I Visited the Temple where Seven Star Mantis was Created

[@rich_guitar]

I feel fortunate to have learned Mei Hua Tang Lang from my Sifu who is born and raised in Yan Tai, China. I like your channel, lots of good information!

[@TheTshelmo]

Nice work. Good to see a bit of Brendan in there too. Cheers mate.

[@franciscofalsettixavier9010]

This is awesome, I did not know there were existing pictures of Wang Yun Sheng, and this place is already on my list for next trip to China! Congrats for the channel and best regards to you from Brazil!

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

that pic was Lin Jing Shan with Tan Tui master Tan Fu Cheng actually. No pics of Wang Yun Sheng unfortunately. If you wanna visit the temple its just off Nan Da Jie, the main high street of Yantai, pretty easy to find. Unfortunately you have to buy a ticket to go in now, used to be free when I lived there!

[@franciscofalsettixavier9010]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach sorry, my mistake! Anyhow, I thought there were only pictures from Fan xudong onward, it is nice to know there are pics from people before him too. Thank you for the info, brother. Maybe I will focus my next trip to China only in Shangdong. Let's keep contact!

[@senseijeetshaw4917]

Thank you for giving great information about ancient martial arts history 🙏🙏🙏🙏. I have a one request is If you please show the tonfa weapon birth place and top class master's on it . I will be very thankful to you if please show it regarding .🙏🙏🙏

[@huzhuiwei]

Great video, looking forward to more

[@jashardwallington]

Interesting in actually debating between 7 star mantis fist or tiger claw system. id like to see a some vidoes on silat especially tiger silat plz

[@markwong4266]

Where does Wong Long come in? Is he not the one that invented Northern Praying Mantis style from Shaolin Temple?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

I have a detailed video talking about Wang Lang and the various origin myths associated with him. It’s called Origins of Mantis Documentary part 1

[@LunaticReason]

I'm learning Meihua and Liuhe currently and I'm really enjoying it. I haven't experienced 7 star but overall I would highly recommend Mantis to anyone who can find a good teacher.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Cool. Meihua and liuhe are very different. How do you find learning them together?

[@rule3165]

very nice video

[@grahammoore6751]

Wong Long was the founder of 7 star. There are a lot more then 3 different types of mantis. Thanks for posting.

[@Ifimyouandyourmethenwhoishe]

I'm a seven star practitioner with my sifu's sifu which is called sigong being 8th generation Master directly from wang lang and down the lineage. my sifu's are 9th generation and yes wang lang is the founder. Definetly more than 3 styles. The few I know are 7 star. Southern mantis. Tai chi mantis. Shanxi mantis and the 2 that were said in video that weren't 7 star.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Wang Lang is most likely a mythical figure, that aside he is credited as the founder of Mantis in general, no matter which style you are talking about. The history I gave in the video is from both written documents and oral accounts of Seven Star Mantis, and is well known within the martial arts community of Shandong (homeland of Mantis). You are right, there are many styles of Mantis in the modern day, but all of these can be classified as offshoots or evolutions from those threee main styles. Southern Mantis is competely unrelated to Northern Mantis, it is practiced by the Hakka people in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. It is only coincidence it shares the same name "mantis". (I am also 9th generation, there is a family tree on my website)

[@MichaelBuieFilms]

Wang Lang is the ancient legend passed down. We learn he is the founder as well. But, I think we need to take into consideration those things passed down by tradition and verifiable, documented information. Thusly, discussion and knowledge transfer is best way to approach these things and not get bogged down in dogma.

[@JKDVIPER]

Fantastic

[@AL_YZ]

It would be nice to have a review of the mantis diaspora, in Hongkong and from there to southeast Asia. How much has been preserved; how much have developed. Are the forms the same? And what about the skill level?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

It could be an interesting one, but would stir up a lot of politics.

[@AL_YZ]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach I was thinking along the lines of how Fujian Wuzu Quan was 'reintroduced' in the "reconstituted" Quanzhou Shaolin Temple with help of practitioners from Philippines, Malaysia, rather than from just Mainland sources like Zhang Xiao Feng and why it was even necessary to do that.. (I'm assuming that Zhang Xiao Feng's Wuzu was not influenced by the diaspora's Wuzu.)

