Kung Fu collection
Tang Lang Quan
螳螂拳 • Praying Mantis Fist
A highly dynamic animal style known for rapid trapping techniques and continuous offence.
Tang Lang Quan is an animal-inspired style that reflects a way of thinking characteristic of Chinese martial arts. Its origin stories, all more or less legendary, centre on Wang Lang, who is said to have observed a fight between a cicada and a praying mantis.
He adapted the mantis’s movements for combat, using the elbow, forearm, wrist and fingers to reproduce the shape of its legs and create remarkable speed and many controls. Unsatisfied with the footwork, Wang Lang added the agile movements of the monkey.
Tradition also preserved twelve principles, or twelve skills, and the style soon divided into several branches. They are generally grouped into hard mantis schools, such as Seven Stars, Plum Blossom and Eight Steps, and softer schools, such as Six Harmonies and Whip Hand.