Exclusive Interview with Taiji Mantis Kung Fu Master Zhou Zhen Dong

[@byronomboy]

“Wang Lang is just a myth, there’s no evidence...”. Now you’ve got the real deal. One thing I learned thru the years, the authentic teachers/masters are typically in your face, no nonsense, & brutally honest. And they can back it up.

[@loganfalvo7349]

My only criticism is that yellow subtitles are hard to read. Thank you for keeping some of the culture and history of your art alive! Very informative

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Yea. Have changed the subtitle format on my newer interviews

[@Moodymongul]

In a sweet way, it reminds me of watching HK movies in the 90's. Any bright (or white) backgrounds to a scene, caused the white subtitle text to disappear :)

[@joehinman1026]

my thughts exactly

[@pz3j]

Thank you so much for caring enough to share this. Both you and master Zhou are treasures.

[@OverSooll]

This is real kung fu adaptable to self-defense and also modern sparring, it feels real. I appreciate you sharing your master with us

[@berndg5018]

Thank you so much for sharing these videos. What a privilege it is for us to see these demonstrations and hear about the story of your shifu and taiji mantis

[@huntergrant6520]

I still cant tell if this or the shaolin documentary are my favorite. Love them both so much.

[@hound8881]

Yes subtitles on outside were so so so hard to read bad color. Thanks for your effort. 😊

[@MrCeora]

That was an awfully quick kick at 27:52 especially at his age (Actually, at any age) Wow.

[@gasanweb]

22:06 Very strong footworks, stance and movement. Even at the age of this shifu.

[@ErForce]

Very inspiring and very good that this intervieuw was so peacefull and had no hurry in any way. Thank you for sharing!

[@robertkiss8282]

This was really insightful and interesting to watch. I particularly liked the background history and, I suppose, myth busting origins of this particular style. I was drawn in by the Taiji portion of the video title on this but I thoroughly enjoyed this. I did wince a little bit during the second demo when I think you got clocked in the face, not the first time I've seen it happen in demonstrations (both from observation and my own demo work). I look forward to delving further into the archives of the Taiji Mantis journey that you've put online. Thank you for the interesting content you have put out there, appreciate it.

[@MartinJutras]

GREAT documentary! Thank you!

[@elblanco5]

Watching these videos with these living masters is awesome. Master has incredibly solid stances!

[@Brndndutton]

Very cool. I liked the history lesson and applications. Thank you for this.

[@LanChiaoPeng]

Good stuff, buddy! Keep the interviews with reclusive masters of rare styles coming!

[@SteelFistClub]

Thank U for your video & your works! With big respect!

[@philiposedumme6648]

This old master makes the action needed look so simple. Quite informative. I studied Hokkien Kuntao Mantis. Recently, I taught myself some Seven Star Praying Mantis courtesy of Michael Lee. Since he has retired will try Lam Kam Wing's Seven Star style next as well as Taji Mantis with Wang Kenkao. Meihua Praying Mantis.🏆😔

[@twotetah]

Great videos. I would love to see a video on the Li Ka system as passed through the lineage of Li Kum San. (Many Southern systems made their home in Lima, Peru)

[@ChineseWrestlingCeKungFu]

"Wang Lang is just a myth" Woowww Wooowww again!!!!! Congrats buddy, great interview!!!!!

[@vajraman2067]

I love your channel and have been practicing Hsing-I, Tai Chi, and Bagua for many years. If possible can you guys squeeze in a advanced level Western Boxer, if not a professional on your tour of Asian Internal Masters? These masters always show techniques that are faster than the training partner who is executing them. I know western boxers whose jabs and evasive footwork are too fast for something like Pi Chuan to work. I even practice a couple of 🥊 combos with bobs and weaves, in addition to my internal martial practice.

[@chip877]

really cool style ! i love it

[@MrDomleh]

Great interview.This is a unique line of mantis. I have subscribed and hope to see more from your channel.

[@shawnmchaa721]

Absolutely beautiful. Keep it up, love your videos.

[@ChineseWrestlingCeKungFu]

Congrats dude, you have a great Master!!!

[@chip877]

his application is spot on ! and quite sharp !

[@TaoOfTheFist]

Great interview of Master Zhou! Very informative as always. Just out of curiosity is Master Zhou keeping Guoguo in the house?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

thanks a lot! And yes he does keep a cricket

[@hemispace641]

Excellent interview.

[@MrLouladakis]

Great efford!. you should try and visit Master Shi de Jian! now with globalism the effords to extinguish ZEN and any form of genuine spirituality is at hand! every efford like yours is precious!. i hope you understand the scale of your effords!. thank you for what you do!.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Next project is already in the works. If you would like to learn more and support it, check out Patreon here www.patreon.com/monkeystealspeach

[@cassiuslives4807]

very slick thanks for sharing

[@DarthTwilight]

I would love to learn from this guy. Unfortunately, I do not speak Chinese.

[@totalitymartialartsacademy9216]

Thank you for sharing!

