I've been interested in learning the style for a good while now, and I've been searching for schools high and low. Does anyone know where I can find a place that teaches Baji quan here in California? Or at least someone who can instruct me in Baji Quan. From what I've seen of the style it would certainly be good to know when you're confronted in a place where there isn't much room for movement.

Google Adam Hsu. I believe he is in Cali.

Found the school, but there seems to be no mention of the school specifically offering Baji Quan(nor if he even teaches there anymore). Further internet searching has only turned up 4 other school upstate, and one school on the other side of the country. Are there any good tapes of the art I should study, or should I just take a chance and head up there for personal instruction?

Found the school, but there seems to be no mention of the school specifically offering Baji Quan(nor if he even teaches there anymore). Further internet searching has only turned up 4 other school upstate, and one school on the other side of the country. Are there any good tapes of the art I should study, or should I just take a chance and head up there for personal instruction?

I wouldn't head anywhere without making a phone call first. I would call the school and ask if Adam Hsu still teaches there. I would then specifically ask if there is a Baji Quan class. There may not be a high demand for it so it's not listed on their website, that doesn't mean they don't teach it. Please provide a link to the website here for reference.

http://www.adamhsu.com/classes/classes.htm

Well seeing as it says that Adam currently resides in Taiwan, there is no doubt he's not teaching there. You could call and ask if anyone there teaches Baji but I would be wary of signing up there. They may try to use your interest in Baji as a hook and then push you into Bagua or something else. What about the schools upstate? Too far?

I actually train Baji in Ohio, there are 3 instructors in Ohio 2 of which are connected to the same lineage as Adam Hsu (Liu lineage). The 3rd is my teacher, who is connected to the Huo lineage.

Learning from DVD is not always the best option mainly because you can't get a real feel for how it should be executed without someone there to demonstrate it on you. If you have no choice but to go with DVDs I would suggest you focus on DVDs that are made in China, not Taiwan. Most (if not all) of the Baji coming out of Taiwan is Liu lineage, which from what I've seen is lacking in application, power, and extension.

That's not to say that there aren't good Liu style Baji guys out there, I've seen vid of Adam Hsu and he looked pretty good. But I've seen other Liu style Baji guys whose movements were excessively compact to the point of useless. But I've never seen vids of guys out of China that looked bad, everything I've come across of practioners in China has been pretty solid.

Do you have links for the schools upstate, I'm curious to see what they're doing.

http://www.omeikungfu.com/

From what I've gathered the Baji instructor is Tony Chen. And take this into consideration, the majority of the Baji schools are around San Fran. I live near LA, all the way on the other side of the state. I'm more likely to find Capoeira classes here than I am to find Baji Quan*there's actually a Capoeira school not to far from my home*. The nearest Baji instructor is one of Adam Hsu's students some place near UC Davis called Experimental College.

Looks like you're out of options then. Sorry about your luck. I looked at the Omei website and didn't see anything mentioning Baji, and from the way they spell some of the Chinese terms I would have to guess that they are Taiwan based. They do offer a San Shou program though which is good.

Hopefully someone else will come by and offer some suggestions regarding which DVDs you should check out, I have not idea what to tell you to get when it comes to DVDs.

There are decent vcd around thing is, I don't recommend learning from them especially if you are new to Martial Arts.
You really shouldn't learn from them period.

There are decent vcd around thing is, I don't recommend learning from them especially if you are new to Martial Arts.
You really shouldn't learn from them period.

Very true. I hope to find a school some day so I can learn the art first hand. Would anyone have any recommendations for good videos that demonstrate the forms(basic or otherwise)? If I won't be finding a school for a while, I want to least have an idea of what I want to learn from the school.

Hi;

Jason Tsou is teaching Ba Ji in LA area.

here is a link.

http://www.privacyplease.net/chikungintl.com/

Here is a link to some songs and classics.

http://northpine.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=21

you may have some idea about the style.

Here is the link that Wu lian zhi explained some of the classics with examples.

http://www.tudou.com/playlist/playindex.do?lid=475297&iid=4086411

such as 6 major ways of opening the opponent's door.

Ding Bao Ti Dan Kua Chan.

I have the vcd.

Best of luck in your search for a school and a good teacher.