During the final days of the Ming dynasty (1628–1644 A.D.) a Taoist monk named Wang Lang (Wong Long in Cantonese) from Shantung Province reportedly created a new and more effective system of martial art, becoming popularly known as Praying Mantis Boxing (T’ang Lang Ch’uan). Unfortunately, Wang Lang cannot be historically traced or authenticated in any concrete or reliable manner. The bulk of the history associated with him is purely that of oral traditions handed down through successive generations and the various lineages of his martial art. Given that, however, it should also be understood that the absence of verifiable historical records is certainly not proof that Wang Lang did not exist either. It may well be that the oral traditions and lore surrounding him are based in truth.
What is most curious about Wang Lang is that his life mirrors and occurs along the same lines as the reputed founder of T’ai Chi Ch’uan, Chang San-Feng. Both men reportedly lived in the same era (Ming dynasty), both were well versed in and yet disheartened by the techniques of Shaolin Boxing, both were Taoists, and both created a new system of martial art that was originally based on individual posture practice (katas). T’ai Chi has eight basic postures and Praying Mantis has ten. Also, around the mid- to late 1800s, each system began incorporating extensive correlations with the Eight Diagrams and Five Element theories, as well as combining the individual kata-like practices developed by their predecessors into continuous, connected moving forms. Even more interesting is that Chang San-Feng created T’ai Chi Ch’uan after watching a snake ward off the attacks of a bird, and Wang Lang created T’ang Lang Ch’uan after watching a praying mantis defeat a cicada. It is therefore little wonder that T’ai Chi Ch’uan and Praying Mantis Kung Fu have incorporated themselves into each other. In fact, the original school of Praying Mantis Kung Fu in Shantung Province is called T’ai Chi T’ang Lang Ch’uan (Great Ultimate Praying Mantis Boxing).
T’ai Chi Ch’uan stayed exclusively within the rank and file of the Taoist communities and practitioners. Those of the Shaolin Kung Fu schools did not give much attention to T’ai Chi Ch’uan, even though the founder, Chang San-Feng, reportedly had been a Shaolin adherent practicing the Shaolin Temple Five Animal techniques. Praying Mantis Kung Fu, on the other hand, managed to appeal to Shaolin adherents and their counterparts in Taoist communities. Wang Lang was supposedly a Taoist priest, and during the three hundred or so years that passed before Praying Mantis Kung Fu became publicly known, the lineages passed down through several generations of Taoist monks. Nonetheless, it became more popularly associated with the Buddhists of Shaolin than with any sect of Taoism.
Why this happened is a mystery, because there is no credible evidence that Praying Mantis Kung Fu was ever taught at Shaolin Temple. A persistent belief is that it became the sixth style of boxing with the Shaolin monks, but this is nothing more than a rumor—granted, a rumor that has existed for a long time. No references within Ming or early Ching dynasty Shaolin Temple records mention the instruction of Praying Mantis Kung Fu. If it is true that Wang Lang had defeated the best of the Shaolin boxers and that it became their sixth style, why then is there no credible record or account of this ever occurring within the Shaolin school?
In Chinese history, three major events occurred from which the rumors of this seeming marriage between Praying Mantis and Shaolin Kung Fu developed. The first event occurred during the end of the Ming dynasty and beginning of the Ching dynasty when the Manchurians (Manchukuo) took over China. Many of the martial artists of this period, and supposedly Wang Lang was one of them, attempted to organize a coup to overthrow the Manchu, creating a public movement called “Overturn the Ching to Restore the Ming.” Although they were unsuccessful, the boxers who came into contact with each other during this adverse situation undoubtedly shared their skills with each other, and styles naturally adapted portions of other styles into their respective martial art.
Likewise, during the Boxer Rebellion (1898–1900) martial artists attempted to band together to rid the country of all foreigners. Again, they were unsuccessful, but a great deal of evidence shows that practitioners of various martial art styles shared their techniques and training methods with each other.
Then, in 1949, when Mao overtook China, large numbers of boxers escaped to Taiwan and Hong Kong, forcing all these accomplished martial artists to live in close proximity to each other. Generally, northern stylists headed to Taiwan (Wei Hsiao-T’ang and my teacher, Liang Tung-Tsai, were among them) and southern stylists went to Hong Kong. Mao’s takeover inadvertently created a golden age for martial arts, as all these great teachers were located on two small islands and in easy access to each other. Master Liang was able to study with fifteen incredible teachers while living in exile in Taiwan. It was during this period, especially in Hong Kong, that the Shaolin Temple connection with Praying Mantis Kung Fu really took root and was propagated.
