Southern Praying Mantis
| Also known as | Nan Pai Tanglang |
|---|---|
| Focus | Striking |
| Country of origin |
 China
|
| Creator |
Chow Gar style: Chow Ah-Nam Chu Gar style: Chow Ah-Nam & Chu Fook-To Kwong Sai Jook Lum style: Som Dot Iron Ox style: Hung Mei Thong Long Quet Tsot style: Chen Kiu |
| Famous practitioners | Wong Fook Go Lau Shui / Lau Soei Lee Kun Ching / Lee Siem See Choi Dit-Ngau / Iron Ox Choi Hsiung Khan Seong |
| Parenthood | Southern Shaolin kung fu |
| Olympic sport | No |
| Southern Praying Mantis | |||||||||||||||
| Chinese | 南派螳螂 | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Literal meaning | "southern-style mantis" | ||||||||||||||
|
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| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | nán pài tángláng |
| Hakka | |
| Romanization | nam2 pai5 tong2 long2 |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Yale Romanization | naam4 paai1 tong4 long4 |
Southern Praying Mantis (Chinese: 南派螳螂) is a Chinese martial art originating with the Hakka people. It is most closely associated with styles such as Southern Dragon Kung Fu and Bak Mei.
Despite its name, the Southern Mantis style is unrelated to the Northern Praying Mantis style.
Southern Praying Mantis places a heavy emphasis on close-range fighting. This system is known for its short power methods, and has aspects of both internal and external techniques. In application, the emphasis is on hand and arm techniques, and a limited use of low kicks. The application of close combat methods with an emphasis on hands and short kicking techniques makes the Southern Praying Mantis art somewhat akin to what many would call "street fighting." The hands are the most readily available for attack and defence of the upper body, and protect the stylist by employing ruthless techniques designed to inflict serious injury. The legs are moved quickly into range through footwork to protect and defend the body, and kicks are kept low, short and quick so as to never leave the Southern Mantis combatant off balance and vulnerable.
There are five main branches of Southern Praying Mantis:
A common antecedent can be surmised from the same traditional region of origin, the popularity amongst the Hakka community, a reference to praying mantis, similar training forms such as Sarm Bo Jin (Chinese: 三步箭; pinyin: sān bù jiàn, "Three Steps Arrow") and common application principles. However, despite similarities, the genealogies of these branches are not complete enough to trace them to a single common ancestor. The relationship between Chow Gar and Chu Gar can both be traced directly to Lau Shui.
The origins of the Kwong Sai Jook Lum system is controversial with some Chu Gar proponents claiming a relationship also to Lau Shui. However, those claims have since been refuted.
The Iron Ox system can be traced historically to the area of South China where the other branches of Southern Mantis originated and to the same Hakka communities where the art was transmitted. There are many other Southern styles such as Chuka Shaolin that uses similar technique but are not identified as being part of this group of martial arts according to their respective schools. Those styles can be identified as being Hakka Kuen.
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Wikipedia