---
title: "Li Pi Quan (力劈拳) — Eight Step's 'Force Chop'"
---

**力劈拳 (Li Pi Quan, "Force Chop Fist")** is one of the most recognizable forms in the **Eight Step Praying Mantis (八步螳螂)** curriculum brought to Taiwan by **衛笑堂 Wei Xiaotang** in 1950. The name names the action: **力** *li* (force / explicit strength), **劈** *pi* (to chop, as with an axe). The form drills the cutting-down strike — driven by waist rotation and the stamping advance — across a sequence of mantis hooks, sweeps, and percussive setups.

Eight Step's *Li Pi* is NOT on the Wong Hon Fan Seven Star Mantis curriculum (Wong's books contain many *劈軋 / 劈捶 / 劈掌* postures inside other forms, but no standalone *力劈*). It is one of the **branch-distinctive** Eight Step forms.

## What 力劈 means in the form

> 力劈二字乃用力劈擊之意，而劈則是以斧切斷之意 — *"Force Chop"* means a powerful chopping strike, with 劈 carrying the sense of an axe cutting through.

The form's signature action is the **chopping fist** — descending from above with the full body weight committed via the **stamping advance step (踏腳)** and the **waist twist (扭腰)** — striking the opponent's head, shoulders, or collarbone. It is among the most explicitly *power-issuing* forms in the mantis curriculum.

## The three living transmissions

Per the Taiwan Bajiquan Association teacher Hsu Chiu-Te's detailed treatment ([hsu363.pixnet.net](https://hsu363.pixnet.net/blog/post/351102707)), three branches preserve *Li Pi Quan*:

| Lineage | Source | Postures | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| **八步螳螂 / Wei Xiaotang** | 衛笑堂 1950s+ Taipei → his Taipei disciples; book *實用螳螂拳秘笈* | **38 postures** (also a shorter **28-posture variant** documented) | The most widely-trained version; the form is in Wei's published curriculum |
| **七星螳螂 / 李崑山·王松亭 line** | A separately preserved Seven Star transmission (not Wong Hon Fan's branch) | comparable | Continues independently in Shandong / mainland lines |
| **秘門 / Su Yu-Chang (蘇昱彰) Wutan transmission** | 蘇昱彰 (Liu Yunqiao + Chang Te-Kuei student) preserved through his Pachi Tanglang Institute | – | Preserved as part of the *Pimen* (秘門) curriculum |

The Wei Xiaotang 8-Step 38-posture script (sample opening):

> 中平雙蓄式 → 螳螂捕蟬式 → 採手窩肚捶 → 泰山壓頂式 → … → 右前掃蹚腿 (closing)

The full posture lists for both the 28- and 38-movement Wei Xiaotang variants and the Wutan variant are on the Pixnet blog cited above.

## Full posture script — a 35-movement version

Li Pi survives in several lineage versions of differing length (the 28- and 38-movement Wei Xiaotang variants noted above among them). The complete **35-movement** sequence below follows one documented Eight Step transmission (the suntrans88 拳譜); the names are reproduced for study with the wiki's own working glosses. Eight Step movement names are more *descriptive* than the tight four-character Seven Star style.