Like most rumors there is a story behind the story, and this one seems to have found root in a misinterpreted comment by Master Huang Han-Hsun (Wong Han-Fan in Cantonese) in the introduction to his book on the Eighteen Lohan Kungs, which he self-published in Hong Kong based on his teacher’s writings. Huang merely mentions that some of the training exercises had influences stemming from the Shaolin tradition, namely the strengthening exercises in the Eighteen Lohan Kungs. Huang mentions this because in his lineage of Seven-Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu, his teacher, Master Fan Hsu-Tung, compiled five books and collectively titled them as A True Transmission of the Shaolin. The first of these books was purely on herbology, however, and three books were on the practice and theory of Praying Mantis Kung Fu. The fifth was on the Shaolin practice of the Eighteen Lohan Kung exercises. This can hardly be called an extensive transmission on Shaolin. Huang Han-Hsun had hand-copied the text on the Eighteen Lohan Kungs, reproducing and publishing them with photographs of himself demonstrating the movements, as the original illustrations and calligraphy in the manuscript were drawn by Fan Hsu-Tung. The text for the original Eighteen Lohan Kung portion of the book is thought to have been hand-copied from an original Shaolin text by Fan’s teacher, Li San-Chien, but there is no way of substantiating this. It is more likely Fan Hsu-Tung obtained a copy through his own contacts. It must be pointed out that none of Fan Hsu-Tung’s students were ever instructed on the use of the Eighteen Lohan Kung exercises, and they were not part of their Praying Mantis Kung Fu training. It is also highly suspect that Fan Hsu-Tung himself would have trained in these exercises, considering that he weighed nearly three hundred pounds and most of the exercises would have been difficult, at best, for him. The actual introduction of the Eighteen Lohan Kungs didn’t occur until one of Fan Hsu-Tung’s students, Lo Kuang-Yu, who was in possession of Fan’s books, added it to the Seven-Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu system. In the end, all that Huang Han-Hsun was referring to in his introduction was that some of the strengthening exercises used in Praying Mantis Kung Fu had Shaolin origins, but he did not state that Praying Mantis Kung Fu was taught in or as part of the Shaolin Temple tradition.
In 1975, Yuan Hao-Pin (H. B. Un) mentions in his book that Praying Mantis Kung Fu was taught at Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, and even has Wang Lang studying at Shaolin Temple as a young boy, but offers no documentation for either of these statements.
The author Li Ying-Arng was the only other author during this period who rightly confined Praying Mantis Kung Fu to the Shantung Peninsula region, and not to Shaolin Temple.
The rumors of all these Shaolin connections are persistent and seem to be propagated with each new generation of students. Not that I personally feel the connection is a negative one, it has just been much too embellished. Unless some credible documentation comes forth that clearly demonstrates Wang Lang’s actual connection with Shaolin, it can only be surmised that the connection was made within the last seventy-five years or so with the introduction of the Eighteen Lohan Kung exercises. It is clear that a system of martial art called Praying Mantis Kung Fu was taught on Shantung Peninsula during the mid-1700s, especially in the famous Taoist areas of Lao Shan and north in the Yantai region. Shaolin Temple is hundreds of miles away in the neighboring province of Henan, so it is doubtful that there was either frequent or continued interaction between the two.
One of the more frequent pieces of evidence cited to make the Praying Mantis Kung Fu and Shaolin Temple connection appears in the book Praying Mantis Boxing Manual (T’ang Lang Ch’uan Pu) that is supposedly dated to 1794. In it, the unknown author talks about a Shaolin Temple book—citing no specific title or author—that refers to a former abbot, Ch’an Master Fu Ju, who had invited eighteen martial artists to come to the temple for a symposium on the various martial arts of his day. From this event, a list on the best eighteen styles was created, which the author of the Praying Mantis Boxing Manual uses to validate the Praying Mantis connection with Shaolin. Because the list happens to coincide with what Wang Lang reportedly incorporated into his new style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, it appears that it was created to substantiate the idea of Wang Lang’s inclusion of seventeen great family styles and techniques into Praying Mantis Kung Fu.
