Know one can say for sure what Wang Lang's "favorite form" was since we know next to nothing about him. He may have been a Shaolin monk, he may have been a Daoist (Sheng Xiao Dao Ren), he may have been an ordinary guy from Shandong, he may have been a famous fencer, Wang Lang could be his name or could just mean "a young man with surname Wang"...etc. etc.
There is a tradition also in my school that Wang Lang first invented Xiao Huyan and later Beng Bu. This makes since to me since Xiao Huyan feels like a kind of bridge between Longfist and Mantis--not just a Longfist set with a few mantis movements thrown in... but then again, that could just be a convenient explanation for why the hybridish form of Xiao Huyan exists.
It's also said that Wang Lang, after having had his first revelation with the mantis and cicada, later had another revelation when watching monkeys play that caused him to adopt the monkey footwork. Since the monkey footwork has supposedly been an important part of PM since the beginning, it would make since for Wang Lang to have created forms designed to impart the monkey footwork like the three white monkey forms.
I think the most important thing in understanding the creation of PM is that it was a group effort. Whether the group was meeting to overthrow the Qing dynasty or just to create a new and effective martial art is also up to debate, but it seems fairly certain by all accounts that the idea of up to 18 masters of other styles coming together to help Wang Lang create a new, improved fighting style is probably true.
Last edited by onyomi; 02-06-2006 at 12:39 PM.
What senses do we lack that we cannot see or hear another world all around us?
--The Orange Catholic Bible