It originated in Cangzhou, a prefecture in Hebei Province of North China, but today is also well known in other locales, including Taiwan.

[citation needed] In 1928, the Nationalist Republic established Central Guoshu Institute where Ma Yingtu (1898–1956) and Guo Changsheng, practitioner of the Yanshan and Nanpi lineages were martial arts coaches.

After in-depth study and analysis, taking elements from the two lineages and combining them into one new style, while also adding skills from the 24 forms of Tongbeiquan.

In the present day, this tradition continuous among various teachers, such as Su Yu-chang, Tony Yang, Adam Hsu (United States) and Zhou Jingxuan (mainland China).

Pigua Zhang is one of the fighting styles of the character Hermit (Tanimoto Natsu) in the Japanese manga and anime series History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi along with Bajiquan.