Here is how the list appears in the Praying Mantis Boxing Manual:
The Gathering of Eighteen Great Teachers and Styles
1. Initially there was Long Boxing (Chang Ch’uan), the style practiced by Emperor Tai Tsu. [First emperor of the Sung Dynasty, circa 960–1280 A.D.]
2. Penetrating the Back Boxing (Tung Pei Ch’uan) of Master Han Tung is considered the parent of martial arts.
3. Hand techniques of Binding and Sealing (Chan Feng) of Master Ts’ang En are especially profound.
4. Short Strikes Boxing (Tuan Ta Ch’uan) of Master Ma Chi is very remarkable.
5. It is impossible to come close to Master Huang Yu, who knows the Close Range Hand Techniques (Kao Shou).
6. The technique Blocking Hands and Penetrating Fist (Ke Shou Tung Ch’uan) of Master Chin Hsiang.
7. The hand techniques of Hooking, Seizing, and Grabbing Hands (Kou Lou Tsai Shou) of Master Liu Hsing.
8. The Methods of Sticking, Grabbing, and Falling (Chan Na Tieh Fa) of Master Yan Ching.
9. Short Boxing (Tuan Ch’uan) of Master Wen Yuan is the most extraordinary.
10. Monkey Boxing (Hou Ch’uan) of Master Sun Heng is also flourishing.
11. Cotton Fist (Mien Ch’uan) techniques of Master Mien Shen are lightning fast.
12. Throwing, Grabbing, and Colliding (Shuai Lu Ying Heng) techniques by Master Huai Te.
13. Ducking, Seizing, and Penetrating the Ears (Kun Lou Kuan Erh) of Master Tan Fang.
14. The strongest leg kicking technique is Mandarin Ducks Kick (Yuan Yang Chiao) of Master Lin Chung.
15. The Seven Postures of Continuous Fist Strikes (Ch’i Shih Lien Ch’uan) techniques by Master Meng Su.
16. Hand Binding and Grabbing (Kun Lu Chen Ju) techniques of Master Yang Kun are instantaneous attacks.
17. The techniques of Cannon Strikes into the Hollow Parts of the Body (Wo Li Pao Ch’ui) by Master Ts’ui Lien.
18. Praying Mantis Boxing (T’ang Lang Ch’uan) of Master Wang Lang adopted all the above techniques and coalesced them into one style.
The author continues with the following statements:
A Shaolin Temple book confers the same list but lists the styles in a different order and ends with the following passage, “All these masters were gathered and brought together by Ch’an Master Fu Ju of Shaolin Temple.”
Eventually Fu Ju reorganized Wang Lang’s Praying Mantis Kung Fu techniques into boxing manuals. At that time, Praying Mantis Kung Fu was called Secret Hands (Mi Shou). Later, all the documents and records on Praying Mantis Kung Fu were collected by Fu Ju, whereupon he passed them on to Taoist Priest Sheng Hsiao. All consequent transmissions of Praying Mantis Kung Fu are unknown and no records were kept after this. Praying Mantis remained secret for three hundred years, but then reappeared again sometime during the Chien Leng reign (1736–1796 A.D.) of the Ching dynasty.
The above account has numerous problems. First, there are no records substantiating a Shaolin abbot named Fu Ju. This doesn’t mean he didn’t exist or that he wasn’t the organizer of the symposium, but the Shaolin book from which the list of masters is supposedly taken has never been found to exist. It is not even named but referred to as “a Shaolin Temple book.” If such a book did exist, the author of the Praying Mantis Boxing Manual would have cited it by name and author. Another problem is the dating as to how and when Praying Mantis Kung Fu reappeared. A Taoist monk, Sheng Hsiao, supposedly received all these collected works on Praying Mantis Kung Fu from a Buddhist Shaolin monk, Fu Ju, sometime during the early Ming dynasty (approximately 1436 A.D.), and for some reason Praying Mantis remained solely within the Taoist ranks for three hundred years. If Fu Ju really thought that Praying Mantis Kung Fu was a superior martial art, why would he just hand over all the records and teachings to a Taoist monk and not have the style remain within the walls of the Shaolin Temple? Also, if the style was considered so superior to Shaolin, why then would it be hidden for over three hundred years?
It is best to view this account not from a logical standpoint but as wild history meant purely to show the techniques incorporated within Praying Mantis Kung Fu—which are true—and to predate the creation of Praying Mantis Kung Fu and make that all-important Shaolin connection. Even if a person wanted to believe the account, there would still be the problem of dating the masters and styles cited. Cotton Fist Boxing, for example, certainly did not exist in the early Ming dynasty, and only appeared in the late Ching dynasty. Most likely, the Praying Mantis Boxing Manual itself was written in the late 1800s.
