Iconic Styles of Kung Fu: Praying Mantis

It is one of the most recognizable styles of kung fu in existence with ferocious movements featuring both short and long range techniques and footwork borrowed from the monkey style. But at its core is not a monkey, not even a mammal. This is the only kung fu style to be based on the movements of an insect. What's that style? It's new. It's mine. Mantis. That's right. The praying mantis style of Chinese kung fu or Tang Lang Chien dates back to the Ming or possibly even the Song Dynasty and a story about its founder taking inspiration from nature forms the background of one of the most creative martial arts forms in existence today. But how did it all happen? And how did the style rise out of secrecy to become the famous fighting form that it is now? In this video, you're going to find out. Most lineages site Wang Lang as the founder of the praying mantis style and place him at the end of the Ming dynasty. Most probably being born in the late 1500s. He was supposedly born in Shandong province close to Mount Lao or La Shan which is about 19 mi northeast of the city of Chingda. You know where the beer comes from. But despite being fromQing Dao, Wang Lang did not fall into alcoholism. Instead, he ventured to Mount Lao, which is home to many Dowist monasteries. It is said that the mountain was visited by the first emperor, Chinuang, hoping to meet immortals there. And actually, the water they use for brewing the Ching Dao beer now comes from a spring on Mount Laauo. Does that make up for being an alcoholic? The beer uses dowist holy water from Mount Lao? I don't know. Anyway, Wong Lang studies with the Dowists on Mount Laauo, including the study of martial arts and eventually becomes a Dowist priest himself. He later starts traveling around China and he visits the Shaolin Temple in Hunan Province, where he spars with the Shaolin warrior monks, but his skills are no match for them. So, he sits under a willow tree to cool off and notices a preying mantis fighting a cicada. Now, a praying mantis is an incredibly formidable insect. It is capable of defeating prey six times its own size, which is a rare feat in nature. You are tiny, very small, but I already know how much pain you can inflict. You're welcome. It is also known for its perseverance. It methodically and efficiently attacks an opponent and doesn't give up. The female is larger and fiercer than the male. And to give you an idea of just how violent these are, after mating, the female actually kills the male and eats its head. Now, Wang Lang is impressed at how the mantis defeats the cicada, and he captures the insect and takes it with him to study. He uses the end of a writing brush to spar with the creature and observes how the mantis uses its arms to hook and pull at the brush, as well as other tactics like how it sticks to its enemy, closes space between it and its opponent, etc. One lan uses what he has learned from the mantis to create 12 movements that form the basis of the style and it really works becoming a legitimate kung fu style. Some aspects such as the monkey footwork may have been added later but the core movements are attributed to Wangla. Then after the Ming dynasty fell to the Manchus who founded theQing dynasty in 1644. There was a resistance movement called faning fuing or oppose theQing and restore the Ming. This movement failed but many martial artists who came to join would have shared their techniques with each other and there is a theory that Wong Lang was part of this movement and that is how the mantis style spread to other parts of China. There is another story that tells of an abbot called Fu during the Song Dynasty who invited Wong Lang who in this story is now a Song Dynasty figure and 17 other martial artists to improve the arts of Shaolin. Their techniques were compiled into a secret boxing manual called Mishaw, literally mysterious hands. This book was supposedly then lost until the Tienlong period of theQing dynasty where it was discovered and people reconstructed his style from a book. It gets even more ridiculous when you realize that one-third of the supposed masters in the book are actually fictional characters anyway. People like Lim Chong from Shrehul Dr. one of China's four classic novels for example. So I think the first story is more likely with Wong Lang being a Ming dynasty figure. The art was then passed down secretly at first but became widespread in the 20th century. Maybe because of more sharing of techniques between martial arts masters during the Boxer Rebellion of the year 1900. Praying mantis kung fu split into several styles with northern mantis being the most common style that you see in kung fu movies with the classic hand movements. The most recognizable of which would be go low and tie or to hook, grasp, and then attack. You can see this sequence of moves used over and over again in kung fu movies like one of my personal favorites, the thundering mantis. There are now many styles of mantis, including sevenstar praying mantis, plum blossom mantis, and taigi mantis. Shani province also has a praying mantis style that is more internal. It still uses hand techniques such as gocho or hooking inspired by mantis movements, but borrows footwork and internal power generation from and other internal styles. In addition, there is a southern branch of mantis that is believed to have developed separately from the northern system and has less resemblance to the movements of a mantis. But the mantis style you most often see in movies is the northern sevenstar praying mantis from Shandong province. And if you want to watch a movie where you literally have constant mantis action all the way through, I recommend The Thundering Mantis. The whole thing is on YouTube. I'll put the link at the end of this video. It's from 1980, so the footage quality is not the best, but the kung fu is topnotch. All right, guys. That is the video for today. If you want to see our videos on some other kung fu styles, check out our video on Itman, Bruce Lee's teacher. It's on screen now. Please subscribe to the channel if you're new and we'll see you next time.