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The History of Yin Style Baguazhang

Dong Haichuan: His Tomb

by

Rand Cardwell

The history of the tomb of Dong Haichuan is an interesting story in itself. After his death, Dong Haichuan, was laid to rest near the Red Bridge, which was just outside of the East Gate of Beijing.  The year after Dong Haichuan died, a group of his students erected a stone stele at his grave. The First Stele, erected in February 1883, was to honor their teacher and preserve his memory. This stele is generally referred to as the Yin Fu Stele, Original Stele, or the First Stele. Click here to read the inscription of the First Stele. The First stele was engraved on both sides. The front side of the stele in an epitaph that includes a brief account of Dong’s life and achievements. The backside of the stele includes a list of sixty-six names of his students. It is reported that Yin Fu, due to his success in the bodyguard business, paid for the stele. Martial scholars recognize many of the names of students, but maintain that it was not a complete list. Probably, it was a list of the most active students at the time of his death.

Yin Fu, along with his closest disciples, erected another stele in 1904. It is referred to as the Second Stele and is titled “Tomb of Ancestor Dong Originated from Wen An.” This stele goes into greater detail about Dong and his life. Considering that Yin Fu studied with Dong Haichuan longer than any other student, it is suggested that the two steles that were erected under his guidance have a better insight into his life. Future steles that were erected suggest that there was some exaggeration of the accounts of Dong’s life and martial practice. Click here to read the epitaph of the Second Stele.

In 1930, Ma Gui, who is listed as a Junior Disciple on the First Stele, and other contemporaries erected the Third Stele. Also in that year, Lu Shukui and his followers erected a stele that is known as the Fourth Stele. This was forty-eight years since the time of Dong’s death and illustrates that baguazhang had survived in the hands of his senior students. Click here to read the epitaph of the Third and Fourth Stele.

Ma Gui and many other period Baguazhang practitioners at the dedication of the 3rd and 4th steles at Dong Haichuan’s original tomb. Near the Red Bridge just otuside the East Gate in Beijing, China on March 26, 1930.

For the next thirty-three years, Dong Haichuan’s tomb set peacefully near the East Gate of Beijing. Many bagua practitioners visited the tomb through the years and paid their respects to the founder

Group of baguazhang practitioners during the 1981 move of Dong Haichuan's tomb. Includes Li Ziming and Yang Kun

of the art. Change, which is such a major part of the bagua philosophy, came in a vengeance during the Chinese Cultural Revolution during the 1960’s. This twisted political movement, led by Mao Tse-Tung, was a result of conflict within the ruling Communist Party. It recruited young children and students into an organization called the Red Guard. This organization was tasked with eliminating old culture, old customs, old habits and old ways of thinking. These were to be replaced with all new culture, customs, habits and ideas. What was considered as old and new was left to the whim of the Red Guard. Dong Haichuan’s tomb, being considered part of the old culture, was destroyed. The steles, which were erected by his students from 1883 to 1930, were knocked down and buried. The tomb of the founder of baguazhang was buried beneath a farm field for seventeen years.

Eventually, the Cultural Revolution came to an end. In 1980, it was learned that plans were being developed to build a housing project on the land where Dong was buried. A group of bagua practitioners, led by Li Ziming, unearthed the steles and erected them in front of the Beijing Physical Education College at the Wu Shu arena. Many of the students at the college objected to the tombstones and a plan was made to remove them, along with Dong’s remains, to a public cemetery. This group of bagua practitioners erected a new monument at the Wan An cemetery, which is opposite of the Reclining Buddha Temple in the western outskirts of Beijing. The new monument consists of three structures.

The Center Monument – contains Dong Haichuan’s remains. It is an eight-sided structure, which reflects the bagua symbol. Each side of the structure has an inset plaque that represents one of the eight trigrams of the bagua. Under each trigram plague is another plaque that lists the names of bagua practitioners that were involved in the monument construction and tomb relocation effort.

The Front Wall Monument – sitting in front of the eight-sided center monument. [It is on the left of the above picture.] It contains three engraved stones on both sides for a total of six. The stones on the front of the wall state who is buried at the monument and contains a list of names of those involved in the restoration project. On the back of the wall, the center stone gives a short account of Dong’s life and further states that 442 people were involved in moving the tomb to the new location. The stone on the right gives a list of baguazhang practitioners in China that live outside of Beijing that are spreading the art. The stone on the left lists Chinese that live overseas who are spreading the art.

The Back Wall Monument – sitting behind the eight-sided center monument. [It is on the right in the above picture.] The four historic original steles were set into this wall. These include the 1883 Yin Fu First Stele, the 1904 Yin Fu Second Stele, the 1930 Ma Gui Third Stele, and the 1930 Lu Shukui Fourth Stele. Both sides of the original steles are visible on this monument.

The Korean Stele – this was added in June 1991 and details the Baguazhang lineage of the Korean branch of the art. Lu Shuitien, a Chinese man that moved to Korea at the end of war with Japan, started this branch. This stele is not shown in the photograph.

The monument to the founder of baguazhang is a source of great pride to many practitioners of the art. It is considered as a highlight to many when visiting Beijing.

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