I was reading posts over at the Mantis Quarterly forum and found something very insightful and interesting posted by Brendan Tunks. I decided to drop it here for discussion:

Quote Originally Posted by B.Tunks View Post
".... Yantai QX may appear quite different in comparison to say classic MH or Yantai TJMH, however, QX in Dalian, Shenyang, Qingdao, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Malaysia looks a little different again (and none identical to the other). Not all of the descendants of Wang Yunsheng express the same characteristics, though supposedly born from the same source.

My personal opinion is that regional flavour dictates more than ancestry. For example, QX in Qingdao looks more like Qingdao Haojia TJMH then it does Yantai QX. At the same time Qingdao HJTJMH looks more like Qingdao QX than it does Yantai HJTJMH. In Dongbei region the differences between the outward appearances of 2 major sects are even smaller. I agree that in general QX does favour linear force, however some families of MH/TJMH also do. For example, TJMH in Qingdao, Dongbei and Beijing don't show some of the exaggerated twisting/corkscrew mechanics of some Yantai TJMH and also employ long-range linear force."

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One thing I have found interesting in mantis is the various methods of shenfa (body methods) employed by the different families of mantis.