Bung Bu (崩步拳) — The Mantis Foundation Form

崩步拳 (Bung Bu Quan / Beng Bu Quan, "Avalanche Steps Boxing" or "Crushing Step") is the universal foundational form of Northern Praying Mantis. Across Seven Star, Plum Blossom, Six Harmony, Eight Step, and Taiji-Plum branches alike, Bung Bu is taught first — the "ABC" through which every mantis specialist learns the system's signature vocabulary: the mantis hook (螳螂鈎), the seven-star stance (七星馬), sticking-and-intercepting (黏截), and the avalanche punch (崩捶) that gives the form its name.

The Wong Hon Fan recension (Hong Kong Chin Woo / Seven Star), the most widely-disseminated version, has 48 postures. Other branches differ in count and naming but not in core vocabulary.

What the form trains

• The mantis hook: opens with Snatching a Pearl from Under the Sea (海底取珠) and Mantis Catches a Cicada (螳螂捕蟬) — the hooking hand on a low ducking entry that becomes muscle memory for every later mantis movement.

• Step-and-strike unity: Stomp & Advance, Pushing Open a Window (踏進推窗) and Stomp, Wheeling Technique (踏步翻車) — committing the body weight into the strike via the front foot's stamp.

• The avalanche punch (崩捶) in all its positions: Avalanche Punch to the Face (迎面崩捶), Horse-Riding Stance Avalanche Punch (馬式崩捶), Mountain-Climbing Stance Avalanche Punch (登山崩捶).

• The seven-star (Big Dipper) stance — 七星刁手 (Big-Dipper Stance, Hooking Hand) and 七星補捶 (Big-Dipper Stance, Filling Punch) — the eponymous Seven Star foundation.

• Kicks under cover: scooping kicks left and right (Stretch Left Wing, Left Scooping Kick 左翼揪腿; Stretch Right Wing, Right Scooping Kick 右翼揪腿), an intercepting fist over a lifting leg (Lifting Leg, Intercepting Fist 提腿截捶), a fanning kick (呑塌扇風, 反身扇風, 進步扇風).

Full posture list — Wong Hon Fan recension (1947, 48 postures)

The canonical Seven Star Bung Bu, as Wong Hon Fan published it in 1947 (transmitted through 羅光玉 Luo Guangyu from 范旭東 Fan Xudong). Posture names and English glosses from Paul Brennan's open translation of Wong's book.

The closing aphorism

Every Wong-line transmission closes the form with the verse:

練拳不練功，到老一塲空。捱得苦中苦，方成強上強。 Practicing the boxing form without training the underlying skill — in old age it comes to nothing. Only those who endure the suffering within suffering attain the strength upon strength.

The 1954 verse edition (Wong's 重訂崩步拳)

In 1954 Wong Hon Fan published a revised Bengbu Poems (重訂崩步拳, 47 postures) attaching a classical four-to-eight-line verse to each posture, attributed to Wong's predecessor Fan Xudong (范公語). This is the poetic-mnemonic version of the form — meant to be memorized alongside the movement so the principle is recalled with the technique. Brennan translated all 47 verses in 2025.

Cross-branch versions

• Su Yu-Chang / Wutan (蘇昱彰) — a distinct lineage preservation of Bung Bu; demo: 武術展示 七星螳螂拳-崩步(武壇版).

• Taiji Plum (太極梅花) and Six Harmony branches each have their own Bung Bu variants — generally shorter, with different ordering of the same vocabulary. The Kung Fu Magazine forum thread Bung Bu Comparisons (7-Star, CCK TJPM, TJPM) discusses the differences across branches: forum thread.

• Eight Step uses a form by the same name 崩步 in its curriculum, though not identical movement-for-movement to the Seven Star Wong version.

Videos

Seven Star (Wong-line):

• 七星螳螂-崩步拳 (clean walkthrough) — recommended first watch

• Mantis Bung Bo Kuen + applications — form with breakdown of applications

• Praying Mantis Kung Fu Tutorial Beng Bu: Lesson 1 Section 1 — English-language teaching

• 崩步 — 1930s 黃漢勛-era photos — archival imagery from the Wong era

• hfwong-mantis.com — 羅光玉宗師崩步拳演式 — rare archival film of Luo Guangyu himself performing Bengbu

Other lineages:

• 武壇版 (Wutan / 蘇昱彰 lineage)

• 中國武術名拳錄 — 螳螂崩步拳 — standard reference recording

Open English translations

• Paul Brennan, "Avalanche Steps Boxing Set / 崩步拳" (2020) — full bilingual translation of Wong's 1947 manual: brennantranslation.wordpress.com

• Paul Brennan, "Bengbu Poems / 重訂崩步拳" (2025) — bilingual of Wong's 1954 verse edition: brennantranslation.wordpress.com

• Paul Brennan, "Understanding the Avalanche Steps / 領崩步" — bilingual of the two-person companion form: brennantranslation.wordpress.com

• Plum Publications posture chart by Sifu Paul Koh (companion to a Tak Wah Eng DVD): plumpub.com/kaimen

The Brennan translations are the single best free English-language window into Bung Bu — full original Chinese (from Wong's published books) plus careful English, page by page.

See also

Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — the style overview

七星螳螂 Seven Star Mantis — Bung Bu's branch context

力劈拳 Li Pi Quan — the Eight Step companion form

摘要拳 Zhai Yao Quan — Seven Star's 'Picked Essentials' form-group

Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛) — the Seven Star master whose Bung Bu is canonical

Sources

[1] Wong Hon Fan 黃漢勛, 崩步拳 (Hong Kong, 1947) — original Chinese published manual. Original held in the CUHK Wong Hon Fan Special Collection.

[2] Paul Brennan (tr.), "Avalanche Steps Boxing Set / 崩步拳" (2020) — open-access English translation: brennantranslation.wordpress.com. The posture list above is reproduced under fair use as the bare form-name list (in copyright as a translated work; cited and credited).

[3] Wong Hon Fan, 重訂崩步拳 (Hong Kong, 1954) — the verse edition. Brennan translation: brennantranslation.wordpress.com.

[4] 螳螂派黃漢勛 official family site (hfwong-mantis.com) — archival film and lineage essays.