to be intellectually critical, and conservative in making assumptions or leaping to conclusions. About chi or most other things, for that matter. Chi is a bit too much like “aether” and “humours” for my taste. Until and unless I ever see something more concrete, I’m destined to remain a bit of a “chi skeptic.”
If we (the general we) can’t agree on chi, or even what it is, using it as the basis or supplement to any argument is moot. As a subtopic, it’s too divergent to serve the thread. So for my part, I’ll call “uncle.” Not sure if we agree, disagree, or a little of both, but as always, thanks for the chat.
Regards,
believe me, if I didn’t experience chi i wouldn’t believe in it either. But I’m sure it exists and is not merely imagination. It is as real as the air you breathe in.
Since we are talking about internal arts, something interesting: Chi kung practioners have what they call “spontaneous movement”. That is when their limbs move of their own accord. In a lot of people, the movements look like kung fu movements. Some are very violent and frightening to watch while others are graceful and beautiful. The latter looks VERY similar to Tai Chi movements. I wonder if kung fu is a thing that exists innately or that we take stored images from our subconscious to execute these movements…
but yes, the concept of chi is a little far-fetched to the west but “mind over matter” is really no better explanation either. You may be able to smash through concrete with your head if you try hard enough but you will bleed to death. If you do not get injured SOMETHING has to be responsible for that…a physical reason. Chinese call it chi. Indians call it prana. Both mean breath.