When I was in Indonesia learning Plum Blossom Praying Mantis Kung Fu from Master Kung Wei (1909–1998), he was quite adamant about Praying Mantis Kung Fu never having been taught at Shaolin Temple in Henan Province. Master Kung Wei’s family was originally from Fukien Province and he had five generations of uncles who were all monks at Shaolin Temple, spanning more than 150 years. The first of these uncles entered the Shaolin Temple in 1746, and each successive generation kept diary notes that were preserved within the family. There were no mentions of any of them ever studying Praying Mantis Kung Fu at Shaolin. Master Kung Wei felt that, considering the high regard and reputation of Shaolin boxers, early Praying Mantis Kung Fu adherents embellished accounts of the connection with Shaolin and adopted some Shaolin practices into their style in order to gain a broader acceptance within the martial art communities. Regardless of the tremulous connection, he felt that Praying Mantis Kung Fu was not only equal to Shaolin but because of its use of softness in combination with hardness, it was more accessible and easier to train than traditional Shaolin. Two of his uncles, who moved to Indonesia at the outset of the Boxer Rebellion, had studied Praying Mantis Kung Fu in Fukien Province. They were also insistent that Praying Mantis Kung Fu was purely a Taoist sister art of T’ai Chi Ch’uan and said that T’ai Chi Ch’uan originally developed out of the principles and theories of Dragon and Snake styles of Shaolin Ch’uan.
Master Kung Wei said that even if the stories of Wang Lang and Chang San-Feng were true, the Shaolin tradition was so embedded and defined that it would never have allowed a new system of martial art to come in and disrupt its centuries of traditions and reputation. He conceded that there were probably rogue Shaolin monks who went outside the walls of the temple to learn Praying Mantis and T’ai Chi, but Praying Mantis was never formalized as a sixth style within the temple itself.
The most likely scenario is that Praying Mantis Kung Fu originated and was taught only to men within the Shantung Province peninsula, and knowledge of it did not extend further until many years after Wang Lang’s death. This would be in keeping with the tradition of “secret societies” so prevalent in Chinese culture at that time—especially within the martial art communities. Everyone listed in Wang Lang’s lineage appears to have been born and lived within close proximity to Lao Shan. It is also more probable that Wang Lang taught Praying Mantis Kung Fu exclusively at Lao Shan, as did his immediate descendents. Some of the accounts of Wang Lang relate that he did not test his skills against Shaolin monks; instead, it was Taoist priests in his own region on Lao Shan who trained in Long Boxing (Chang Ch’uan). This seems to be the logical scenario of how his new system of martial art was propagated and developed.
In a preface to his Collected Writings on the Practical Use of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, Master Wei Hsiao-T’ang provides the following account of Wang Lang. Based on the style of writing this story appears to come from an older source. It is most likely a piece from Chiang Hua-Leng’s earlier work, Summary of Pa Pu Praying Mantis Kung Fu.
Praying Mantis Kung Fu originated with a man named Wang Lang from Chi-Mo Prefecture in Shantung Province. From an early age he was naturally gifted and intelligent, and excelled in his martial art studies even though he had no teacher. He proved to be a capable martial artist.
Near his home in Chi-Mo Prefecture, on Mount Lao Shan, there were numerous Taoist temples and all subordinate under just one organization. These were arranged in three public temples, six monasteries, seventy-two nunneries, and other smaller Buddhist temples that were not part of the organization. But Wang Lang felt he had no affinity or destiny with any of these places.
Within the mountains there were also around eighteen hundred Taoists, having three large public temples there: Kuang Ping Kuan (Temple in the Moon), T’ien Hou Kuan (Heavenly Ruler Temple), and San Ching Kuan (Three Pure Ones Temple). This later temple was the official seat for the three venerable spiritual images of the Three Pure Ones—T’ai Ching (Ultimate Purity), Yu Ching (Jade Purity), and Shang Ching (Foremost Purity)—and the Taoist priests there had the honor of their care and offerings.
