Historical Origins of wudang kungfu–Wudang Bagua
There are multiple legends about the origin of Wudang Martial Arts. One statement comes from Huang Zongxi’s *Epitaph of Wang Zhengnan* in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. According to the record, at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhang Sanfeng, a Taoist priest of Wudang Mountain, was summoned to the capital. On the way, he encountered more than a hundred bandits. That night, he dreamed that the Three Pure Gods taught him boxing techniques. The next day, Zhang Sanfeng single-handedly defeated all the bandits using the boxing skills from his dream.

Another legend says that Zhang Sanfeng was originally a Shaolin disciple proficient in the five Shaolin fists. He later combined these fists with Mianchang Fist and improved them, creating internal martial arts that differed from Shaolin martial arts and focused more on defense. Shaolin Boxing excels in external skills and is highly aggressive, while the boxing techniques improved by Zhang Sanfeng emphasize internal skill cultivation and stronger defensiveness. After ten years of painstaking research, Zhang Sanfeng founded the Wudang School. Since then, Wudang Martial Arts gradually gained popularity, giving rise to branches such as Tai Chi, Xingyi, and Bagua.