Mantis Heroes

[blackmantis]

Hey all,

I was just wondering if there have been any really famous praying mantis fighters, or legendary mantis heroes?

Have there ever been any "Wong Fei Hung"s of the mantis world?

S

[MantisifuFW]

Black Mantis,

You might start your search with Fan Xudong of Yantai. There is some information on our website about his life and times. You also might look at my school's site on the history of the Qingwu at the same location on the site.

Another great one would be Yang Weixin for spreading Tanglang around China.

http://www.authentickungfu.com/seven_star/mantis_legend.html

Hope it helps,

Steve Cottrell

[ShaolinMantis]

Originally posted by blackmantis
Hey all,

I was just wondering if there have been any really famous praying mantis fighters, or legendary mantis heroes?

Have there ever been any "Wong Fei Hung"s of the mantis world?

S

Chui Chuk Kai - Taiji Mantis

[MantisifuFW]

Shaolin Mantis,

Indeed, Chiu Chuk Kai was a giant of a practitioner. His story is one of adventure, innovation and amazing contribution to the art in the form of technique and excellent practitioners that carry on the art to future generations!

Steve Cottrell

[MantisifuFW]

Also check out the history section on Shifu Brendan Tunks' site. One of the best on the internet!

http://www.mantisboxing.com/

Can you tell this is one of my favorite topics! Tanglang has had some great fighters and artists along with some colorful characters.

Steve Cottrell

[mantis108]

Hi Sifu Cottrell and ShaolinMantis,

I couldn't have agreed more about GM Chiu. I also agreed that there are a lot of heroes across the board in the PM community. Thank you for sharing the info. :)

Warm regards

Robert

[Mr.Binx]

Didn't Fan Xu Dong supposedly take out two bulls while unarmed in a pasture somewhere...? Pardon me if I've gotten my kungfu storylines mixed up as my memory is *extremely* bad...

[darksands]

Yes, Fan Xu Dong did kill bulls with his bare hands. He was known to have a great Iron palm.

[MantisifuFW]

As a place for further investigation:

You should look at Yang Weixin. He was one of Fan Xudong's senior students and might have inherited Fan's school, had he not gotten in trouble with the law over a couple of killings. (it was in a fight with two other martial artists; I understand that he killed both at the same time). It was he who was the senior partner when Luo Guangyu and he went to Shanghai to help the Qingwu. (not a widely known view among Luo Guangyu's martial children). He then left Shanghai and the Qingwu and went to Qingdao where he continued Master Fan's Qixing Tanglang.

Master Luo Guangyu, on the other hand, began to blend Meihua, Qixing and Guangbang forming his own Tanglang. Hong Kong Tanglang is not Qixing or Meihua, it is a mixture. Today some HK styles call themselves Qixing but this is not either historically or technically accurate.

Anyway Yang Weixin is a great topic for investigation...

Steve Cottrell

[piotrj]

Originally posted by MantisifuFW
As a place for further investigation:

You should look at Yang Weixin. He was one of Fan Xudong's senior students and might have inherited Fan's school, had he not gotten in trouble with the law over a couple of killings. (it was in a fight with two other martial artists; I understand that he killed both at the same time). It was he who was the senior partner when Luo Guangyu and he went to Shanghai to help the Qingwu. (not a widely known view among Luo Guangyu's martial children). He then left Shanghai and the Qingwu and went to Qingdao where he continued Master Fan's Qixing Tanglang.
(..)
Anyway Yang Weixin is a great topic for investigation...

Steve Cottrell

it is said that Yang was very good fighter, but first very nervous and difficult character. it is true that he killed two mei hua tang lang students. the story is: someone told him that people from mei hua school talk about his skills as a poor skills ( or something in this meaning ). so he went to this school ( im not sure at this moment , but together with his student i supouse ) very furious. he was standing in circle of mei hua students. they were not talking too much... Yang grab a stick from one of opponents and hit around himself. he hit 5 persons, but 2 of them died. he spent an about only one year in prison, only because of money and conections of Fan shifu. i heard this story from Yu shifu and my teacher Slawomir Milczarek. Yu shifu heard this from Lin shifu, so we can belive that it is true about this situation. i hope that it is interesting to you

[Tieh]

Well, I am not so sure if I would call that guy a hero then.
I guess there would have been a lot of different ways to express one's superiority in martial arts than killing two people for badmouthing.

Just my five cents.

[MantisifuFW]

Tieh,

No one here said that the killings were heroic or justifiable.

However, that he did such things are something we should not forget nor should we hide the fact. We should not either hide of forget the fact that he did dedicate his life to spreading Tanglang and did indeed give rise to schools in Shanghai and Qingdao as well as representing master Fan's school in Yantai. It was a time of tremendous and horrific violence around the world and these men were children of their times.

He was a flawed person, as we all are. But his great flaws were balanced with the arguably great act of preserving and spreading an art form we now enjoy. He was and is a hero to those who enjoy his art today. There are many lessons to be learned in this.

I appreciate your input.
Steve Cottrell

[piotrj]

Originally posted by Tieh
Well, I am not so sure if I would call that guy a hero then.
I guess there would have been a lot of different ways to express one's superiority in martial arts than killing two people for badmouthing.

Just my five cents.

You are right of course, but we need to remember that in Yang's time they all practise for real skills and they use it ( it is created for this kind of use basicly, i mean to fight ). sometimes in so brutal way... and they haven't so many nice "forms ( tou lou ) with and without weapons championships" like we have to express skills now ;).

[Tieh]

Hi Piotrj and MantisFW,

I can agree with comments for the most part. If the beginning of the 19th century or compared to today was more violent (considering the whole world) than today can be a matter of discussion I think. This is not part of the toppic though. But yes, China at that time was definetely a place where a man's life was easier lost than it is today in our western societies. Nonetheless, I was a little stunned by the fact that this story was running under Martial Heros. Killing under the described circumstances described above can not be excused by the historical context I think.
I see that you agree with me and this guy might well be an interesting subject for research.

Best regards

[Tainan Mantis]

Thanks Piotrj for posting the story on Yang Wei Xing.
I agree with the mans actions.
If another school talks poorly about your skills then you have to go there and challenge them.
If that isn't a good enough reason to fight than I don't know what is.

If the school had asked a student to fight Yang then would someone have died?
Seems unlikely. That he had to pull a stick makes me think he was surrounded by cowards that wanted to jump him.
Pity we'll never know.

[htowndragon]

maybe not "heroes", but highly skilled:

wei hsiao tang of eight step mantis
lam sang of southern jook lum mantis that has nothing to do with northern

[Dachengdao]

Grandmaster Hao Bin was the last great warrior from my style. His grandsons Sun De Long and Sun De Yao run the Hao Bin Boxing Association in Shandong, one of the largest mantis schools in the world.
Wang Rengang