[@Tm-pb2tp]

so cool!

[@pablo.p8289]

the perfect video

[@EugeneRivera-mm8iu]

By the say I Myslef will practice 7 star mantis at Los Angeles Cali

[@TheRcefas]

Great video Mantis brother.

[@laerteghiraldellosilva5743]

Tks for the video, I thought the styles started at the second or third generation, but according to you was at the fourth, due to the genealogy tree I have. 1 Wong Long 2 Sin Siu To Young 3 Lei San Tien 4 Won Wei San 5 Fan Yu Dong 6 Luo Gwong Yuk 7 Wong Hon Fan 8 Brendan Lai

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Well the issue really is that there isn’t any true record of who Li San Jian (who you spelt Lei San Tien) from. We could call him the founder of 7* I suppose, but it was Wang Yun Sheng (who you spelt Wong Wei Sen) who coined the name 7* and he even wrote about naming it and when and why.

[@laerteghiraldellosilva5743]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach amazing, thanks for the explanation. I'm from Brazil, trying to translate when I can information/texts/websites to Portuguese and sharing as much information as I can with my kung fu brothers. Recently The Ravenswood Academy has been sharing lots of documents from Wong Hon Fan and helping understand the style a lot. Congratulations for the channel and again thanks for keeping the art alive.

[@scottpalmer3630]

Where does wah lum pai tom tui northern mantis fit into the lineage?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

It was made up by the guy who started teaching it in America. Its a mix of various southern styles, long fist and a very little bit of mantis. It doesn’t exist in China afaik

[@AL_YZ]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach The person teaching that style claims he learned it at Hua Lin Si in Shandong though I don't know if that temple does or did exist. There's a Hua Lin Si in Guangzhou supposedly founded by Bodhidharma who, it is claimed, first landed in China at Guangzhou but I haven't heard of it having any connection to the martial arts.

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

@@AL_YZ a temple by that name could exist, its a pretty common name. But the Wah Lum system has very little in common with Shandong martial arts

[@hitheshyogi3630]

Greetings from India

[@prajjwalray7030]

What about the legend of general wang lang? What are the connections of shaolin temple with 7 star mantis or mantis in general

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

Good question. The Wang Lang myth is much older than the divide of Mantis into Seven Star, Meihua and Liuhe. As far as the connections to Shaolin, I think there is very little

[@prajjwalray7030]

Thanks for the answer, since you are doing an excellent documentation on mantis kungfu, it would be really really great if you can explore about northern shaolin's mantis art (not the stupid wushu) and share with us

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

as I said, there is no Shaolin Mantis. Mantis originated in the Shandong peninsula. Wang Lang is only a myth, and each lineage has many different versions of the story

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

but yes, I would like to do a video on Wang Lang in the future

[@hemispace641]

​@@MonkeyStealsPeach : Wong Long a myth? I believe the person who created the Praying Mantis style existed, and his name is Wong Long. Bu I'd be foolish to challenge your knowledge on the subject. I trust your knowledge on Praying Mantis history. I ain't too bright, but I'm no fool...

[@hotpopcorncake]

What about 8step Mantis?

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

The guy who created it went to Taiwan and taught it there

[@hotpopcorncake]

@@MonkeyStealsPeach What you mean created it. Didn't have it orgin in came from the temple?

[@randomdds]

@@hotpopcorncake Nope.

[@hotpopcorncake]

@@randomdds So it's not legit?

[@randomdds]

@@hotpopcorncake no, it's legit. Just maybe not directly from the temple. My teacher (from Brendan Kai's lineage) thinks that it was originally a 7 star mantis guy that also knew bagua...as he got older, the footwork was too strenuous for him, so he incorporated bagua into his system. Apparently, it incorporates a number of uniquely "praying mantis" body mechanics and techniques. The founder was definitely a great fighter and badass. Just that it may not be a direct temple style.

[@nyclee9133]

How did shaolin get its mantis

[@MonkeyStealsPeach]

in the 80s/90s they invited people from Shandong to the temple to teach them

[@peterkhew7414]

The mantis decided to go vegan and become a monk in Shaolin.