Origins of Praying Mantis Kung Fu - part 1

Praying Mantis Kung Fu is commonly said to have originated when a man named Wang Lang observed a mantis catching a cicada. But where did it really come from? And how was its early development? In Origins of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, I seek to answer these questions by tracing the art from an obscure practice in rural Laiyang County, to being practiced by people all over the world.
To learn more visit www.monkeysteal...
Support this channel and access loads of exclusive content at www.buymeacoffe... or
/ monkeystealspeach
check out my instagram / monkeystealspeachpics
my cameras: amzn.to/2nPJ55D amzn.to/3FF5t7G
my drone: amzn.to/3CfSDeE
sound recorder: amzn.to/2q4fnLf
References/Further Reading:
Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, Martial Arts amzn.to/3rD9l1Y
Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to 21st Century amzn.to/2Z0wIq5
The Boxer Uprising amzn.to/3i8kvXY
Discussions with Brendan Tunks - / tunks1
Research of Ilya Profatilov - / meihuatanglangquan

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Thanks to Ilya Profatilov for allowing me to use some of his valuable footage from his research trips around rural Laiyang & Haiyang counties. You can follow his work here kzbin.info

[@jonasjpm1989]

sugiro uma série de vídeos sobre o estilo Choy li Fut e Hung Gar

[@tweetalig]

This is awesome bro! I am the historian in the US for my style and I have compiled much of my style's data as well. I am researching Tanglangquan presently and your videos have been great. Thank you for helping me learn more about mantis and your journey.

[@tarquela]

Great footage! The channel has been providing a relevant service in the documentation, preservation and dissemination of traditional Kung Fu schools. Congrats to all involved!! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@Gieszkanne]

Yes and top quality like a professional documentation. This could run on BBC.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Thanks so much! If anyone from BBC is reading… I’m open to work! 😂

[@ajithsidhu7183]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach please do on how to use weapons for self defence and HEMA

[@TeaSerpent]

All of your videos are good but your years of study of this art and it's history really shine through on this one.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Thanks Tory

[@eileenfabri5497]

I'm a Southern Mantis teacher and I really enjoy your videos.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Thank you!

[@coulj6917]

I love these documentaries. As someone who has studied the southern Kung Fu style Hung Gar, and some Karate as well, I want to give advice to people to incorporate sparring into their training. Learning to deal with an assailant who is attacking you at full speed is important. Great show, I look forward watching many of those interesting docs.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Im happy you love the documentaries, but not sure why they lead you to think people don’t spar?

[@coulj6917]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach Most traditional kung Fu school do little or no real sparring, that's the big disadvantage Chinese Martial Arts have compared to Japanese Martial arts for example. I am sure that you have seen the videos of so called Masters being humiliated and beaten up by an amateur MMA Chinese fighter.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Well its a little bit more complex than that….

[@zayd55]

I've learnt Chow Gar Southern Mantis for 25 years and yes, we don't spar anywhere near as much as MMA and the likes. However, I can personally attest to its practical application in real fighting scenarios. When I was but an early student with a couple of years under my belt, I used to work as a transport revenue inspector and due to the nature of the job, we would routinely find ourselves in violent encounters with passengers who were travelling without paying. I had to defend myself on many occasions and this style of kung fu was very effective in keeping myself and my colleagues safe. What I love about it is that it trains you to deal with close quarter fighting, which most street fights usually come to and the pressure testing drills also prepare you for aggressive opponents.

[@maxwelllionheart9945]

Your Mandarin pronunciation is very accurate, I can mistaken you as a Chinese speaking English.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Haha thanks man

[@ambulocetusnatans]

I've been waiting for this. I don't know much about Mantis, but it's apparent practicality has always intrigued me.

[@MikeTien007]

wow, i just realized you were dodging head strikes too while doing your forms; thanks to that front camera angle :)

[@renounhinged]

Beautifully constructed. Looking forward to the next part

[@Rael0505]

I used to practice the Wah Lum Tam Tui Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu. very cool style

[@johnnemo6509]

Looking forward to the next part,! As a former tai chi mantis practitioner in HK I always enjoy seeing content on what I consider one of the most effective Chinese martial arts. Many thanks.

[@Gieszkanne]

There were periods in old China where practicing martial arts was completely forbidden for civilians. Maybe that is one cause they liked to mystify the creation of styles. You wouldnt be called out for creating a Kung Fu style in that period! 7:09 So Capoeira also has its roots in Shaolin😂

[@KingoftheJiangl]

Chinese culture has a fetish for divine ancestry (as does many others). Often people will ascribe ancestry to folk heroes of mythological figures for legitimacy. Ie taichi is ascribed to a diefied daoist priest

[@franciscofalsettixavier9010]

Awesome work man, and very important for all of us! Thanks for another one!

[@thescholar-general5975]

Great video!

[@v.w.singer9638]

Very interesting history and analysis.

