Bagua zhang (八卦掌 in pinyin: ba1 gua4 zhang3) (Bagua Quan, Pa kua chuan, Bagua, Pakua, Pakua boxing, Pakua hand movements, Pakua circular dance) is one of the three major internal Chinese martial arts. The word literally means "eight trigram palm". The trigrams here refer to eight animal forms, or fighting systems: lion, phoenix, snake, unicorn, monkey, bear, dragon and rooster.
Similar types of animal systems exist in other types of Chinese martial arts. A type of practice which is called circle walking is unique for bagua zhang.
