---
title: "Zhai Yao Quan (摘要拳) — 'Picked Essentials'"
---

**摘要拳 (Zhai Yao Quan, "Picked Essentials" — Cantonese reading *****Jaai Yiu***** / "Jai Yao")** is among the most prized form-groups in **Northern Praying Mantis**. The name says what it is: an *anthology of essentials* — the most important applications and techniques *picked out* of the larger mantis curriculum and arranged in form. Both **Seven Star** and **Eight Step** branches have their own *Zhai Yao* — distinct sequences with the same name and the same logic.

## Seven Star — 六路摘要 (Six Paths)

Originally taught at the **Shanghai Chin Woo (上海精武)** by **羅光玉 Luo Guangyu**, the Seven Star *Zhai Yao* is divided into **six paths (六路)**: 一路 (First Path), 二路 (Second Path), 三路, 四路, 五路, 六路. The six are progressive — each path drills a different cluster of essentials, with later paths building on earlier vocabulary.

**Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛)** published the **first three paths separately** as titled books in his *Praying Mantis Series*:

- **一路摘要拳** (First Path)
- **二路摘要拳** (Second Path)
- **三路摘要拳** (Third Path)

The full six-path curriculum continues in the lineages that maintained the larger inheritance — particularly Wong's HK Chin Woo classmates and the diaspora schools in Hong Kong, Penang, and Shandong.

Sample posture excerpt from **四路摘要 (Fourth Path)** as preserved in the Liu-family transmission (柳氏螳螂):

> 拍肘外挂底密肘 → 左圈捶左仰帮 → 上步右栽捶 → 搂手击左掌 → 燕子撮水 → (continues)

The four-character posture names are the mantis-style "key phrase" form: each names an action plus its destination plus often a body-mechanic, all in four characters.

### Videos — Seven Star Zhai Yao

- [Master Yun — Zhai Yao Form Demonstration](https://www.masteryun.com/videos/v/axez6lgn66lyc3tynndrywzmbchaf4) — Wong-lineage diaspora teacher
- [Facebook — Master Yun Studio Zhai Yao 摘要](https://www.facebook.com/MasterYunStudio/videos/206485025378592/)
- [hfwong-mantis.com — 領二路摘要 1972 archival B&W demonstration](https://www.hfwong-mantis.com/%E9%A0%98%E6%91%98%E8%A6%81%E6%8B%B3/) — **rare early-1970s film of the two-person Second Path**

## Eight Step — 摘要一段 / 摘要二段 (Two Sections)

The Eight Step *Zhai Yao*, distinct from the Seven Star version, is structured in **two sections (段)** in the Wei Xiaotang curriculum: **摘要一段 (First Section)** and **摘要二段 (Second Section)**. Both are documented on rare **YouTube archival footage of Wei Xiaotang himself demonstrating them** — among the most valuable surviving primary sources for the Eight Step curriculum.

### Videos — Eight Step Zhai Yao

- [八步螳螂拳衛笑堂師爺示範套路：摘要一段、摘要二段](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCP3yJH0r6U) — **Wei Xiaotang himself, archival**, demonstrating both sections
- [Alternative upload of the same footage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bgoBSGvggWw)

## What 摘要 trains in both branches

The form-group is for **practitioners past the foundational stage**. Where Bung Bu drills the foundational vocabulary, *Zhai Yao* drills the *applications* — what each technique looks like *being used* against a partner. The mantis maxim is *"learn the hand by learning the application"* (學手必先學用), and *Zhai Yao* is where that principle becomes practice.

## See also

<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 — six-path Zhai Yao context" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="eight-step-mantis" text="八步螳螂 Eight Step Mantis — two-section Zhai Yao context" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="bung-bu-quan" text="崩步 Bung Bu — the foundational form Zhai Yao builds on" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="li-pi-quan" text="力劈 Li Pi — Eight Step's branch-distinctive form" />

## Sources

**[1]** Wong Hon Fan 黃漢勛, *一路摘要拳* / *二路摘要拳* / *三路摘要拳* (Hong Kong) — the three published Seven Star *Zhai Yao* manuals. Originals in the CUHK Wong Hon Fan Special Collection.

**[2]** *螳螂派黃漢勛* official family site ([hfwong-mantis.com](https://www.hfwong-mantis.com)) — hosting the 1972 archival film of *Two-Person Second Path*.

**[3]** *七星螳螂拳之摘要拳四路* — Liu-family transmission posture excerpts: [m.douban.com/note/711565258](https://m.douban.com/note/711565258/).

**[4]** Wei Xiaotang archival video — [YouTube zCP3yJH0r6U](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCP3yJH0r6U) — primary 8-Step *Zhai Yao* reference.