The lineage of Li Wenbiao

Li Wenbiao (first generation)

     Li Wenbiao, called also Guangpu was a man of the Zhili (the actual Hebei). He was proud of having been a student of Cheng Tinghua and he had an excellent technique.

     He was big and tall and he had a big strength. The look denoted much energy and a big spirit. He always looked for persuading his adversaries with the words before apply the techniques of his art.

Luo Xingwu (1881-1969, second generation)

     Luo Xingwu was called also Dewen and was a man of Shuluxian in Hebei. He was the best student of Li Wenbiao and had technical exchanges with Cheng Yougong and Cheng Youxin. He was tall and very sociable. Luo Xingwu became very famous for his Bagua and also for his ability in the Xingyiquan where he had the personal teaching of the famous teacher Hao Enguang.

     Luo Xingwu held much to the martial morality and didn't bear the injustices (he didn't bend over to the humiliations). His way of teaching the martial art was stern and he connected the theory with the practice. He taught in Beijing and he ran the Society of Wushu and was the Head of the Group of Study on the Xingyi and on the Baguazhang. His good students were Luo Dacheng (his son), and Liu Jingru.

Liu Jingru (born in the 1936, third generation)

     Liu Jingru was born July 5 ,1936 in the district of Gaoyang in Hebei. My teacher  could testify that he, to the age of 66 , enjoys still notable energy and physical vigor. He  studied, since the 1957, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan with Luo Xingwu.

     In the 1960 he followed the teachings of Qiu Weihe (student of Zhang Zhangui) with which studied Bagua and Leixuanquan also. He studied then also the Bagua of Yin Fu and became an inside student of Shan Xiangling , a teacher of Liuhe tanglangquan (Six Harmonies Praying Mantis ). In the same period he received precious teachings from other famous teachers like Cheng Youxin (Cheng Tinghua's son), Liu Chanfeng and Wang Wenkui, becoming  one of the most experienced in the world of Baguazhang, Xingyiquan and Liuhe Tanglangquan. In the 1963 at the age of 27 years he participated in an important competition in Beijing becoming famous in  Bagua and in  Xingyi.

     In  1979 he resulted first in an other demonstration in Nanning ,in the Guangxi province, for his Baguazhang. In the 1980 he had the second place in the national competitions in Taiyuan, Shanxi. In the same year he was member of the Committee of the Society of Wushu of Beijing and became the Vice-Secretary of the Association for the Study of the Baguazhang also.

     In the 1987 with  his friend  Luo Dacheng and the famous teacher of Hongkong, Ma Youqing, he published the book Cheng shi Baguazhang. In the 1988 he participated to the video Chengshi Baguazhang  of the Beijing University Sport Publishing Company . In the 1997-98 master Liu presented an other video on the Baguazhang in varied episodes to the Beijing TV , becoming a fundamental element of the Bagua art. For many years he taught at the fampous Dongcheng Wushuguan (one of the most important schools of Bagua in Beijing) and in the park of the Altar of Heaven (Tiantan) in the south part of the capital, contributing to form athletes for the  Beijing Wushu team, like the famous Ge Chunyan and Zhang Hongmei, both gold medal in different national competitions.

     Between his foreign students,  one who continues to teach all his bagua program  is Loriano Belluomini, that in 1988 has completed his study:

bagua bashi (the 8 Bagua positions).                           

ba da mu zhang (the 8 Palms Mother).                        

youshen bagua lianhuan zhang (the palms of the Bagua in continuous series with the fluctuating body). 

bagua neigong (the form of the animals).                                 

baba liushisi shou (the 8 linear forms).             

bagua 24 shi duilian (exercise two people).                 

tuishou (techniques of push two people).                                            

bagua 64 zhang (8 ways to make Danhuan Zhang, Shuanhuanzhang etc.).                              

bagua feijiugong (8 forms in the forest of poles).                     

bagua jian (straight sword).                             

bagua dao (curved sword).                             

bagua zhanshen qian (lance).               

bagua ziwu yuonyang yue (double horn knives).          

Some forms of the Yin Fu style

     Loriano in addition studied with master Liu, the Xingyiquan (not completely) and Liuhe Tanglangquan (completely), beyond other forms for competition that master Liu has created with other chinese teachers who areteaching the Cheng school and the Yin school.

Loriano Belluomini (born in the 1947, fourth grade generation)

     Loriano Belluomini was born June 18 , 1947. He  began to practise the martial arts in the 1978. In the 1980 he began to practise  Taijiquan and  Kung Fu with Master Shin Daewoung. In  1986-87 he studied under Yang Li (of the Beijing Wushu Institute) Taijiquan, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan. In 1988 he went to China to study with Li Ziming, the most famous Bagua teacher .

     Always in the same trip he knew master Liu Jingru. In the following years Loriano finished the study with master Liu, and master Liu gave him the authorization to teach in Italy. Impassioned in the art of Bagua, Loriano  studied then with many other teachers (of different schools), like Gao Yisheng's school in Tianjin,  Xie Peigi's school , and Zhu Baozhen's school both of the Yin Fu school (and this last teacher , Loriano considers his second teacher for the orthodox Baguazhang) and others. Beginning from the 1990 he studied the Fu Zhensong school  in Guangzhou (Canton),  receiving there the authorization to teach in Italy. This school is called cyclonic for his rapid rotations, and it is called the Dragon-form for the sinuosity of his movements. Fu Zhensong is responsible for having transmitted the Baguazhang for first in the south of the Yangzejiang and since that moment the Dragon-school  is identified with the South China Fu shi Baguazhang.

     For about 14 years, Loriano went to China to study these schools of Kung Fu. Currently he teaches in Italy, in  Lucca. His best students are, Fabio Sandonà (of Padova), Cristiano Tori and Maurizio Mazzei ( Lucca); Loriano has taught also in France and in other places and he is probably the best experienced teacher of Baguazhang in Italy.

Fabio Sandonà (born in the 1966, fifth generation)

     Fabio Sandonà was born June 02,1966. Fabio began the study of  martial arts in the 1988 in Padua in the school of  master Bozidar Podhraski where he spent 3 years . At the end of the 1990 Fabio continued the practice in the school of Gongfu and Taijiquan of  Giuseppe Bon in Vicenza, studying in particular the Bagua style.

     In  1992 to follow a stage  on the Bagua style, Fabio went to the United States at the school of  Bok Nam Park in the state of Virginia. At the end of the same year Fabio meets the teacher Loriano Belluomini, and with him he decides to begin the study of the Cheng style of Baguazhang and part of the style of Yin Fu Baguazhang. Currently Fabio Sandonà teaches Cheng shi Baguazhang in Montegrotto Terme (Padova).

Fabio Sandonà (left) and one of his students

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