Baguazhang (Chinese: 八卦掌; pinyin: Bāguà Zhǎng), Taijiquan and Xingyiquan are the three main arts of the Wudang school. Baguazhang is more broadly grouped as an internal practice (or neijia gong). Bāguà zhǎng literally means “eight trigram palm,” referring to the trigrams of the I Ching (Yijing), a canon of Taoism.
The creation of Baguazhang, as a formalised martial art, is attributed to Dong Haichuan (董海川), who is said to have learned from Taoist and Buddhist masters in the mountains of rural China during the early 19th century. Many Chinese authorities do not accept the Buddhist origin, maintaining that those teachers were actually Taoist priests, the evidence lying in Baguazhang’s frequent reference to core concepts central to Taoism, such as Yin and yang theory, I Ching, and Bagua diagram. The attribution to Buddhist teachers came from the 2nd generation teachers i.e. Dong Haichuan’s students, some of whom were Buddhist. There is evidence to suggest synthesis of several pre-existing martial arts practiced in the region in which Dong Haichuan lived, combined with Taoist circle walking. As a servant in the Imperial Palace he impressed the emperor with his graceful movements and fighting skill, and became an instructor and bodyguard to the court. Dong Haichuan taught for many years in Beijing, eventually earning patronage by the Imperial court.
Famous disciples of Dong Haichuan to become teachers were Yin Fu (尹福), Cheng Tinghua (程廷華), Ma Gui (马贵), Song Changrong (宋長榮), Liu Fengchun (劉鳳春), Ma Weiqi (馬維棋), Liu Baozhen(劉寶珍), Liang Zhenpu (梁振蒲) and Liu Dekuan (劉德寛). Although they were all students of the same teacher, their methods of training and palm techniques differed. The Cheng and Liu styles are said to specialize in “pushing” the palms, Yin style for “threading” the palms, Song’s followers practicing the palm technique of “Plum Flower” (梅花 Mei Hua), with Ma style palms being known as “hammers.”
Some of Dong Haichuan’s students, including Cheng Tinghua, participated in the Boxer Rebellion. In general, most bagua exponents today practice either the Yin (尹), Cheng (程), or Liang (梁) styles, although Fan (樊), Shi (史), Liu (劉), Fu (傅), and other styles also exist. (The Liu style is a special case, in that it is rarely practiced alone, but as a complement to other styles). In addition, there are sub-styles of the above methods as well, such as the Sun (孫), Gao (高), and Jiang (姜) styles, which are sub-styles of Cheng method.
(Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baguazhang)