8 Trigrams (Bagua) in Beijing

Today was especially noteworthy, and I know you’re all thinking it’s because I went to one of the top tourist attractions of Beijing, but I must tell you it is not.  Instead, I was able to go able to go and practice Baguazhang (八卦掌；Eight Trigram Palm), an internal style of Chinese martial arts.  Baguazhang, although an internal style like Tai Chi, is based around walking in a circle, which is often personified by the yin yang symbol surrounded by eight trigrams from the I-Ching (易经；Yi Jing), or Book of Changes, in an octagon.  The eight trigrams in the symbol each have their own significance in regards to the cardinal directions, the body, times of day and the zodiac, and are taken from the 64 hexagrams (shown below) in the Yi Jing. 

Above: the Eight Trigrams (Bagua)

 

As this was my first time using the Beijing Subway to get somewhere, it was a rather interesting and long journey.  I had to transfer trains twice, which wasn’t that complicated thanks to signs in Chinese and English that showed how to transfer.  My destination was Xizhimen Station (西直门站；Shi Zhir Men Zhan), slightly Northwest of the center of the city and close to the Beijing Zoo and Beijing North Railway Station (in fact, the railway station can be accessed right after one exits the subway).  From the station I walked a bit and eventually ran into the American I had contacted about Bagua, who then led me across a foot bridge to an island park where I was able to meet his Shifu, Sui Yunjiang, before taking a bit to stretch out and warm up before class began.  During class, my American acquaintance, Keoni, explained to me that Master Sui not only taught Baguazhang but another style called Meihuazhuang (梅花桩；Plum Flower Pillars), which, after seeing a bit of it, seemed somewhat like Long Fist and Bagua combined, but with slightly different movements.  While I wanted to get some pictures of the Meihuazhuang students practicing, it was difficult to catch a shot.  The course began with some Contemporary Wushu-like exercises such as crescent moon kicks, sidekicks, and other kicks before moving into combinations of these with sweeps, hits and jumps before moving onto butterfly kicks and 50 jumping inward and outward crescent moon kicks.  Following this, we stretched out again and then I was able to begin some training in Bagua.  I trained with Keoni in his “circle”, which was a piece of ground that had been walked on so much that it had itself become a circle, the only one that was deeper was Shifu Sui’s Circle (see below),

 

 which was unfortunately covered in water from the rain earlier that day.  That day I went over the basic stepping movement and direction changes of Bagua, while Keoni explained to me that the style they practiced Liang Baguazhang, was different than the style I had practiced in Arizona, Sun Baguazhang (from what I can remember, as I had only jumped on my interest in seriously training in Bagua this past year), in that there were no forms based on the 8 Animals of Bagua, but the animal forms sometimes showed up in the various forms within the Liang system.  So, until around 6 PM that night I practiced basic stepping and direction changes, as well as the positioning of the feet, lowering the qi into the Dantian and just making sure to get the little things right, all the while paying attention to the sun setting on the old Beijing Exhibition Center across the canal and the people walking past, watching and listening. 

 

Following this, we went to Shifu Sui’s apartment (which was close by) for tea.  Keoni explained to me that even though the area around Xizhimen had changed over the years, Shifu Sui and his apartment had changed very little during this period.  Sure enough, the apartment building itself was small compared to other places I had been in China, with concrete staircases and very small rooms when looking at the other buildings I had been in.  Nonetheless, it was a nice and cozy place, as when you walked in, there was a brief hallway where one removed their shoes before finding a small bathroom to the left (as small as the one in my dormitory) and a kitchen to the right, before one entered the living/television room.  The living room was an amazing sight, as the walls to the left and right consisted of shelves that were packed with various trinkets, artifacts, weapons, and other things that had been given as gifts by Shifu Sui’s students (who came from around the world to study under him, as could be seen from the variety of the things on the shelves) over the many years he had taught.  Over tea, Shifu Sui discussed his experiences in Baguazhang and went into his thoughts on the Shaolin Monastery -- on which he had some interesting insights -- and life as a martial artist in Beijing during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1975).   All in all, a good day in which I learned quite a lot.  So much so, in fact, that I intend returned the following Sunday and intend on trying to attend class as often as possible once becoming more settled in to university and city life, as I probably learned more about Baguazhang and modern Chinese history in a few hours than I could have anyplace besides my wushu school in Phoenix. 

Beijing Week One -- August 27th to September 1st

One week down in Beijing, and so far it has been very good.  I got through the airport with no hassle except for the fact that the lines in the airport to get through immigration were pretty long (no pictures, unfortunately), but after that it was a quick ride on the automated train, waiting for bags, and then it was through customs and off to catch a ride to the university.  The driver took a different route to the university, and I was able to see how far away we were from the city’s center, and thus in more of a suburban area.  After getting on campus, I was able to quickly find the foreign students dormitory and move into my room.  The room itself was interesting as it resembled a very small apartment. 

 

While the beds both caused the room to seem more like a hotel (along with the flat screen TV on the wall opposite the beds, to the left in the picture), the two desks, along with the small kitchen and bathroom (seen below) and lack of hotel amenities like complimentary chocolates (or toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, and slippers from my last Chinese hotel experience) made the room seem more like a regular dorm room. 

 

 

 

The rest of the day was uneventful other than meeting a few fellow students from Mexico and eating lunch with them while finding out about life at BISU and what sort of stuff happened during the weekends, how classes were, and what was around campus.  Following this, I took a trip to the market across the street and purchased a few things for the room before returning.  Intending to take a nap, I ended up sleeping until 11:00 pm and, after realizing what time it was, went back to sleep. 

