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title: Dodging Hardness (躲剛拳) — Seven Star Mantis
---
**躲剛拳 (Duǒ Gāng Quán, "Dodging Hardness")** is a **40-posture** core empty-hand form of [**Seven Star Praying Mantis**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/seven-star-mantis), from the canon of [**Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/wong-hon-fan), Luo Guangyu line. The name is the principle: 躲剛 — *evade the hard*. Rather than meet force with force, the form slips and withdraws past an incoming hard attack (the twin 撤步躱剛, "withdrawing-step dodges," sit at its heart) and answers on the return with coiling-silk hands (纒絲), the hooking-scooping-plucking hand (抅摟採手), and the mantis's filling and governing punches.
## The form — move-by-move (拳譜)
The posture sequence as numbered in Wong Hon Fan's manual (第一式 … ), each Chinese name with a plain English gloss:
| # | 式 (中文) | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 四平雙蓄勢 | Level Double-Storing Stance |
| 2 | 七星右補捶 | Seven-Star Right Filling Punch |
| 3 | 七星相擊掌 | Seven-Star Mutual Striking Palm |
| 4 | 進式反衝爪 | Advancing Reverse Charging Claw |
| 5 | 右抅摟採手 | Right Hooking Scooping Plucking Hand |
| 6 | 七星挑補捶 | Seven-Star Lifting Filling Punch |
| 7 | 七星右纒絲 | Seven-Star Right Coiling Silk |
| 8 | 七星掛統捶 | Seven-Star Hanging Governing Punch |
| 9 | 撇掌右抓腿 | Flinging Palm Right Grabbing Leg |
| 10 | 七星右補捶 | Seven-Star Right Filling Punch |
| 11 | 撤步左躱剛 | Withdrawing Step Left Dodging Hard |
| 12 | 撤步右躱剛 | Withdrawing Step Right Dodging Hard |
| 13 | 雙封手統捶 | Double Sealing Hands Governing Punch |
| 14 | 刁手左崩捶 | Hooking Hand Left Avalanche Punch |
| 15 | 七星左刁手 | Seven-Star Left Hooking Hand |
| 16 | 七星右補捶 | Seven-Star Right Filling Punch |
| 17 | 登山右挫捶 | Mountain-Climbing Right Grinding Punch |
| 18 | 穿手攬馬勢 | Threading Hand Seizing Horse Stance |
| 19 | 磨盤閉門腿 | Millstone Closing-the-Door Leg |
| 20 | 登山右圈捶 | Mountain-Climbing Right Circling Punch |
| 21 | 右抅摟採手 | Right Hooking Scooping Plucking Hand |
| 22 | 登山右低牽 | Mountain-Climbing Right Low-Pull |
| 23 | 登山封統捶 | Mountain-Climbing Sealing Governing Punch |
| 24 | 馬式偷心勢 | Horse-Stance Heart-Stealing Stance |
| 25 | 七星右拐肘 | Seven-Star Right Crook-Elbow Elbow |
| 26 | 七星式低劈 | Seven-Star Posture Low Chop |
| 27 | 走步髙挑手 | Walking-Step High Lifting Hand |
| 28 | 七星右補捶 | Seven-Star Right Filling Punch |
| 29 | 七星右纒絲 | Seven-Star Right Coiling Silk |
| 30 | 七星掛統捶 | Seven-Star Hanging Governing Punch |
| 31 | 七星挑補捶 | Seven-Star Lifting Filling Punch |
| 32 | 斜步右纒絲 | Diagonal Step Right Coiling Silk |
| 33 | 登山掛統捶 | Mountain-Climbing Hanging Governing Punch |
| 34 | 撇掌右抓腿 | Flinging Palm Right Grabbing Leg |
| 35 | 登山右補捶 | Mountain-Climbing Right Filling Punch |
| 36 | 登山右低牽 | Mountain-Climbing Right Low-Pull |
| 37 | 纒絲大轉身 | Coiling Silk Large Turning Body |
| 38 | 七星掛統捶 | Seven-Star Hanging Governing Punch |
| 39 | 七星挑補捶 | Seven-Star Lifting Filling Punch |
| 40 | 七星捕蟬式 | Seven-Star Catching Cicada Posture |
**Script and full text.** The posture-name list above is the form's skeleton, from Wong Hon Fan's manual. For the **complete move-by-move text** — Wong's explanation (說明) and application (功用) for every posture, with the original photographs — see Paul Brennan's open translation, which the wiki links rather than reproduces:
- **Script:** Paul Brennan, [*Dodging Hardness*](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2019/04/30/dodging-hardness/)
- **Video:** none lineage-credible located yet (see the [Mantis Video index](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/mantis-video)).
## See also
## Sources
**[1]** **Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛)**, *躲剛拳* (Seven Star Praying Mantis, Luo Guangyu line) — the source manual for the posture sequence and its numbering.
**[2]** Paul Brennan, [*Dodging Hardness*](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2019/04/30/dodging-hardness/) — the open English translation of Wong's full text (in copyright; linked, not reproduced). The posture-name list here is given under fair-use citation with the wiki's own glosses.