---
title: Pai An (拍按 / 燕青破手) — Eight Step Mantis
---

**拍按 (Pāi'àn, "Crashing Press")** — nicknamed **燕青破手 ("Yan Qing's counter-hand")** — is the **two-person application set** of the [**Eight Step Praying Mantis**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/eight-step-mantis) curriculum of [**Wei Xiaotang (衛笑堂)**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/wei-xiaotang). It is the curriculum's **capstone**: where the solo forms (七手, 力劈, 翻車, 摘要) bank the vocabulary, 拍按 pressure-tests it against a partner. Two players — **甲 (A)** and **乙 (B)** — trade a fixed sequence of attack-and-counter; the set then **loops back** ("接第三勢反覆練習" — repeat from posture 3), and a separate **kicking branch (加腿法)** extends it into kicking range. The name is the defensive shape it drills: 拍 (a crashing slap-down) and 按 (a press).

## The paired set — 甲 (A) initiates, 乙 (B) responds

The two-person 拳譜 from the **松傳 / 左顯富** lineage (direct Wei disciples), reproduced under fair-use citation; English are the wiki's own working glosses. After posture 11 the set returns to posture 3 and repeats.

| # | 甲 (A) | A — gloss | 乙 (B) | B — gloss |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 預備勢，避擊手 | Ready posture; evading-strike hand | 預備勢，避擊手 | Ready posture; evading-strike hand |
| 2 | 帶步挫捶 | Carrying step, grinding punch | 翻手招架 | Turning the hand, parrying |
| 3 | 漏手反背掌 | Leaking hand, back-of-hand palm | 左推掌 | Left, pushing palm |
| 4 | 掛手捅掌 | Hanging hand, thrusting palm | 擊面摟手 | Strike the face, scoop hand |
| 5 | 摟手插捶 | Scooping hand, inserting punch | 摟手插捶 | Scooping hand, inserting punch |
| 6 | 掛手反背掌 | Hanging hand, back-of-hand palm | 摟手圈捶 | Scooping hand, circling punch |
| 7 | 轆轤插捶 | Windlass, inserting punch | 推手挫捶 | Pushing hand, grinding punch |
| 8 | 推肘圈捶 | Pushing elbow, circling punch | 摟手頂肘；掛手反背掌 | Scooping hand, butting elbow; hanging hand, back-of-hand palm |
| 9 | 勾手摟扣挫捶 | Hooking hand, scoop-and-lock, grinding punch | 架手退步 | Blocking hand, retreating step |
| 10 | 扣手挫捶 | Hooking-locking hand, grinding punch | 架手 | Blocking hand |
| 11 | 上步掛手反背掌 | Advancing step, hanging hand, back-of-hand palm | 退步圈捶 | Retreating step, circling punch |

### The kicking branch (加腿法)

From posture 9, the set can divert into a kicking exchange before looping back to posture 3:

| # | 甲 (A) | A — gloss | 乙 (B) | B — gloss |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 9-1 | 勾手挫捶撩陰腳 | Hooking hand, grinding punch, rising groin kick | 撤步拍腳 | Withdrawing step, slapping kick |
| 10-1 | 墊步前掃蹚 | Skip-step, forward sweeping leg | 提腳旋風腳 | Raising the foot, whirlwind kick |
| 11-1 | 起身擺蓮腳 | Rising up, lotus-swinging kick | 彎腰伏低 | Bend the waist, crouch low |
| 12-1 | 起身圈捶 | Rising up, circling punch | 掛手反背掌 | Hanging hand, back-of-hand palm |

## What it trains

- **Live timing and distance** — the techniques of the solo forms applied against a resisting, countering partner
- **拍 and 按** — the crashing slap-down and the press, the defensive shapes the set is named for
- **燕青破手 counters** — the "Yan Qing's counter-hand" answers to common attacks (招架 parry, 摟手 scoop, 架手 block, 退步 retreat)
- **Kicking range (加腿法)** — the optional branch into 撩陰腳, 旋風腳, 擺蓮腳, and the low sweeping leg

## Place in the curriculum

The two-person capstone, trained after the solo sets — per Wei's senior disciple 左顯富, the order is 七手 → 力劈 → 小翻車 → 大翻車 → 摘要 (六段) → **拍按對打**.

## Videos

- [八步螳螂拳 拍按對打 (鄭榮貴 / 八步功夫學苑)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c23xHoi5eoo) — full two-person demonstration
- [拍按應用集錦 (applications montage)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HrXmTbfBGw)

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="eight-step-mantis" text="八步螳螂 Eight Step Mantis — the branch and full curriculum" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="eight-step-zhai-yao-1" text="摘要一段 Zhai Yao Section 1 — the signature solo form" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="wei-xiaotang" text="Wei Xiaotang (衛笑堂) — the Eight Step disseminator" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-forms" text="Mantis Forms — the script-and-video map of every form" />

## Sources

**[1]** 衛笑堂 Wei Xiaotang, *實用螳螂拳* series (Yiwen 逸文 reprints) — the in-copyright primary published source; cited, not reproduced.

**[2]** **松傳古藝武術學苑** (suntrans88.blogspot.com) — the 拍按對 拳譜 posted by the 林松賢 / 左顯富 line (direct Wei disciples), reproduced under fair-use citation with the wiki's own glosses. Source post: [http://suntrans88.blogspot.com/2016/11/blog-post\_13.html](http://suntrans88.blogspot.com/2016/11/blog-post_13.html). The 燕青破手 alternate name is confirmed by the 鄭榮貴 video title.