Tuesday (August 28)

Tuesday was relatively uneventful aside from buying a phone and having some communication problems which took at least an hour to get sorted out before I was able to get a SIM card.  As a learning experience, the fact that my Chinese listening skills are under par was greatly realized, although, as I am here to learn Chinese I am sure with time it will get better. 

Wednesday (August 29)

The following day went by very quickly, with the excitement coming in the evening when I caught the bus down to Worker’s Stadium (工人体育场；Gongren Tiyuchang) to visit and have dinner with my American friend Ken Magnum and his family.  Although shrouded by the Beijing smog, not only was the ride on the have a few amazing views but the view from the Magnum’s apartment was equally amazing, offering a look at the lights of Worker’s Stadium as well as views of the towers and skyscrapers of the Central Business District (CBD). 

 

The reason the Magnum’s were residing in Beijing was so that their son, Andre, could pursue his studies of Chinese Martial Arts (中国武术；Zhongguo Wushu), as he had trained at Shaolin Monastery (少林寺；Shaolinsi; Young Forest Monastery) for some time before moving to Beijing – where he and his father have lived for three years now – to study wushu at a sports high school there.  After living in China for three years, Ken told me it was apparent that he would be living there long-term, and so his wife Margo had recently joined him and Dre in their new apartment.  The family is pictured below. 

During my stay I was able to talk with Ken about my goals in learning Chinese as well as what I wanted to do while in China (especially in regards to studying wushu) and in regards to international relations.  Following dinner, Ken showed me around his neighborhood, which was not only close to the CBD but also near to Sanlitun (三里屯), also known as Sanlitun Village or Sanlitun Bar Street.  As Ken showed me around, I not only noticed that Sanlitun was an area for drinking – with various night clubs, stip clubs, and outdoor restaurants filled with foreigners and Chinese hipsters throughout – but it was also a good area to indulge in Western dining such as New York style pizza, hamburgers and Coldstone ice cream.  I definitely plan to return in the near future, once the cravings for Western food and drink reveal themselves.

Thursday (August 30)

Like Tuesday, Thursday was also rather uneventful as I only made the mistake of misjudging the distance to a spot on Google Maps (I needed to go to the Bank of China to cash travelers cheques needed for registration) and walking for thirty minutes to get there and then walking back when I could not find the bank and when other banks there told me I had to go to Bank of China to cash the cheques.  When returning to the university and asking at the Foreign Students’ Office where the bank was, they told me it was in the spot where I had looked, and that I could have taken the Rapid Bus (a bus line located in the center of the roads of major streets that traveled faster than busses with routes on the sides of the streets) for three stops to get there.  One good thing that happened that day was that I was able to get in touch with an American expatriate who had been studying Baguazhang (八卦掌；Eight Trigram Palm) under a local master for some time, and whom invited me to partake in a class the coming Sunday.  Also notable, the fact that while I could not fully understand the meaning of what the aids at the banks told me when I talked with them, I understood the meaning when thinking it through, which was a good start on the listening route. 

Friday (August 31)

Today was the day that I finally was able to get to the bank (much faster this time having learned of the bus route) and was able to cash the cheques with ease.  Upon returning to the university I was surprised to find Erwai covered with new students, returning students and their parents wandering the campus and browsing around the booths (that had been put up the day before) in what I guess was the equivalent to opening weeks and move in days at American universities.  It was while wondering about this event that I ran into a Chinese student who was studying English.  I was able to have lunch with this new acquaintance, whose English name was Harry, and to meet his German friend Chris.  After having lunch in the first floor of 第三食堂 (Di San Shir Tang; Cafeteria No. 3), we went to help Chris move out of the dormitory and into an apartment across from the South Gate of the university.  During the excursion I met his English friend Sri, who was an Indian Englishman who, like myself, was studying International Relations and Chinese – only at Westminster University in London.  After the move in and talking about Chinese in this considerably large apartment (larger, I mean, than those in Suzhou, with various bedrooms and a large dining room with separate kitchen, among other things).  After lounging around in the apartment for a bit, we went to the street west of the Communications University of China (the university right next too, and west, of Erwai) to procure a dinner of spicy eggplant, cooked rice, frog meat, chicken and beef.  Although there were no pictures from this adventure, there will be more returns to this street with its many stores, shops and restaurants hustling and bustling in the night -- sometimes with patrons flowing onto sidewalk seating to eat their food – and its many street vendors and the occasional honking car or tuk tuk, as it was quite the place. 

Saturday (September 1)

Today was a quiet day for the most part, with the only action taking place in the morning when I had breakfast with Harry and his two Chinese friends in a surprisingly nice restaurant on the second floor of the first canteen. 

 Following this, we went to an area in central campus where there were some benches so I could help them practice English and they could help my practice their Chinese.  While it was difficult at first, I was able to get the hang of some of the new phrases I was learning (such as “Long time no see” which is: “很久不见了[hen jiu bu jien luh]” in Chinese).  Following my studies – during which I received some homework to go over during the next week – we returned to the canteen and had lunch before parting ways.  While the rest of the day was slightly boring, I was able to eat dinner with the British student I had met the other day in the second floor of 第三食堂 and to talk about learning Chinese and some of the differences between schooling in the UK and the US (for instance, he told me he usually only had to study seven hours per week in order to do well in his courses, along with studying on the side to better his Chinese).  Also during this meal, I could not help but notice that the chicken and rice dish I had ordered (below) was pretty darn good, and that the second floor of the cafeteria, unlike the first floor, had a wide selection of dishes ranging from a 四川菜 (Si Chuan Ts'ai; Sichuan Province Cuisine) place in the far corner (the right background in the picture below) as well as a chocolate fondue fountain and a Korean restaurant (and, according to the student handbook, a Muslim and in the premise as well.

 

Above: Cafeteria No. 3, 2nd Floor... its even better than the first floor!