---
title: Eighteen Elders (十八叟拳)
---

**十八叟拳 (Shíbā Sǒu Quán, "Eighteen Elders Boxing")** is one of the historically-resonant **foundational forms** in the Seven Star Praying Mantis curriculum. The name links the form to the lineage tradition of **"eighteen schools of northern boxing"** — the **十八家** that the legendary Wang Lang is said to have synthesized into the original mantis system. The form gathers a representative technique from each tradition into a single 42-posture sequence, making it a kind of *condensed historical curriculum* in addition to a fighting form.

## What it trains

The traditional teaching is that each posture cluster embodies a different *grandfather's hand* — a representative technique from one of the eighteen tributary lineages that fed into the original mantis art. In practice:

- **Diverse vocabulary** — Eighteen Elders deliberately covers more *different* techniques than Bung Bu or Cha Chui, which are tighter and more focused. Practitioners come out of Eighteen Elders with a broader technical toolbox.
- **Lineage feel** — the form's transitions and structures feel notably *older* than the rest of the curriculum; some teachers regard it as preserving older material in less-modernized form.
- **Long form, deep work** — at 42 postures it is among the longer foundational sets, and tends to be the form practitioners return to as their understanding deepens.

## Full posture script — 42 postures

The bare posture-name list from Wong Hon Fan's *十八叟拳* (1944, expanded 1954), reproduced under fair-use citation; English are the wiki's own working glosses.

| # | 中文 | Working gloss |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 中平雙蓄勢 | Level stance, double storing posture |
| 2 | 七星左刁手 | Big-Dipper stance, left hooking hand |
| 3 | 七星右劈軋 | Big-Dipper stance, right chop-and-crush |
| 4 | 提腿封統捶 | Lifting-leg, sealing thrusting punch |
| 5 | 登山右疊肘 | Mountain-climbing stance, right piling elbow |
| 6 | 登山右崩捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right avalanche punch |
| 7 | 右抅摟採手 | Right hook-pull seizing hand |
| 8 | 七星挑補捶 | Big-Dipper stance, lifting filling punch |
| 9 | 呑塌右低牽 | Gulp-and-sink, right low pull |
| 10 | 登山右崩捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right avalanche punch |
| 11 | 七星右刁手 | Big-Dipper stance, right hooking hand |
| 12 | 七星左劈軋 | Big-Dipper stance, left chop-and-crush |
| 13 | 提腿封統捶 | Lifting-leg, sealing thrusting punch |
| 14 | 登山左疊肘 | Mountain-climbing stance, left piling elbow |
| 15 | 登山左崩捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, left avalanche punch |
| 16 | 左抅摟採手 | Left hook-pull seizing hand |
| 17 | 七星挑補捶 | Big-Dipper stance, lifting filling punch |
| 18 | 呑塌左低牽 | Gulp-and-sink, left low pull |
| 19 | 登山左崩捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, left avalanche punch |
| 20 | 七星左刁手 | Big-Dipper stance, left hooking hand |
| 21 | 七星右補捶 | Big-Dipper stance, right filling punch |
| 22 | 撤步左躱剛 | Withdrawing step, left dodging-hardness |
| 23 | 撤步右躱剛 | Withdrawing step, right dodging-hardness |
| 24 | 登山雙撞捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, double ramming punch |
| 25 | 提步封統捶 | Lifting step, sealing thrusting punch |
| 26 | 登山右疊肘 | Mountain-climbing stance, right piling elbow |
| 27 | 登山刁劈捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, hooking chopping punch |
| 28 | 右抅摟採手 | Right hook-pull seizing hand |
| 29 | 七星番車式 | Big-Dipper stance, wheeling-cart posture |
| 30 | 七星左刁手 | Big-Dipper stance, left hooking hand |
| 31 | 七星右補捶 | Big-Dipper stance, right filling punch |
| 32 | 裡纒絲軋腿 | Inner silk-reeling, crushing leg |
| 33 | 掛統躱腿式 | Hanging thrust, dodging-leg posture |
| 34 | 七星右劈軋 | Big-Dipper stance, right chop-and-crush |
| 35 | 雙刁右揪腿 | Double hook, right scooping kick |
| 36 | 雙封手揷掌 | Double sealing hands, inserting palm |
| 37 | 引針右腰斬 | Drawing-the-needle, right waist-slice |
| 38 | 登山左圈捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, left circling punch |
| 39 | 登山左崩捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, left avalanche punch |
| 40 | 七星左刁手 | Big-Dipper stance, left hooking hand |
| 41 | 七星右補捶 | Big-Dipper stance, right filling punch |
| 42 | 跨虎捕蟬式 | Crossing-tiger stance, catching the cicada (closing) |

The full bilingual translation is on Brennan's site, linked below.

## Place in the curriculum

Standard Seven Star sequence (Wong Hon Fan lineage):

1. Tantui (basic) → **Bung Bu** → **Cha Chui** → **Eighteen Elders** → 八肘 / 梅花 / 白猿 → advanced forms and the Picked Essentials (*Zhai Yao*)

## Primary source

- **Wong Hon Fan, *****十八叟拳***** (Hong Kong, 1944, expanded 1954)** — the published manual. Held in the **CUHK Wong Hon Fan Special Collection**.

## Open English translation

- **Paul Brennan, "Eighteen Elders" (2018)** — full bilingual translation: [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2018/03/02/eighteen-elders/). 42 postures with original Chinese + English.

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="praying-mantis" text="Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — the style overview, including the 十八家 origin tradition" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="seven-star-mantis" text="七星螳螂 Seven Star Mantis — branch context" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="bung-bu-quan" text="崩步 Bung Bu" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="cha-chui-quan" text="插捶 Cha Chui — the form just before this" />

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

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-canon-english-translations" text="Mantis Canon — the full Brennan index" />

## Sources

**[1]** Wong Hon Fan, *十八叟拳* (Hong Kong, 1944/1954) — the original published manual; the posture script above is the bare form-name list reproduced under fair-use citation, with the wiki's own glosses.

**[2]** Paul Brennan (tr.), *"Eighteen Elders" / 十八叟拳* (2018) — open-access English: [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2018/03/02/eighteen-elders/).