[@MrLouladakis]

that footage was beautiful truly beautiful!.

[@moifaacademynewcastle6130]

Very interesting, great work

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Thanks so much Paul

[@MarcoRodrigues82]

Great video, thank you.

[@mjsteelewasabipunk6091]

So excited for this series! Thank you!

[@justinharrison285]

Looking forward to part two! So much great content in this episode! Thank you! 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

[@anishkalari]

Incredible... straight on..

[@botanicalbiohacking6065]

Excellent work!

[@Average-1]

Nice video ! When I was in Beijing, I traveled to Shandong to meet some masters there !! Was an awesome trip as well!

[@manubishe]

The old men in the video move very vigorously.

[@chrisradnedge74]

Very well made clip mate.

[@aquaticlibrary]

Awesome content

[@jeffking9202]

This was excellent!!! Your Mantis Boxing is not bad, not bad at all:))) I can see that you have put a lot of effort into acquiring this fist style, and that you understand what you're doing. I think your master must be proud of you 🙏

[@michaelbohallion1510]

Excellent as always 👍 gee, there seems to be a lot happening in the small segment you showed of Fen Shen Ba Zhou. Intricate form by the looks of it.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Thanks! Yea, if you scroll through my Taiji Mantis playlist some other videos go into more detail about the specific forms

[@KingoftheJiangl]

Luan jie looks so similar to the palm changes of 8 trigram style

[@jonasjpm1989]

sugiro uma série de vídeos sobre o estilo Choy li Fut e Hung Gar

[@jodanmawashi]

I really enjoyed this very much and are looking forward to part 2

[@theprofessional8966]

Very nice video, I learned ( Monkey Steals Peach) at age eight in Northern Preying Mantis, these photos bring back great memories . Thank you

[@CJ-uf6xl]

That was fantastic! Thank you.

[@martinmendez789]

Very interesting video!! Thanks for share!! Best regards from Argentina!

[@jonnylyden]

here because of Gen from SFA and Lion from Virtua Fighter💯

[@gabrieldawa6221]

I don't know why this popped up on my feed but I'm glad it did. My facts aligned with most of his. Plus great channel name. Ctfu. Keep up the good work.

[@Hedgehog-plant]

Awesome! Will we get to see some mantis sanda in the future? I'm interested to see what the style looks like in combat

[@mattrodriguez476]

Not to mention he would poke at the mantis and would observe it's quick speed and tapping

[@NoverMaC]

beautifully done! How did this not show up on my homepage sooner

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Pesky algorithms

[@davidreynolds2126]

Awesome documentary 👍

[@derekgartshore8845]

I studied Tang Lang Northern Mantis ..got my red sash...teacher passed on....one day i hope to find a master here in Ontario to further my studies...

[@davidbarnwell_virtual_clas6729]

Really great ... awesome work

[@epone3488]

I really great work. I like these more formal documentary style presentations to go alongside your interview based videos. I think combining the oral histories, the existing texts and all the interlinks would make a really good book or thesis on the historical origins and factual dissemination of techniques and the growth of technique and philosophy into styles with an emphasis on the practical archeology of observable affectations within styles. Fascinating.

[@thekungfuintellect]

Very interesting, nice work ! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

[@TaijiArtsOfficial]

Nice and informative, as always!

[@taylorbee4010]

My favorite thing about mantis especially certain branches of it is that it came more from the street to the temple rather than the temple to the street

[@KingoftheJiangl]

Great essay form content as always. Thank you for the lesson.

[@eugenewilliams383]

I learned mantis in the 1970's; but I started in 1972. In 1974i became a closed door student of Moy Yat, in Wing Chun; with a special arrangement to become anonymous. Later using Master Bill Chung, the chemist name I visited Grandmaster Gin Foon Mark. I wasn't warmly treated, but I was allowed to watch. Coming back later, I learned "three step imagination."

[@JKDVIPER]

Great!! I can’t wait to see it

[@randallpetroelje3913]

I used to study northern tanglang taichi chuan. It’s some years. If I recall correctly- Chuchuk Kai was the past grandmaster, Sifu Lee was my teacher. I’m curious about the lineage. Some of the forms/ techniques look extremely familiar to me. What’s the difference between northern and southern style? I have heard that one emphasized feet and the other hands( over simplification). Mantis obviously uses hands to trap ( almost like chi sao) and strike. I’ll definitely be looking forward to seeing more of your work and videos. You do a fantastic job.🙏

[@Lucasmagalhaes-vg5ox]

I was once a karate student... but, after began to practice long fist, I'm just gradually giving up on karate and concentrate my time to kung fu... it just like karate, but complete

[@germancinema1982]

Northern or southern

[@azmathahmed2476]

What is difference between taji mantis and seven star and liuhe Tanglang in terms of street fighting applications

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

We discuss this exact topic in the discussion I did alongside Brendan Tunks on the Mushin Martial Culture channel

[@zentik7494]

Excellent video your channel is seriously gold for anyone who’s looking for authentic history and knowledge of cma.You should also check out Randy browns channel he’s a mantis practitioner and knows a lot about cma too maybe you two should do a collab sometime

[@Veepee92]

Randy's actual knowledge of Mantis is... questionable, I've heard.

