---
title: Praying Mantis (螂螂拳)
---

**Northern Praying Mantis** (北派螳螂拳, *Tanglangquan*) is a Shandong-born system that imitates the snatching, hooking, and short-range striking of the mantis insect — fused onto **northern long-fist** footwork. Among the older and more technically distinctive northern arts, it is famous for the **mantis hook** (螳螂鈎) — the wrist-cocked hand for trapping, grabbing, redirecting and tearing — and for its **"seven long, eight short"** (七長八短) blending of long-range entries with a dense vocabulary of short percussive strikes. Mantis is mobile, continuous, and built around **sticking-and-intercepting** (黏截) once contact is made.

## Origin — legend and what's documented

Tradition credits **Wang Lang (王朗)** of Laiyang, Shandong: a martial artist who, after losing a duel, watched a praying mantis defeat a much larger insect in a courtyard, then synthesized **十八家 ("eighteen schools")** of northern boxing into a new style — the footwork said to borrow from monkey boxing (猴拳) or *tongbei*. The transmission is traced from **Laoshan/Shaolin Daoists**, especially the figure called **升霄道人 (Shengxiao Daoren)**, through the manuscripts *羅漢行功短打 (Luohan Short-Striking Conditioning)* → *少林衣缽真傳 (True Transmission of the Shaolin Robe-and-Bowl)*.

<Callout type="warning">
  **The Wang Lang attribution is legend**, in the same sense the Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng origins are: a traditional story, not documented history. Modern scholarship treats the documented art as crystallizing in **19th-century Laiyang, Shandong**, out of *羅漢短打* short-striking material plus local Shandong boxing — with the Wang Lang figure as the tradition's mythic founder rather than a verifiable historical individual.
</Callout>

## The branch tree

Most lineages descend from a handful of 19th-century Shandong teachers and split into the major branches below.

### 七星螳螂 Seven Star Mantis

Robust frame and structurally stable; the **seven-star stance** (七星馬) gives the branch its name. Lineage in this branch's most-disseminated arm: 升霄道人 → 范旭東 → **羅光玉** (Luo Guangyu) → **黃漢勛** (Wong Hon Fan), through the Hong Kong **Chin Woo (精武)** Athletic Association — the route by which Seven Star reached the rest of the world.

### 梅花螳螂 Plum Blossom Mantis · 太極梅花 Taiji Plum Blossom

Rounder, more continuous "plum-blossom" linking. Lineage: 梁學香 → 姜化龍 → (霍耀池 / 郝家 *taiji-plum* lines). Softer in flavor than Seven Star.

### 六合螳螂 Six Harmony Mantis

The most internal and softest branch — *少剛多柔*, sometimes called **暗剛** (hidden hard) — with markedly fewer hook techniques. Lineage: 魏德林 (魏三) → 林世春 → 丁子成 → 張詳三 (to Taiwan); 劉雲樵 also studied it.

### 八步螳螂 Eight Step Mantis

A 20th-century synthesis: 姜化龍 + 王中慶 combined classical mantis with **八卦, 形意, 通背** material; popularized by **衛笑堂 (Wei Xiaotang)**.

### Smaller branches

**摔手螳螂** (throwing emphasis); **太極螳螂 / 光板** (趙竹溪 *Zhao Zhuxi* line, "Chu Hsi" Bamboo-Stream Taiji Mantis); **白猿** (White Gibbon) sub-line.

## What it looks like — characteristics

- **The mantis hook (螳螂鈎):** the wrist cocked into a hook, fingers loose, used for grabbing the partner's limb, redirecting their force, tearing, and trapping. The hook is *the* signature.
- **七長八短 (seven long, eight short):** long-range entries chained immediately into a dense vocabulary of short strikes — elbows, shoulders, headbutts, knees — once the gap is closed.
- **Sticking and intercepting (黏截):** after contact, the mantis specialist sticks to the partner's arm, uses **撥** (deflect) and **掛** (hang) to neutralize force, and intercepts the next motion before it lands.
- **Mobile footwork:** the **seven-star stance** (七星馬), the **unicorn step** (麒麟步), and continuous transitions. Mantis is rarely planted in one place.

## Signature forms

- **崩步 (Bung Bo, "Crushing Step")** — the universal **first set** taught across nearly all branches; the "ABC" of mantis.
- **攔截 (Lan Jie, "Block-and-Intercept")** — including **黑虎攔截** (*Black Tiger Intercept*), one of the canonical short sets.
- **插捶 (Cha Chui, "Inserting Punch")** · **梅花路 (Plum Blossom Road)** · **十八叟 (Eighteen Elders)** · **八肘 (Eight Elbows)** — the core curricular forms.
- **採補 (Caibu, "Catching and Supplementing")** — push-hands / application work, especially in the Taiji-Plum branch.
- Each branch has its own 八步 sets, weapons (六合刀, 螳螂劍, etc.), and two-person drills.