From their early youth these Taoist priests practiced martial arts, as San Ching was also a school for the practicing of Chang Ch’uan (Long Boxing). Wang Lang had paid obeisance to the priests at San Ching, requesting they be his teachers. Wang Lang then became part of their lineage and brethren to the Taoist priests and hermits living within the mountains there. The Taoist priests could clearly see that Wang Lang was very intelligent and excelled other students, and for future posterity transmitted all their martial skills to him.
Afterwards, Wang Lang became a Taoist priest named Yeh Yu and was honorifically called “Treasury of Guarding the Mountain.” So when some of the priests decided to descend out of the Lao Mountains to travel to another province, Wang Lang went with them to keep watch and guard them. During their travels they passed through Shaolin Temple in the Sung Mountains [Henan Province], and there he compared his martial arts skills with the Buddhist priests, but was unable to be a match for any of them.
After this Wang Lang left the temple, but at this time it was the heat of summer. Tired and needing to cool off, he rested under the shade of a willow tree. By chance he saw a praying mantis and cicada fighting in a life or death struggle. Watching the praying mantis he weighed how it advanced and retreated, pondering its methods of seizing and releasing, and how it exhibited the use of long and short methods of attack. From this he could see the greatness in the praying mantis’s ingenious martial art skills, which deeply and profoundly affected him.
So he then captured the praying mantis and returned back home with it. With the barrel of a writing brush he enticed the praying mantis into playful sparring so he could witness more closely the natural opposition tactics of the insect. Wang Lang then came to fully apprehend the tactics it used in Closing, Turning, Crossing, and Shifting; its methods of Sticking, Adhering, Tagging, and Leaning; as well as its arm techniques of Hooking, Seizing, Pulling, and Grasping.
With these twelve movements and hand methods, as well as selected techniques from eighteen other family styles of martial art, and the frolicking footwork of the Monkey, Wang Lang combined them all into one complete style of martial art, and thus was the origin of Praying Mantis Kung Fu.
Later on two Taoist priests, Yu Chou and Sheng Hsiao, who inherited his robe and bowl [euphemism for inheriting his teachings], perpetuated Wang Lang’s style of martial art to the world. But at the end of the Ming dynasty there came about the complete tyrannical rule of the Ching (Manchu) and so Wang Lang hastened to travel everywhere throughout Kwangsi and Chekiang provinces to unite all the martial heroes in an attempt to help organize the public movement called, “Overturning the Ching to Restore the Ming.” But because of the Ching’s political motives, which were by no means a secret, the evil Ching had their soldiers arresting everyone connected to the movement. Wang Lang had attempted to spread his spiritual and martial skills to the common people, but his guardianship of his venerable teachers took precedence, and so to remove them from danger he absconded with them sorrowfully to the K’un-Lun Mountains so they could cultivate their original nature.
There are several interesting aspects in the above account. First, it states that Wang Lang was a gifted martial artist at an early age, even though he had no teachers. This contradicts the notion that he was sent to Shaolin as a child to learn the Five Animals Kung Fu and the Eighteen Lohan Kung exercises.
It accurately depicts the number and names of the temples on Lao Shan, one of the most famous Taoist areas in China. Today, it is commonly referred to as “The Mountains of Immortals” because of all the Taoist temples still located there.
For Wang Lang to learn martial arts on Lao Shan, especially Long Boxing, would not have been difficult. At that time, Lao Shan was already famous as the home of some martial art lineages, because the main temples for Kuan Kung (General Kuan, the God of War) and General Yu Fei were situated there.
The account states that Wang Lang went to Shaolin, but his skills at that time were not adequate enough to defeat any of the monks there. He left and then observed the mantis and cicada. After this, he returned to Lao Shan, and not to Shaolin Temple as many popular stories relate.
I do not believe it is a credible statement to say that Wang Lang added the methods of eighteen family martial arts or that he adopted the footwork of Monkey Style Kung Fu to Praying Mantis Kung Fu. First there are no records proving Wang Lang traveled far and wide to learn all these various family martial arts, and they certainly wouldn’t have been available on the peninsula of Shantung. Nor is there any evidence that he knew Monkey Style Kung Fu. This obviously occurred later in Praying Mantis Kung Fu’s development.
Sheng Hsiao can tentatively be traced to the mid-1700s, but in those accounts he supposedly went to Lao Shan fifty or more years after Wang Lang’s death. So he couldn’t have been taught directly by Wang Lang. More probably he was taught either by Yu Chou or one of Yu Chou’s disciples. However, there are no records of a Taoist priest named Yu Chou. Curiously, the name Yu Chou in Chinese means “the universe.” So, Yu Chou could just have been a universal name to designate all of Wang Lang’s students on Lao Shan.
