Seven Star Mantis (七星螳螂拳)

七星螳螂拳 (Qixing Tanglang Quan / Seven Star Praying Mantis) is the most widely-disseminated branch of Northern Praying Mantis. Named for its signature seven-star stance (七星馬) — a foundational structure said to resemble the Big Dipper constellation — Seven Star combines a robust, structurally-stable frame with the mantis family's signature hooking-and-trapping hands and seven-long-eight-short percussive striking. Through the Shanghai Chin Woo (上海精武) of the early 20th century and the Hong Kong Chin Woo afterward, Seven Star reached every continent where Chinese diaspora communities settled — making it the mantis branch most commonly encountered worldwide.

Lineage

The traditional lineage, as preserved across multiple branch sources:

• 王朗 Wang Lang — the legendary founder (Ming/Qing; see Praying Mantis for the careful treatment of the Wang Lang legend)

• 升霄道人 Sheng Xiao Daoren — Laoshan / Shaolin Daoist

• 李三剪 Li Sanjian ("Li Three-Scissors")

• 王雲生 / 王榮生 Wang Yunsheng — late-Qing

• 范旭東 Fan Xudong ("the Giant") — Yantai, late Qing into early Republic; inheritor of the lineage manuscripts

• 羅光玉 Luo Guangyu (1888–1944) — Sixth-generation; the Shanghai Chin Woo teacher through whom the line reached its modern outsized influence

• 6th-generation HK pillars (Luo Guangyu's principal students at the Hong Kong Chin Woo):

  • 黃漢勛 Wong Hon Fan (1909–1976), King of Praying Mantis — published ~27 books (the 螳螂拳術叢書 series), disseminator worldwide

  • 趙志民 Chiu Chi Man — Wong's contemporary at HK Chin Woo, peer pillar

  • 林伯炎 Lam Pak Yim — another HK Chin Woo senior

  • 黃錦洪 Wong Kum Hoong (1917–1991) — took the line to Penang, Malaysia

• 7th-generation:

  • 李錦榮 Lee Kam Wing (b. 1947) — Chiu Chi Man student; founder of the International Seven Star Mantis Lee Kam Wing Martial Art Association (HK HQ; branches in UK, US, Germany, Italy, Hungary, France, Australia, South Africa)

  • Wong's own published disciples continue across Hong Kong, Penang, Singapore, Malaysia, the US, and Europe

What it looks like

• The seven-star stance (七星馬) — a foundational structure with one foot forward at an angle, the body weight balanced and ready to spring; the structural anchor of the branch and the source of its name

• The mantis hook (螳螂鈎) — sticking, hooking, pulling, redirecting at the wrist; the family signature

• Big-Dipper striking patterns — the canonical seven-star moves: hooking hand (七星刁手), filling punch (七星補捶)

• Robust, weight-bearing frame — Seven Star's body method is more structurally substantial than the rounder Plum-Blossom or the softer Six Harmony branches

The curriculum

Foundational forms

• 十四路彈腿 (14-Line Tantui) — every Seven Star student's first form

• 崩步拳 (Bung Bu Quan) — the foundational mantis form, 48 postures; see the Bung Bu page

• 羅漢功 (18 Luohan Exercises) — the qigong companion (named exercises: 仙人拱手, 霸王舉鼎, 左右揷花, 枯樹盤根, etc.)

Core empty-hand forms (Wong Hon Fan published series)

Picked Essentials

• 摘要拳 六路 (Six Paths of Zhai Yao) — see the Zhai Yao page

• 八肘 (Eight Elbows) — the elbow-centered set

Weapons

• 燕青單刀 (Yan Qing's Single Saber) · 六合雙刀 (Liuhe Double Sabers) · 螳螂六合棍 (Mantis Liuhe Staff) · 子午劍 (Sundial Sword) · 五郎八卦棍 (Fifth Son's Eight-Trigrams Staff) · 虎尾三節棍 (Tiger-Tail Three-Section Staff) · 春秋大刀 (Spring & Autumn Halberd) · 軍中大刀術 (Large Saber for the Army) · 八卦單刀 (Eight-Trigrams Saber) · 九節地躺鞭 (Nine-Section Whip)

The CUHK Wong Hon Fan Special Collection

The complete Wong Hon Fan archive — 286 items including all 71 published books (the Praying Mantis Series), 63 manuscripts (including the 范旭東 source manuscript), 17 photo albums, and 132 newspaper cuttings — is held as a single special collection at the Chinese University of Hong Kong Library:

• CUHK Wong Hon Fan Collection — IIIF viewer; browser-only access

The single most important Seven Star Mantis archive in the world.

Major English-language resources

Paul Brennan has translated 40+ of Wong Hon Fan's books to English — the single most comprehensive open-access English-language Seven Star library, with all original Chinese preserved alongside:

• brennantranslation.wordpress.com/category/books-by-wong-honfan/ — the complete category index

Highlights:

• 崩步拳 (1947) and the 1954 verse edition — English · verse English

• Secrets of Mantis Boxing Art (1946, Wong's flagship treatise with the 8 forbidden strikes + 8 hard / 12 soft + 18 lineages) — English

• Forty Years (1972 anniversary commemorative) — English

• Collected Mantis Boxing Articles (1951, 56 essays from Chin Woo wall posters) — English

• The Eighteen Luohan Exercises (羅漢功) with all 18 named — English

• Mantis Tantui (十四路彈腿) — English

• All major weapons forms — see the category index

(Brennan's English translations are in copyright; the original Chinese they preserve is PD. The codex's policy is to link, not re-host.)

A complete catalog of the Wong Hon Fan published series is maintained at Ravenswood Academy — Index of Wong Hon Fan's Works.

Major continuing schools — Hong Kong, Malaysia, USA, Europe

See also

Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — the style overview

八步螳螂 Eight Step Mantis — the 20th-century synthesis branch

崩步 Bung Bu — Seven Star's foundational form, 48-posture script

摘要拳 Zhai Yao — Seven Star's six-path Picked Essentials

Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛) — biography

Luo Guangyu (羅光玉) — biography

Sources

[1] Northern Praying Mantis, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org) — lineage overview, Seven Star characterization.

[2] 黃漢勛, Chinese Wikipedia (zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/黃漢勛) — biography and published series.

[3] Wong Hon Fan Praying Mantis Special Collection, CUHK (repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/collection/whf) — the canonical archive.

[4] 螳螂派黃漢勛 family lineage site (hfwong-mantis.com) — official lineage publications.

[5] Paul Brennan, Books by Wong Honfan category (brennantranslation.wordpress.com) — the open-access English library.

[6] Index of Wong Hon Fan's Works, Ravenswood Academy (theravenswoodacademy.com) — title catalog.