Lineages
During his 40+ years of teaching Baguazhang Gao Yisheng's skill grew and developed. Accordingly his baguazhang changed and developed as well. During his long teaching career he had hundreds if not thousands of students. These students and schools show the progression of Gao as a martial artist. This does not mean that one lineage is better than another. What it does show is that Gao had a deep understanding of the principles of Baguazhang throughout his long career and all these schools are representative of Gao Yisheng's teaching and philosophy.
Today, there many schools and teachers that have descended from his lineage. There are many other schools not listed here. The main branches of his lineage come from Tianjin city, China, Taipei, Taiwan (there are two separate lineages there) and Hong Kong, China.
Tianjin City: Liu Fengcai was Gao's nephew and studied with him in Shandong and followed him to Tianjin city when he moved there. He taught classes for Gao and was known for his skill in the Xian Tien (pre-heaven) palms.
In Taipei, Taiwan the older lineage comes from Wu Jin-Yuan and his son Wu Huai-Shan. Both of these men studied with Gao early on when he was teaching in Shandong province. It is possible that Wu Jin-Yuan, who was already an accomplished martial artist, helped Gao develop some of the Hou Tian sets. Wu Jin-Yuan was Gao's first disciple. The family fled to Taiwan during the communist revolution in 1949.
The other lineage from Taipei, Taiwan comes from Zhang Junfeng. Zhang was a private student of Gao during his years in the city of Tianjin, China. He became Chairman of the Tianjin City Martial Arts Association and was known for his fighting skill. Gao gave his lineage the name "Yi Zong". He fled to Taipei, Taiwan during the Communist takeover of 1949.
The Hong Kong branch of Gao's art comes from He Kecai A.K.A Ho Ho Choi. Ho was a student of Gao’s who was small in stature and to work very hard against the larger students thereby learning a great deal in the process. Gao gave this branch the lineage name "Dao Zong", but the name is rarely used.
In addition to these more well known branches there is also a branch of Gao style Baguazhang called "Ze Zong" (广华哲宗同易派) which traces its teaching from Gao's well known student Wu Mengxia. According to both Zhang Jun Feng and He Kecai, Wu Mengxia was their senior brother under Gao Yisheng and shared much information on Gao bagua theory with them. This branch survived quietly via the Bi family in Beijing after Wu Mengxia was imprisoned during the Communist assumption of power.
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