---
title: Plum Blossom Fists (梅花拳)
---
**梅花拳 (Méihuā Quán, "Plum Blossom Fists")** is one of the **larger forms** in the Seven Star Praying Mantis curriculum — at **55 postures**, it is among the longest single sets and accordingly the form practitioners typically train when they are ready for sustained continuous practice. The name does not refer to the related (and distinct) **Plum Blossom Mantis branch (梅花螳螂)**; *Meihua Quan* is a form within the Seven Star (Wong Hon Fan) lineage, where the *plum blossom* names a particular **continuous-petal-like striking pattern** — strikes that bloom out in multiple directions in succession, like the five petals of a plum blossom.
In the Wong Hon Fan canon Plum Blossom comes as a **trio**: 梅花拳, 梅花手拳 (Plum Blossom Hands), 梅花落拳 (Plum Blossoms Falling) — three related sets that drill the plum-blossom pattern at different scales.
## What it trains
- **Multi-directional continuous striking** — the plum-blossom pattern: strikes blooming out left, right, forward, back, in a continuous sequence that takes the practitioner through all four directions
- **Stamina in sustained form** — at 55 postures, the form is long enough that the practitioner has to **manage breath** through the whole sequence; this is the form that trains *whole-form qi management*
- **Transition fluency** — every petal-direction requires a different transition; Plum Blossom drills the practitioner's vocabulary of *changing direction* in mid-sequence
## Full posture script — 55 postures
The bare posture-name list from Wong Hon Fan's *梅花拳* (1957), reproduced under fair-use citation; English are the wiki's own working glosses.
| # | 中文 | Working gloss |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 背轉雙蓄勢 | Turn-the-back, double storing posture |
| 2 | 入環掠翅式 | Entering-ring stance, sweeping wings |
| 3 | 提腿迎面掌 | Lifting-leg, face-front palm |
| 4 | 入環右反掌 | Entering-ring stance, right reversing palm |
| 5 | 提腿雙提刁 | Lifting-leg, double lifting hook |
| 6 | 入環雙壓掌 | Entering-ring stance, double pressing palm |
| 7 | 入環單臂爪 | Entering-ring stance, single-arm claw |
| 8 | 引針右腰斬 | Drawing-the-needle, right waist-slice |
| 9 | 提腿右献桃 | Lifting-leg, right offering-the-peach |
| 10 | 入環右滾膀 | Entering-ring stance, right rolling shoulder |
| 11 | 提腿左献桃 | Lifting-leg, left offering-the-peach |
| 12 | 入環左滾膀 | Entering-ring stance, left rolling shoulder |
| 13 | 提腿右挫捶 | Lifting-leg, right grinding punch |
| 14 | 穿捶右蹬𨁏 | Piercing punch, right stomping kick |
| 15 | 囘身右封手 | Turn-the-body, right sealing hand |
| 16 | 底穿左封掌 | Low pierce, left sealing palm |
| 17 | 扭步右叠肘 | Twisting step, right piling elbow |
| 18 | 扭步右崩捶 | Twisting step, right avalanche punch |
| 19 | 提腿雙提刁 | Lifting-leg, double lifting hook |
| 20 | 入環雙壓掌 | Entering-ring stance, double pressing palm |
| 21 | 穿梭刁手式 | Shuttle-piercing hooking hand |
| 22 | 入環右腰斬 | Entering-ring stance, right waist-slice |
| 23 | 封手雙飛腿 | Sealing hand, double flying kick |
| 24 | 跨虎右叠肘 | Crossing-tiger stance, right piling elbow |
| 25 | 跨虎右崩捶 | Crossing-tiger stance, right avalanche punch |
| 26 | 走步右軋膝 | Walking step, right crushing knee |
| 27 | 提腿裡纏絲 | Lifting-leg, inner silk-reeling |
| 28 | 入環右挫掌 | Entering-ring stance, right grinding palm |
| 29 | 提腿迎面掌 | Lifting-leg, face-front palm |
| 30 | 登山右反掌 | Mountain-climbing stance, right reversing palm |
| 31 | 撤步穿封統 | Withdrawing step, piercing-sealing thrust |