Master Liang, however, thought that Wang Lang’s family name was actually Yu, and that he was either related to or was in fact Yu Chi, a famous swordsman from Shantung during the late Ming period. This seems logical because if Wang Lang had created a new style of martial art, his first duty would have been to teach family members. Since he was living on Lao Shan near his home, this would be even more probable.
It is doubtful that Wang Lang traveled the entire length of China’s eastern and southern coasts mustering support from all the martial heroes of his time. There are simply no records or accounts of a man named Wang Lang being a forerunner to the movement of Overturn the Ching to Restore the Ming. If this were true, he would certainly have been mentioned in historical records of that time.
Saying that he went to the Kun Lun Mountains, the highest peaks in the Himalayas, is another way of saying that he went into seclusion. Since the time of Lao Tzu (Han dynasty), who also reportedly escaped to the Kun Lun Mountains, this has become a common Taoist expression.
Wei Hsiao-T’ang provides the following lineage list in his book. The dates and names of the teachers preceding Wang Yung-Sheng and Chiang Hua-Leng can’t be accurately validated, but after them the lineages are for the most part intact. Along with the teacher’s names, I have included approximate dates and the styles with which they were known to have practiced or created.
Wang Lang
Late 1500s–?
Founder and Taoist Priest, Recluse Yeh Yu
Shantung Province
Chi-Mo Prefecture
| Sheng Hsiao | Yu Chou |
| 1747–? | Late 1600s–? |
| Taoist Priest | Taoist Priest |
| Lao Shan, Shantung | Lao Shan, Shantung |
| Li San-Chien | Li Erh-Kou |
| Early 1800s–? | Mid-1700s-? |
| Shantung Province | Shantung Province |
| Hai-Yang Prefecture | Hai-Yang Prefecture |
| Crushing Step Praying Mantis | Obstruct-Intercept Praying Mantis |
| Obstruct-Intercept Praying Mantis | Plum Blossom Praying Mantis |
| Wang Yung-Sheng | Chiang Hua-Leng |
| 1854–1926 | 1855–1926 |
| Shantung Province | Shantung Province |
| Fu-Shan Prefecture | Lai-Yang Prefecture |
| Plum Blossom Praying Mantis | Created T’ai Chi |
| Seven-Star Praying Mantis | Plum Blossom Praying Mantis |
| Created Pa Pu Praying Mantis |
| Lo Kuang Yu | Feng Huan-I |
| Late 1800s–? | 1879–1985 (?) |
| Shantung Province | Shantung Province |
| Plum Blossom Praying Mantis | Huang Prefecture |
| Seven-Star Praying Mantis | Pa Pu Praying Mantis |
| Added Grappling and Throws |
| Huang Han-Hsun | Wei Hsiao-T’ang |
| 1919 (?)–1973 | 1901–1985 |
| Hong Kong | Shantung Province |
| Plum Blossom Praying Mantis | Practical Praying Mantis Kung Fu |
| Seven-Star Praying Mantis |
On the left side is the popular sequence of lineage holders that lead down through history to the Seven-Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu schools, especially those in southern China. Sheng Hsiao is said to have been a Shaolin adherent, as were Li San-Chien, Fan Hsu-Tung, Wang Yung-Sheng, and his student Lo Kuang-Yu. But none of this can actually be substantiated. It is apparent that Fan Hsu-Tung had an interest in Shaolin traditions, but curiously none of his students were indoctrinated with Shaolin methods or teachings.
On the right side of the lineage chart, starting with Yu Chou the following lineage holders are in no way connected with Shaolin practices. It is sometimes thought that the Plum Blossom Style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu was taken directly from the Shaolin style of the same name. This is incorrect, however, as the two systems actually have nothing to do with each other. The Plum Blossom Style Praying Mantis Kung Fu is thought to have been created by Liang Wen-Chao (or his teacher, Li Erh-Kou) and was so named because they would practice footwork upon the stumps of cut down plum trees. This again is a good indicator of the fact that there could not have been this extensive intercourse between Shaolin Temple and Lao Shan, as they wouldn’t have purposely used the same name of the Shaolin style of Plum Blossom Ch’uan.