## Branch deep-dives

<PageRef space="notes" slug="seven-star-mantis" text="七星螳螂 Seven Star Mantis — branch deep-dive (forms, lineage, sources)" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="eight-step-mantis" text="八步螳螂 Eight Step Mantis — branch deep-dive (Wei Xiaotang lineage)" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="six-harmony-mantis" text="六合螳螂 Six-Harmony Mantis — branch deep-dive (the soft 'hidden-hard' branch)" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="taiji-plum-blossom-mantis" text="太極梅花螳螂 Taiji Plum-Blossom Mantis — branch deep-dive (the Laiyang trunk)" />

## Primary sources

<Callout type="warning">
  Unlike taiji, **the classical mantis manuscripts have no clean open public-domain scan anywhere.** The Qing/Republican-era hand-copies — *少林衣缽真傳* (after 升霄道人), *羅漢行功短打*, the Wang Lang attribution texts — survive only as 抄本 in private and lineage hands. The National Library of China's only "螳螂" PDF is an *entomology* book.
</Callout>

The real archive of the classical mantis literature is the **黃漢勛 (Wong Hon Fan) Praying Mantis Special Collection** at the Chinese University of Hong Kong:

- [CUHK Wong Hon Fan Collection (286 items)](https://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/collection/whf) — Wong's complete *Praying Mantis Series* of ~27 published titles (*螳螂拳譜*, *螳螂拳術闡秘* 1946, *崩步拳*, *插捶*, *梅花拳/落/手*, *白猿出洞/偷桃*, *大架式/小架式*, *八肘*, *連環錦套*, *燕青單刀*, *子午劍*, etc.), the **范旭東 (Fan Xudong) manuscript** that Wong inherited, plus 63 manuscripts, 17 photo albums, and 132 newspaper cuttings. **Browser-only via IIIF viewer.** The single most important Praying Mantis archive in the world.

Openly hosted modern English manuals (in copyright; linked at source):

- [Shaolin Kung Fu Seven Stars Praying Mantis Boxing](https://archive.org/details/pdfy-eKzNZa6z49fC1-NT) (Wong Hon Fan lineage, English) · [Plum Blossom](https://archive.org/details/pdfy-y6WkvDyI8Ni6ydnU) · [White Gibbon](https://archive.org/details/pdfy-Xp5_roXO-zcFj48X)
- [Northern Mantis Black Tiger Intersectional Boxing vol 1 (EN)](https://archive.org/details/northern-mantis-black-tiger-intersectional-boxing-1) · [vol 2 (中)](https://archive.org/details/northern-mantis-black-tiger-intersectional-boxing-2) — Yuen Man Kai 元文楷, 1991
- [Tai Chi Mantis Volley-Catch Boxing 太極螳螂採補](https://archive.org/details/tai-chi-mantis-volley-catch-boxing) — Tse Wing Ming, 1985

A Chinese-language **catalog of 70+ mantis manuscripts** by branch, useful as a want-list: [zhihu.com/p/561088656](https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/561088656).

## Lineage holders and continuing schools

- **羅光玉 (Luo Guangyu, 1888–1944)** — Seven Star; taught at the HK Chin Woo and trained Wong Hon Fan, the disseminator.
- **黃漢勛 / Wong Hon Fan (1915–1974)** — 7th-gen Seven Star; *King of Praying Mantis*; published the ~27-title series above. Continuing presence: [hfwong-mantis.com](https://www.hfwong-mantis.com).
- **趙竹溪 Zhao Zhuxi (Chu Hsi, 1900–1991)** — founder of 竹溪太極螳螂; archived footage of his teaching survives (see the wiki video index).
- **衛笑堂 Wei Xiaotang** — disseminator of 八步螳螂.
- **王國典 Wang Guodian** — Plum Blossom master filmed at 89 in 1995 by Austrian TV.

## Video

Curated archival + form-walkthrough video is indexed in the codex's [Northern Kung Fu Video catalog](https://github.com/chriscase/AbydosTempleCodex/blob/main/Public/Northern%20Kung%20Fu%20Video/CATALOG.md). Highlights:

- [崩步 Bung Bo — 1930s 黃漢勛-era photos](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6Bu_jOELtk) · [Seven Star Bung Bo, clean walkthrough](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d_sXvf05QY)
- [趙竹溪 摩雲掌, with his own voice commands — 1989](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cBjmS9ix4hQ) — **archival, named master**
- [王國典, age 89, Plum Blossom Mantis, Yantai — 1995 Austrian TV film](https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Rb41147Tc/) — **outstanding archival**
- [黃漢勛 family channel @pemawong4871](https://www.youtube.com/@pemawong4871) — 1979 super-8 demonstration footage

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-video" text="Praying Mantis on Film — video index (archival + lineage demos)" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="northern-styles" text="Northern Kung Fu Styles — the broader field guide" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="sources-and-method" text="Sources &amp; Method — how this wiki sources and translates" />

## Sources

**[1]** *Praying Mantis (martial art)*, Wikipedia ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Praying_Mantis)) — origin tradition, branch overview, Wang Lang attribution.

**[2]** *黃漢勛宗師螳螂拳特藏*, Chinese University of Hong Kong Library ([repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/collection/whf](https://repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/collection/whf)) — the 286-item special collection that anchors the historical record.

**[3]** *螳螂拳傳承體系*, 六合螳螂拳官網 ([6h-mantis.org](https://6h-mantis.org)) — lineage chart for the branches.

**[4]** *螳螂派黃漢勛*, Wong Hon Fan family lineage site ([hfwong-mantis.com](https://www.hfwong-mantis.com)) — published-titles list, archival film.

**[5]** *一种象形的民间拳法《螳螂拳》武功秘籍七十余部*, Zhihu ([zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/561088656](https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/561088656)) — index of 70+ classical mantis manuscripts by branch.