[@chan3432]

I also would like to learn Taiji Mantis in the future but i didn't made good experiences with the Kung Fu schools around my area. The first school was Shaolin Kung Fu but the monk didn't had any clue about what he is actually doing in the forms. The second school was teaching 7 Star Mantis (Lee Kam Wing). This school was better but not nice either. So i didn't trained for long in this schools. My last hope is now a Tai Chi Mei Hua Tang Lang school. If this school isn't nice i don't know what to do.

[@hanchobarbi8266]

Interesting history & fun knowledge

[@cognitivedissonancecamp6326]

In this style of art, do you and your Sifu use push hands to train the various hooks, grabs, pins, locks, and trips? He looks like he has great control of his power and you are in safe hands.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

We have some excercises similar to push hands or sticky hands yes

[@SifuMatias]

The problem that I encounter every time I hear a member of the Hao family talk about the history of the mantis is that in order to give credibility to their history they prefer to omit the real creator and diffuser of style to master Wang Lang from which there are historical documents that They can be reviewed even in Shaolin, and it is never clear to me why! building your legacy based on a lie or deception does not seem right. As for the channel and your work, I congratulate you and I really follow you because you do a great research job, you are more than invited to travel to our headquarters and train with us when you want a hug from Argentina

[@JingyJingJing]

It is looking certain he didn't create Mantis or even exist. His story being used amongst modern mantis schools confuses the real history further. A southern mantis teacher even told me the Wang lang story as fact :( Get up to speed! Just because you heard the story in the usual books and magazines first doesn't mean its more authentic.

[@SifuMatias]

@@JingyJingJing Maybe you should study and read more about the history of mantis boxing. Wang Lang was a teacher in 17 styles of kung fu (there is a martial kuen kuit who names each style and his teacher), before entering Shaolin, once he managed to combine the boxing that the temple monks practiced along with their studies and Characteristics of the mantis and the monkeys that played near the site where he trained regularly, is that he develops his own vision of combat and calls it mantis. (so far the story is very abbreviated), there is also to understand the context since Wang lang was a rebel, it is very possible that such was not his real name (like the nun Ng Mui). It was also said that the southern shaolin temple did not exist, and ... there you have it or is it also false?

[@rich_guitar]

what a great interview, I learned much, thanks!!!

[@realherbalism1017]

Is there any way you could redo the captioning? I'm interested in learning what he has to say but because of the yellow I can't really see it. Perhaps black borders with white letters?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

If you look in the Taiji Mantis playlist there is some re-edits of parts of it with clearer subtitles. I’m planning to do more in the future

[@kempokan]

Hi, nice video! One question: the mother hand form of Tanglang you refer in your video, it must be Lanjie (拦截) right?!, or is there another form of Luan Jie?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Hi Different branches have different ways of writing it. In our family, as well as in the older manuscripts its written as 乱接 Luan Jie, however its worth noting that in Shandong dialect, Luan and Lan are pronounced almost identically.

[@kempokan]

Interesting, thanks for the answer!

[@michaelwong4303]

May I ask what is "tai Ji mantis"? I thought "tai Ji"(presumably same as tai Chi?) And Mantis are two completely separate systems? Many thanks.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

It’s not related to Taiji Quan, just named in reverence to the philosophy of Yin/Yang that permeates all movements and fighting strategies

[@kungfumastersinhk]

Love your stuff!

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

thanks lot ... Ive been following your channel for a while actually!

[@kungfumastersinhk]

We are both working to let more people know about the hidden gems in Asia :)

[@tanglang64]

Very good! Great !

[@Brndndutton]

I wonder where Southern Praying Mantis styles fit into the history and lineage of this.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Totally unrelated, just coincidental they both named themselves after an insect

[@Brndndutton]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach aaaaah gotcha.

[@wormdao]

did Zhou zhen dong and Zhang wan fu (Hao Heng Po) Student ever met? And thx for the interview, i enjoyed watching it.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Yea, Im pretty sure they knew each other. At least Ive heard him mention his name before.

[@petrolmonkey8339]

It has the shadows of a Saber Art, maybe it has Saber forms too?

[@thomasda3482]

what a luck man, how did u find your master sifu师傅

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Thanks man! Was introduced by a friend

[@thomasda3482]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach man so luck y of you and your team could meet those masters , i suggest that u guys can fly to fujian province to do interview with b白鹤拳white crane master the root of okinawa karate

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

did you not see my posts? I've just returned from a trip doing exactly that. The series is already being released on patreon.com/monkeystealspeach otherwise it will go public next March

[@thomasda3482]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach it s great man, i did not c any clips about it in ur channel

[@buyungadil1]

Did he get his students to spar regularly ?

[@MrLouladakis]

i didn't like the strike that he gave you though! i think he was nervous!.

[@Blueslicks321]

Think this ma. Needs some pressure testing

[@king01sg]

where is he based?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Yantai city. It does say that in the description