It should also be noted that Liang Wen-Chao’s student Chiang Hua-Leng was previously a student of Monkey Boxing before learning Plum Blossom Praying Mantis Kung Fu, and late in life he then learned Eight Diagram Palm (Pa Kua Chang), Mind Form Boxing (Hsing I Ch’uan), and Connected Arms Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Keeping in mind that it was also Chiang Hua-Leng who opposed the idea of including Monkey footwork within Plum Blossom Praying Mantis Kung Fu, and if we look at the Pa Pu Praying Mantis Kung Fu he created, at least in the light of how Wei Hsiao-T’ang presents the Embodiment forms, there is little resemblance to actual Monkey footwork. The footwork of Pa Pu actually has a closer resemblance to the footwork of Eight Diagram Palms and Mind Form Boxing, not that of Monkey Ch’uan.
In Wei Hsiao-T’ang’s lineage list there are two men missing who are commonly subscribed. One is a Taoist man by the name of Ta Tao, but he turned outlaw and so his name is rarely mentioned. The other is Chou Chi-Lu, who was reportedly the teacher of Li Erh-Kou and the student of Ta Tao. Wei does not explain why the original author excluded these two persons from the lineage chart.
Summary
In light of all these accounts, some credible and some not, we are ultimately left with very little information about the true origins of Praying Mantis Kung Fu and of Wang Lang himself, as well as most of the supposed lineages connected to him. Every school of Praying Mantis Kung Fu cites different personages, times, and places. It is just as confusing as the lineages of T’ai Chi Ch’uan and Shaolin Ch’uan. This is understandable, however, as none of these closed-door systems of martial art were known for record keeping, as the predominant concern was to keep outsiders from stealing their art. Only those of us in present times yearn, like armchair strategists, to know the actual history and personages of these respective martial arts. We may never really know how Praying Mantis Kung Fu was created or by whom, but we can all be comforted by the thought that no matter what style we adhere to, we are in essence the same as Wang Lang, discovering how to improve ourselves and reach our full potential. I have never seen in any great martial artist, or in records of past ones, the undying need to be a superior fighter, rather to become a great person.
The following is a list of known styles of Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu. Obstruct-Intercept, T’ai Chi, Plum Blossom, and Seven-Star Praying Mantis Kung Fu are the most widely known and taught. Obstruct–Intercept Praying Mantis Kung Fu (Lan Chieh T’ang Lang Ch’uan) is considered to be the first style originating from Wang Lang’s initial ten movements of Praying Mantis, and so I placed it at the top of the list. Besides this list of styles, there are numerous types of forms practiced, and some styles make use of one or more of them. There isn’t a general rule of certain forms being practiced by certain styles, as each teacher may have studied from one or more teachers. The following list is just to help the reader understand how much development and change Praying Mantis Kung Fu has undergone over the last three hundred years or so, and especially within the last ninety years when the majority of the below styles were created. To those who may practice a style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu not listed here, I apologize.
Obstruct-Intercept Praying Mantis
(Lan Chieh T’ang Lang)
| T’ai Chi Praying Mantis | Plum Blossom Praying Mantis |
| (T’ai Chi T’ang Lang) | (Mei Hua T’ang Lang) |
| Seven-Star Praying Mantis | Connected Arms Praying Mantis |
| (Chi Hsing T’ang Lang) | (Tung Pei T’ang Lang) |
| Crushing Step Praying Mantis | Secret Door Praying Mantis |
| (Peng Pu T’ang Lang) | (Mi Men T’ang Lang) |
| Six Harmonies Praying Mantis | Jade Bracelets Praying Mantis |
| (Liu Ho T’ang Lang) | (Yu Juan T’ang Lang) |
| Long Fist Praying Mantis | Flower Forest Temple Praying Mantis |
| (Chang Ch’uan T’ang Lang) | (Hua Lin T’ang Lang) |
| Supreme Spirit Praying Mantis | Shaolin Temple Praying Mantis |
| (Shen Chi T’ang Lang) | (Shaolin T’ang Lang) |
| Bright Board Praying Mantis | Mandarin Ducks Praying Mantis |
| (Kuan Pan T’ang Lang) | (Yuan Yang T’ang Lang) |
| Eight Step Praying Mantis | T’ai Chi Plum Blossom Praying Mantis |
| (Pa Pu T’ang Lang) | (T’ai Chi Mei Hua T’ang Lang) |
| Practical Praying Mantis | |
| (Yung Shih T’ang Lang) |