---
title: White Ape Leaves the Cave (白猿出洞)
---

**白猿出洞 (Báiyuán Chū Dòng, "White Ape Leaves the Cave")** is among the most beloved of the Seven Star Praying Mantis forms — an **animal-character** set built around the imagery of an ape emerging from concealment to act, return, and act again. Its companion form **白猿偷桃 (White Ape Steals a Peach)** completes the pair. Both belong to the **白猿 (White Ape)** sub-tradition that runs through several Northern arts (Tongbei especially), and within Seven Star they form the principal *animal-themed* training material.

The Wong Hon Fan recension of *White Ape Leaves the Cave* has **49 postures**.

## What it trains

- **Ape-character movement** — low crouches, sudden leaps and bounds, quick withdrawals — the *ape* image is not decoration; the form *demands* a particular springy, low, gathered-then-released body method
- **Concealment and emergence** — the form is built around the *leaves the cave* motif: the practitioner adopts a gathered hidden posture, then *emerges* with a sudden strike, then returns to gathered. This is a different tactical mode from Bung Bu's steady advance or Cha Chui's continuous insertion
- **Variety of strike origins** — strikes come from low, from above, from behind a screening arm — the ape *appears from where the opponent does not expect*
- **Foot-and-hand independence** — White Ape's signature is hands and feet often moving in *different directions* simultaneously — a hand striking forward as a foot withdraws, a kick rising as the hands gather. Trains independent limb control

## Full posture script — 49 postures

The bare posture-name list from Wong Hon Fan's *白猿出洞* (1958), reproduced under fair-use citation; English are the wiki's own working glosses. (The companion *White Ape Steals a Peach* has its own page; the longer 螳螂出洞 runs to 69 postures.)

| # | 中文 | Working gloss |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 中平雙蓄勢 | Level stance, double storing posture |
| 2 | 登山左挫捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, left grinding punch |
| 3 | 雙封手揪腿 | Double sealing hands, scooping kick |
| 4 | 穿掌右蹬𨁏 | Piercing palm, right stomping kick |
| 5 | 登山封統捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, sealing thrusting punch |
| 6 | 馬式右補捶 | Horse stance, right filling punch |
| 7 | 登山右挫捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right grinding punch |
| 8 | 扭步左黏肘 | Twisting stance, left sticky elbow |
| 9 | 劈圈右仰膀 | Chop-circle, right upward shoulder |
| 10 | 提腿左刁手 | Lifting-leg, left hooking hand |
| 11 | 登山右挫捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right grinding punch |
| 12 | 提腿右刁手 | Lifting-leg, right hooking hand |
| 13 | 登山左挫捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, left grinding punch |
| 14 | 提腿左刁手 | Lifting-leg, left hooking hand |
| 15 | 登山右偸手 | Mountain-climbing stance, right stealing hand |
| 16 | 提腿右刁手 | Lifting-leg, right hooking hand |
| 17 | 登山左偸手 | Mountain-climbing stance, left stealing hand |
| 18 | 中式右叫圈 | Central stance, right calling-circle |
| 19 | 登山右圈捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right circling punch |
| 20 | 馬式漏軋膝 | Horse stance, leaking crushing knee |
| 21 | 登山右崩捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right avalanche punch |
| 22 | 右閉門腿法 | Right closing-door kick |
| 23 | 跨虎右挑掌 | Crossing-tiger stance, right lifting palm |
| 24 | 提腿雙封手 | Lifting-leg, double sealing hands |
| 25 | 返身軋腿勢 | Turn-around, crushing-leg posture |
| 26 | 撤步右統捶 | Withdrawing step, right thrusting punch |
| 27 | 轉身封統捶 | Turn-around, sealing thrusting punch |
| 28 | 馬式右補捶 | Horse stance, right filling punch |
| 29 | 登山右挫捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right grinding punch |
| 30 | 入環右腰斬 | Entering-ring stance, right waist-slice |
| 31 | 轉身封統捶 | Turn-around, sealing thrusting punch |
| 32 | 拳脚兩交加 | Fists and feet both attacking |
| 33 | 撤步左統捶 | Withdrawing step, left thrusting punch |
| 34 | 馬式右補捶 | Horse stance, right filling punch |
| 35 | 登山右挫捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right grinding punch |
| 36 | 入環右腰斬 | Entering-ring stance, right waist-slice |
| 37 | 登山右反掌 | Mountain-climbing stance, right reversing palm |
| 38 | 雙封手蹬𨁏 | Double sealing hands, stomping kick |
| 39 | 登山封統捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, sealing thrusting punch |
| 40 | 馬式右屯掌 | Horse stance, right massing palm |
| 41 | 登山右崩捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right avalanche punch |
| 42 | 右閉門腿法 | Right closing-door kick |
| 43 | 跨虎右挑掌 | Crossing-tiger stance, right lifting palm |
| 44 | 左孤雁出羣 | Solitary goose leaves the flock (left) |
| 45 | 登山右圈捶 | Mountain-climbing stance, right circling punch |
| 46 | 右抅摟採手 | Right hook-pull seizing hand |
| 47 | 撤式左統捶 | Withdrawing stance, left thrusting punch |
| 48 | 馬式右補捶 | Horse stance, right filling punch |
| 49 | 跨虎捕蟬式 | Crossing-tiger stance, catching the cicada (closing) |

For the full bilingual translation, see Paul Brennan's edition linked below; for video, see the forms map.

## The pair

- **白猿出洞 (White Ape Leaves the Cave)**, 49 postures, Wong Hon Fan 1958 — the principal form
- **白猿偷桃 (White Ape Steals a Peach)**, Wong Hon Fan 1947 — the partner-companion set, drilling specific *peach-stealing* techniques (snatching grabs, deceptive entries)

## Place in the curriculum

White Ape Leaves the Cave is a **mid-to-advanced** form in the Seven Star sequence — practiced after the foundational forms have built the basic vocabulary, when the practitioner is ready for the more *character-distinct* animal training.

## Primary sources

- **Wong Hon Fan, *****白猿出洞***** (Hong Kong, 1958)** — the canonical 49-posture edition
- **Wong Hon Fan, *****白猿偷桃***** (Hong Kong, 1947)** — the companion set

Both held in the **CUHK Wong Hon Fan Special Collection**.

## Open English translations

- **Paul Brennan, "White Ape Leaves the Cave" (2018)** — bilingual translation: [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/white-ape-leaves-the-cave/)
- **Paul Brennan, "White Ape Steals a Peach"** — [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/white-ape-steals-a-peach/)

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="mantis-steals-peach" text="Mantis Steals the Peach (螳螂偷桃 / 白猿偷桃) — the companion form, full script" />

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

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

<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="plum-blossom-fists" text="梅花拳 Plum Blossom Fists — companion advanced form" />

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

## Sources

**[1]** Wong Hon Fan, *白猿出洞* (Hong Kong, 1958) and *白猿偷桃* (Hong Kong, 1947) — the published manuals; 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.), *"White Ape Leaves the Cave" / 白猿出洞* (2018) — open-access English: [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2018/06/27/white-ape-leaves-the-cave/). The 49-posture sequence was cross-checked, opening and closing, against an independent research pass.