This is what we know about the lineage of the MaGui system of Baguazhang. Dong Haichuan created baguazhang and taught in Beijing. Ma Gui learned directly from him. This lineage chart is not a complete chart of everyone who studied with Ma Gui, only those related to Li Baohua and our line. Dong Haichuan (c.1813 - 1884) Dong Haichuan taught Yin Fu (1840 -1909), Ma Gui (1852-1942), and others. 

Ma Gui learned from Yin Fu as well. Ma Gui taught Li Shao'an (1888 -1982), Liu Wanchuan (1905 -1993) and others. 

Liu Wanchuan taught Yu Zhiming (1920 - ), Fan Yaohua (1934- ), Pan Guangzheng (1924-1999), Sun Wuling (1921-2001), Bi Jie, Li Wenling (1947- ) and many others. 

Yu Zhiming teaches: Li Baohua (1964 - ) and others.

Dong Haichuan taught his students according to their previous skills, which is why no branch of bagua is the same, although it does not have a long history. He had many highly skilled students who were often excellent at other martial arts as well. Yin Fu and Cheng Tinghua are the best known, and taught the most students. Yin Fu studied with Dong Haichuan for the longest time of all the apprentices, and specialized in chuanzhang, or piercing palm. Yin Fu's best students were said to be Ma Gui, Liu Qingfu, Gong Baotian, and Yin Yuzhang. 

Ma Gui lineage is not simply Yin Fu style, as Ma Gui, although he did learn with Yin Fu, learned directly from Dong Haichuan. Ma Gui started to learn with Dong Haichuan when he was young, and later on Dong Haichuan lived with Ma Gui. Ma Gui was called Yin Fu's student because he was the younger generation and because his father was good friends with Yin Fu. This kind of generational switching is common in the martial arts - teachers, uncles, and brothers are often a hodgepodge of relationships. 

Ma Gui was a favourite of Dong Haichuan since he was literate, talented, had a good character, and trained very hard. There are two ways that Ma Gui was special among Dong Haichuan's students. 1) Ma Gui started with Dong Haichuan when he was twelve, so he did not have the basics of other styles. He was the only one who got the lowest level, basics training from Dong Haichuan. All the others were skilled in other styles when they started. 2) Ma Gui was not interested in other martial arts, unlike some of Dong Haichuan's other students who liked to fight and compare styles. He liked to fight like the others, but not to learn other styles. Perhaps because of this he was the one of the first generation apprentices who learned the most complete bagua system. 

Liu Qingfu was from Shandong, and returned there and taught many people. His students were Liu Pusan, Liu Wanchuan, and Yu Zhiming, among others. So this is the secondary lineage, Yin Fu taught Ma Gui and Liu Qingfu. Liu Qingfu taught Liu Wanchuan and also taught Yu Zhiming for a few years as a child. Liu Qingfu often talked about Ma Gui to Liu Wanchuan in Shandong, saying that 'no one could compare with Ma Gui'. Because Ma Gui was reluctant to teach to those he thought unworthy, it was thought that he did not transmit his skills. But Ma Gui was poor in his later years and was taken care of by Liu Wanchuan and Li Shao'an. The two of them ran a restaurant in Beijing. He taught them the whole bagua system on the temple grounds where they took care of him. The Ma Gui style, as different from Yin Fu style, has been passed on by Liu Wanchuan. 

Li Shao'an, from Shandong, studied with Ma Gui but did not pass on the style. Li Shao'an trained with Yin Fu and Cheng Tinghua before meeting Liu Wanchuan, also from Shandong. Li Shao'an was famous for his dragging palm, but due to the Cultural Revolution he had a difficult life and did not pass on his teaching. 

Liu Wanchuan was the one who taught the style. The apprentice who learned the most completely from Liu Wanchuan was Yu Zhiming, who learned with him for over 30 years. This system cannot be learned in a few years, so it is likely that Yu Zhiming is the only one who truly inherited the Ma Gui style. Pan Yaohua learned some things that Yu Zhiming forgot, so he is a great resource for our lineage. 

Yu Zhiming has been teaching the Ma Gui system to Li Baohua since 1989. Yu Zhiming did not teach very many people, and Li Baohua is his closest and longest held student, who has inherited the complete system. There is a connection between the Yin Fu and Ma Gui styles, as can be seen in the people who trained with both, but it is a characteristic of the Ma Gui style that once you start it you want to forget everything else you have learned before. 

The people who learned from Ma Gui and his inheritors have all learned the MaGui system as their last system. Ma Gui taught many people, but to our knowledge only taught the whole system to Li Shao'an and Liu Wanchuan when he was older. Li Shao'an did not teach, but he is a vital person in the lineage. He was largely responsible for Ma Gui teaching in his later years, because he was the one who owned a restaurant and took care of Ma Gui in his later years, when he taught Li and Liu. The lineage has been passed on through Liu Wanchuan.

Written by Andrea Falk.