---
title: Seven Hands (七手) — Eight Step Mantis
---

**七手 (Qī Shǒu, "Seven Hands")** — also **小七手** — is the **entry empty-hand form** 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 first set a student learns and the one that installs the branch's core hand-and-step vocabulary. The form is compactly **symmetrical** — its two halves mirror each other (postures 2–8 repeat as 9–15 on the other side) — drilling the seizing hand (採手), the back-of-hand palm (反背掌), the blade-breaking hand (破刀手), and the hawk-and-sparrow hand (鷹雀手), and closing by "reaching into the sea-bottom for treasure" (海底取寶).

## What it trains

- **Seizing-hand entries (採手)** — sticking, pulling, and opening the line before each strike
- **Left/right symmetry** — the mirrored halves train both sides of every technique
- **The blade-breaking hand (破刀手)** and **hawk-and-sparrow hand (鷹雀手)** — signature Eight-Step trapping shapes
- **Stepping** — the stealing step (偷步), skip-step (墊步), and the closing hook-scoop seal (勾摟封手)

## Full posture script — 17 postures

The posture-name list as set down in the **松傳古藝武術學苑** 拳譜 (the 林松賢 / 左顯富 line, direct Wei Xiaotang disciples), reproduced under fair-use citation; the English are the wiki's own working glosses. Eight Step movement names are longer and more *descriptive* than the tight four-character Seven Star style.

| # | 中文 | Working gloss |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 捕蟬勢 | Catching-the-cicada posture |
| 2 | 採手進步反背掌 | Seizing hand, advancing, back-of-hand palm |
| 3 | 偷步蹬仆 | Stealing step, stamping pounce |
| 4 | 採手破刀手 | Seizing hand, blade-breaking hand |
| 5 | 採手破刀手 | Seizing hand, blade-breaking hand |
| 6 | 墊步疊連鷹雀手 | Skip-step, folding-linking, hawk-and-sparrow hand |
| 7 | 採手壓肘扁撞腳 | Seizing hand, pressing elbow, flat ramming kick |
| 8 | 摟手反背掌 | Scooping hand, back-of-hand palm |
| 9 | 採手進步反背掌 | Seizing hand, advancing, back-of-hand palm |
| 10 | 偷步蹬仆 | Stealing step, stamping pounce |
| 11 | 採手破刀手 | Seizing hand, blade-breaking hand |
| 12 | 採手破刀手 | Seizing hand, blade-breaking hand |
| 13 | 墊步疊連鷹雀手 | Skip-step, folding-linking, hawk-and-sparrow hand |
| 14 | 採手壓肘扁撞腳 | Seizing hand, pressing elbow, flat ramming kick |
| 15 | 摟手反背掌 | Scooping hand, back-of-hand palm |
| 16 | 轉身進步海底取寶 | Turning the body, advancing, reach the sea-bottom for treasure |
| 17 | 勾摟封手 | Hook-scoop, sealing hand |

## Place in the curriculum

The **first** of the Wei Xiaotang empty-hand sequence (七手 → 力劈 → 小翻車 → 大翻車 → 摘要). Often also trained as a two-person feeding drill (七手對練).

## Videos

- [八步螳螂 七手 (套路 / 餵招)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVmRvFU2w1w) — knhsieh channel (左顯富 line); the feeding-drill variant

## 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="wei-xiaotang" text="Wei Xiaotang (衛笑堂) — the Eight Step disseminator" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="li-pi-quan" text="力劈拳 Li Pi Quan — Eight Step's Force-Chop form" />

<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 (1968 / 續集 1972 / 秘笈 1977; Yiwen 逸文 reprints) — the in-copyright primary published source for the Eight Step curriculum; cited, not reproduced.

**[2]** **松傳古藝武術學苑** (suntrans88.blogspot.com) — the 拳譜 posted by the **林松賢 / 左顯富** line (direct Wei Xiaotang disciples). The bare posture-name list is reproduced under fair-use citation; the English are the wiki's own working glosses. The 17-posture skeleton is independently corroborated by a second transcription (the "螳螂七手拳" 拳譜 on the Taiwan 國術論壇, wushu.pixnet.net). Source post: [http://suntrans88.blogspot.com/2016/11/blog-post\_15.html](http://suntrans88.blogspot.com/2016/11/blog-post_15.html).