| 32 | 撤式封統捶 | Withdrawing stance, sealing thrusting punch |
| 33 | 走步右挑手 | Walking step, right lifting hand |
| 34 | 七星右補捶 | Big-Dipper stance, right filling punch |
| 35 | 右封左圈捶 | Right seal, left circling punch |
| 36 | 左封右圈捶 | Left seal, right circling punch |
| 37 | 入環右腰斬 | Entering-ring stance, right waist-slice |
| 38 | 右抅摟採手 | Right hook-pull seizing hand |
| 39 | 跨虎右截捶 | Crossing-tiger stance, right intercepting punch |
| 40 | 雙封橫統捶 | Double seal, sideways thrusting punch |
| 41 | 蹤跳右仰膀 | Leaping, right upward shoulder |
| 42 | 撤式掛統捶 | Withdrawing stance, hanging thrusting punch |
| 43 | 進式右劈軋 | Advancing, right chop-and-crush |
| 44 | 進式右蓋掌 | Advancing, right covering palm |
| 45 | 進式右反掌 | Advancing, right reversing palm |
| 46 | 撤式左屯掌 | Withdrawing stance, left massing palm |
| 47 | 登山右叠肘 | Mountain-climbing stance, right piling elbow |
| 48 | 七星大撤式 | Big-Dipper great withdrawing stance |
| 49 | 七星式低劈 | Big-Dipper stance, low chop |
| 50 | 走步高挑手 | Walking step, high lifting hand |
| 51 | 七星右補捶 | Big-Dipper stance, right filling punch |
| 52 | 踢腿右滾膀 | Kicking leg, right rolling shoulder |
| 53 | 引針右腰斬 | Drawing-the-needle, right waist-slice |
| 54 | 雙刁右圈脚 | Double hook, right circling foot |
| 55 | 跨虎左挑掌 | Crossing-tiger stance, left lifting palm (closing) |
## Video
- [七星螳螂 梅花拳 — Plum Blossom Fists](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi0L_ng27PU) — a Seven Star demonstration of the form.
## The Plum Blossom trio in Wong's curriculum
- **梅花拳 (Plum Blossom Fists)**, 55 postures, 1957 — the principal form
- **梅花手拳 (Plum Blossom Hands)**, 1947 — companion set focused on the hand techniques
- **梅花落拳 (Plum Blossoms Falling)**, 1947 — variant emphasizing the *descending* pattern (the petals falling)
## Distinguish from Plum Blossom Mantis (梅花螳螂)
The **梅花螳螂 branch** is a *different* mantis sub-style — softer, more continuous, with a *plum-blossom linking* method that gives the *branch* its name. *Meihua Quan* (this form) is in the Seven Star branch, despite the shared *plum-blossom* naming. Both descend from the broader mantis tradition that values the *plum blossom* image; the two are not the same.
## Primary sources
- **Wong Hon Fan, *****梅花拳***** (Hong Kong, 1957)** — 55-posture canonical edition
- **Wong Hon Fan, *****梅花手拳***** (Hong Kong, 1947)** — Plum Blossom Hands
- **Wong Hon Fan, *****梅花落拳***** (Hong Kong, 1947)** — Plum Blossoms Falling
All held in the **CUHK Wong Hon Fan Special Collection**.
## Open English translations
- **Paul Brennan, "Plum Blossom Fists" (2019)** — bilingual translation of the 1957 *Meihua Quan*: [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/plum-blossom-fists/)
- **Paul Brennan, "Plum Blossom Hands"** — [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/plum-blossom-hands/)
- **Paul Brennan, "Plum Blossoms Falling"** — [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/plum-blossoms-falling/)
## See also
## Sources
**[1]** Wong Hon Fan, *梅花拳* (Hong Kong, 1957), *梅花手拳* (1947), *梅花落拳* (1947) — the three published manuals; the posture script above is the bare form-name list of the 1957 *梅花拳* reproduced under fair-use citation, with the wiki's own glosses.
**[2]** Paul Brennan (tr.), *"Plum Blossom Fists" / 梅花拳* and the two companion forms — [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2019/10/10/plum-blossom-fists/).