[@genofila8943]

Thank you - so interesting.

[@lifeishealingdrisom]

Very good chronicle. The Beng Bu form you showed on the video did not look like the Beng Bu form I practice in the 7 Star Mantis of Lo Kwan Yu one the 12 tigers of the Jing Wu Athletic Association. Can you explain the difference and how this branch played a major role in the spreading of Mantis Boxing?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Thanks! This is the Bengbu of Taiji Mantis, which is much longer than the 7* version

[@rodrigomateo4694]

Bs as argentina.muy buen video exelente

[@JKDVIPER]

I’ll watch this one again. I’d love to share VIPER KUEN with you sometime.

[@RichardBejtlich]

Great video Will. Can you point me to any of the manuals you mentioned? Anything translated, especially? Thank you. 🙏

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

The Heavenly Ascended Taoists manual has been published as a book and is sold in Xinhua bookstores in China, but I have no idea if its available in the west. Maybe Brennan translation might have something on their website

[@Genethagenius]

This was fascinating! I practice a few different martial arts, but my primary has always been Wing Chun, Jiu Wan lineage. I love seeing the similarities & differences between the styles. I knew of Mantis Kung Fu, but never knew its history. This video was fascinating! And sooooo cool that you were able to train in China like that!!!

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Glad you enjoyed ot

[@ja-son439]

I was taught that Beng Bu was crushing step form

[@ruiseartalcorn]

Very interesting.

[@kenken8765]

Why is Chinese ground fighting not being discussed more mainstream?? it looks interesting.

[@Rookmc]

It certainly would be nice to know more about the ground fighting systems of Shuiku (?) village mentioned in the video. Perhaps Ilya P has more on this?

[@JKDVIPER]

Hey bud! Stopped by!

[@markboudreau1410]

Great! Thank you!

[@Tunks1]

👏👏👏

[@jacksonspeace2112]

Excellent! Great job!

[@omahakungfu9148]

Is part 2 still in the works? Or did I scroll past it on your channel?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Haven’t even started on p2 yet! Gonna be a while yet

[@omahakungfu9148]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach kk cool. Looking forward to seeing it 🙏🙏🙏

[@markherron3067]

Hi Will, I noticed a lot of head movements and weaving in the taiji mantis forms in these vids but they seemed absent in 7 star mantis forms shown in the second vid in the series. Hoping you could talk a little about how / why these movements exist in your art.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Good idea! I’ll add it to my list of future videos

[@ricc00000]

9’左右。 你打得好好

[@WildBillCox13]

Liked and shared.

[@RichardW0063]

Very factual based Brovo ❤👍👏🥰

[@kellieeverts8462]

The Mantis is very special creature that learns quickly trough observation...for reaction assessment servivel

[@mastertao1179]

Hi, can somebody tell me who this person is? 4:30 till 4:32 His movements are beautiful. And what is the name of that form he do?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Joshua Viney, he has the KZbin channel Shaolin Yuzhai

[@spiritualphysics]

👊🏾😎👍🏼

[@kylemacarthur9863]

Shuikou village

[@nahrubish]

Go to tri essence martial art. He is not a master but he is trying to make sense of traditional Martial art to modern time

[@olderjiang7070]

Welcome to shandong

[@Internalflow33]

Awesome☯️

[@tsnowice12]

Where is part 2

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

On my channel page

[@kellieeverts8462]

I'm looking at this...yes it is very Mantis actually

[@ramqi6239]

Can you tell me the name of the book in Chinese please

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

少林衣钵真传

[@ramqi6239]

Thanks 👍😊

[@benquinneyiii7941]

Internal?

[@justananimeweeb6696]

So it was not created by a blind girl?

[@kellieeverts8462]

Bruse lee had a cat style

[@robertfusselman8108]

I STUDDIED THE SOUTHERN PRAYMANTIS F9R 5 YEARS. LOL IT WAS TRULY THE MOST UNUSEFUL STYLE I HAVE EVER WITNESSED TRULY. I as well studied mantis boxing again ridiculous 🙄 a horrible style and will not save a man's life.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Awesome, thanks for sharing!

[@alexliyanage1238]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach thank you for very informative practical styles they survived time and people survived using knowledge for good or bad depending on the person's character.Yhey also shows beautiful and graceful balanced movements.It would help us more when you describing people and places if you would kindly include spelling of the names of People in English so that we can Id and retain the knowlege please and thank you for all the knowledge of this effective beautiful art

[@charlesbetancourt7337]

Did you study any other styles and find them useful?

[@jtkachlmeier]

Excellent video!