| # | 中文 | Working gloss |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 捕蟬勢 | Catching-the-cicada posture |
| 2 | 採手進步窩肚捶 | Seizing hand, advance, punch to the belly |
| 3 | 撤步轉身撩陰掌 | Withdraw step, turn body, rising groin palm |
| 4 | 摟手雙捶 | Scooping hand, double punch |
| 5 | 偷手劈砸 | Stealing hand, chopping smash |
| 6 | 反身崩捶 | Turn-body avalanche punch |
| 7 | 上步劈砸 | Advance step, chopping smash |
| 8 | 墊步吹燈 | Skip-step, "blowing out the lamp" palm |
| 9 | 斜步覽捶 | Diagonal step, embracing punch |
| 10 | 跨虎 | Crossing-tiger stance |
| 11 | 墊步前掃蹚 | Skip-step, forward sweeping leg |
| 12 | 偷步盤肘 | Stealing step, coiling elbow |
| 13 | 反身摟手崩捶 | Turn body, scooping hand, avalanche punch |
| 14 | 反身崩捶；劈砸 | Turn-body avalanche punch; chopping smash |
| 15 | 雙開手 | Double opening hands |
| 16 | 雙耳搧風 | "Fanning the ears" — double strike to both ears |
| 17 | 雙手摟下串蹚腳 | Both hands scoop down, threading sweep kick |
| 18 | 落腳挫捶 | Dropping the foot, grinding punch |
| 19 | 上步撲面掌 | Advance step, pouncing face palm |
| 20 | 採手騎馬疊肘 | Seizing hand, horse-stance piling elbow |
| 21 | 棍手 | "Staff hand" (forearm bar) |
| 22 | 摟手崩捶 | Scooping hand, avalanche punch |
| 23 | 墊步串嗓 | Skip-step, throat thrust |
| 24 | 採手破刀手 | Seizing hand, blade-breaking hand |
| 25 | 偷步蹬塌勢 | Stealing step, stomping-sink posture |
| 26 | 順步頂肘 | Straight step, butting elbow |
| 27 | 採手搜眼圈捶 | Seizing hand, eye-seeking circling punch |
| 28 | 轉身捕蟬勢 | Turn body, catching the cicada |
| 29 | 墊步前後掃蹚 | Skip-step, front-and-back sweeping leg |
| 30 | 翻身崩捶 | Turning-over avalanche punch |
| 31 | 上步泰山壓頂 | Advance step, "Mt. Tai crushes the head" |
| 32 | 摟手崩捶 | Scooping hand, avalanche punch |
| 33 | 閉門腳 | Closing-door kick |
| 34 | 拔步避擊手 | Pulling step, evading-strike hand |
| 35 | 勾摟封手 | Hook-scoop sealing hand (closing) |

## What the form trains

- **Stamping advance (踏腳)** as the engine of the chopping strike — the foot lands with weight, the chop completes at the same instant
- **Waist rotation (扭腰)** unifying the chop with the body, not the arm alone
- **Mantis hook setup (採手)** before the chop — sticking, pulling, then chopping into the opening
- **Closing kick (掃蹚腿)** — a low sweeping leg as the form's exit

## Videos

- [八步螳螂拳 力劈拳 (clean demonstration)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzRRB7AAUDk) — primary video reference
- Form scripts and supplementary videos linked from [hsu363.pixnet.net](https://hsu363.pixnet.net/blog/post/351102707)
- The Wei Xiaotang lineage video archive on **八步功夫學苑 (Eight Step Kung Fu Academy)** YouTube channel — see the [Eight Step Mantis](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/eight-step-mantis) page for the full lineage channel index

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="eight-step-mantis" text="八步螳螂 Eight Step Mantis — Li Pi's branch context" />

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

<PageRef space="notes" slug="praying-mantis" text="Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — the style overview" />

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

<PageRef space="notes" slug="bung-bu-quan" text="崩步 Bung Bu — Seven Star's foundational form (comparative reference)" />

## Sources

**[1]** 衛笑堂 Wei Xiaotang, *實用螳螂拳秘笈* (1977; **Yiwen 逸文 2011 reprint**, ISBN 9789866329487) — the primary published source for the 8-Step *Li Pi* script. In copyright. Sanmin listing: [sanmin.com.tw](https://www.sanmin.com.tw/product/index/000378343).

**[2]** Hsu Chiu-Te (許秋德 / 八極拳協會), *螳螂拳力劈拳譜與影片* — Taiwan Bajiquan Association blog with the multi-lineage posture script and comparative analysis: [hsu363.pixnet.net](https://hsu363.pixnet.net/blog/post/351102707).

**[3]** *八步螳螂-力劈拳* — independent script at 健武學會 ([blog.xuite.net](https://blog.xuite.net/jianwu8509/wretch/110241958)); the 35-movement sequence above follows the suntrans88 拳譜, cross-checked at opening and close against an independent research pass.