Praying Mantis is arguably one of the most well known animal styles of Kung Fu. As the name suggests, the style takes it forms from the fighting prowess of the Praying Mantis insect. The history of the Praying Mantis style dates back to the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644) in the Gimore County in the Shantung Province. It was developed by Wang Lang who had held an interest in the martial arts from an early age and became renowned for his martial knowledge.
In a bid to test his martial skill, Wang Lang ventured to the Shaolin Temple in the Lao Shan mountains to challenge the monks of Shaolin. When he arrived at the Temple he came across several Taoist monks in the main plaza practising their boxing skills. Wang Lang issued his first challenge to one of the monks but received no response. When Wang continued his challenge, the monk agreed to let him fight a lower level student. Wang fought hard against the student but was defeated. He returned home with his tail between his legs and knew that he'd have to train a lot harder to match the might and skill of the famed Shaolin.
Two years later Wang returned to the Shaolin Temple to once again test his skills. He was in far better physical shape than he had been during his previous trip and was once again matched against a student of the Temple. This time Wang won the bout and fought his way through the ranks of Shaolin until he eventually stood toe-to-toe with the head abbot. Wang fought at the height of his skill but was soundly beaten by the abbot. In pain from his fight with the abbot, Wang rested against a tree by the Lao Shan mountains. It was here that he spotted two insects fighting - a cicada and a much smaller praying mantis. He observed carefully as the mantis used its long arms and quick movements to defeat its much larger opponent. In awe of the mantis, Wang took the insect home and built a cage for it. He studied the insect's every movement and used a pair of chopsticks to battle with the mantis to see how it would react to various strikes and thrusts. Wang took these techniques and incorporated them into his own training. With these new techniques he once again ventured to the Shaolin Temple to test his newfound skills.
The monks recognised Wang and allowed him to fight. He fought the head abbot again and was successful, stunning the monks with his newfound skills. Indeed the monks were so impressed that they forced Wang to stay at the temple until he imparted to them the knowledge of his new techniques. Wang, however, had different ideas and escaped the Temple during the night. Wang returned home to continue his training, concentrating now on the development of his footwork, test his newfound skills. He studied various animals and decided to incorporate the footwork of the monkey into his style.
Wang would spend the rest of his life finely tuning his praying mantis style to the point that it became regarded as one of the most effective and fierce Kung Fu styles of its era. Today praying mantis masters continue to refine the art to keep it just as effective. The praying mantis system would separate into two major factions: Northern and Southern. Northern style is characterised by traditional low Shaolin stances, leaping kicks and long hand techniques. Northern praying mantis is further broken into four main styles. As legend has it, four of Wang Lang's disciples sought to break away from Wang's original system, claiming to have superior innovations of their own. Wang granted their wishes on the condition that each disciple name his individualised system after the markings on the back of a personally captured mantis. Thus the following styles were born: Yin-Yang (Tai Ji); Plum Blossom (Mei Hua); 7 Stars (Qi Xing); and Spotless or Bare (Kwong Pan). Southern style is characterised by upright stances, hand forms and close range techniques. The exact origin of Southern style praying mantis is unsure, though it is believe to have been derived from the Shaolin system of the Northern mantis and refined by the Hakka tribe of Kwangs province in Southern China. Like the Northern style, the Southern style is divided into four branches: Chu Gar, Chou (Chow) Gar, Iron Ox and Bamboo Forest. KFS
