Mantis Kung Fu

[tiramisu]

i've learn some basic of "liu he tang lang" & "mi man tang lang" on my visit to taiwan.

 

they spend most of their time training each individual movement over and over again then apply them one by one into step sparring.

[Tamojin]

Taiwan seems to be a Mantis Hotbed

[Tamojin]

Anyone from Taiwan here?

[Drunken Monkey]

i think you'll find the system designed to defeat shaolin styles is wing chun

 

sorry

 

but i guess we're all a little biased at heart

 

[rb]

To the above, WC is of shaolin.

 

Loco,

 

I study mantis. The base for the system is shaolin boxing and you spend many years practicing the punches, kicks, throws and locks of that system. The mantis sets are to be used with that base. You won't spend time fighting in deep stances or making flashy hand posturing while you stare down your oponent like in the movies. The hand sets actually appear very similar to western boxing. Elbows and knees are also applied very liberally and these is a large repetoire of kicks, sweeps etc.

 

There is weapons training but the main focus is on sticks and poles as swords are not common place nowadays. Other weapons besides the above mentioned are axes, chain whip, spear, daggers and the list goes on.

 

There are many open hand forms to learn althought the time devoted to learning them is not very high. At first forms are a little confusing to remeber but as you practice the individual techniques as you progress you realize that the forms are little more than just strings of these movements. Afterwhich learning a form can literally be done by watching your teacher. This is of course under his/her supervision so you canl be treated to constructive critisism/correction.

 

Our training includes conditioning, body toughening, free spar and drills. We use focus gloves, bags.

 

The way we go about learning techniques is by practicing them with partners first where you can get a feel for it. Then we incorporate it into free sparing. The mindset of the club is pretty traditional so the wearing of body armour is not incorporated into our training except for boxing gloves when you first start sparing.

 

Expect your first year of training to be demanding from a physical fitness perspective. Also you will have to learn how to take a hit and expect to be bruised and bloodied every once and a while. That's not to say a begininer is bagged on, it's just everyone is expected to train how they would fight. The man who taught my teacher said that for every hard hour that you train might put you through a minute of real fighting. That sounds pretty tall but you'll be humbled when you first try a hard minute of actually trying to submit or strike someone who is not going along for the technique. From there the time for sparring rounds is gradually increased as the student gains in fitness and techniques.

 

This is my personal experience with system. Other teachers might have other focues. And other schools might train less or substantially harder then my club.

 

Regardless of which martial art you choose best of luck finding a good teacher.

[Drunken Monkey]

um, wing chun does not come from shaolin.

 

when it was created, the temples were already nothing more than a pile of ash on a mountain. it's development was entirely outside of shaolin.

 

if you look at the history of the art, it was devised to defeat the old shaolin styles which had been taught to the manchurian soldiers.

 

praying mantis on the other hand was created by wong long (who was a shaolin student) and then refined and developed by the monks at shaolin.

[rb]

I don't dispute that it grew outside of the temple.

 

From what i've read is that the origin of wc is unknown. However, a popular story is that the idea behind a new more streamlined system was put on the table by five monks/nuns before the temple was destroyed. One of the five, a high ranking nun was fortunate to escape and went on to develop that system know known as wing chun. That nun was well versed in shaolin fighting methods as were the rest of the five that were to develop the system.

 

If that story holds true then wc was developed from shaolin training and knowledge.

[Drunken Monkey]

the story you mentioned is just that, a story.

 

you're right about the origins being a mystery but there is clear eveidence that someone by the name of cheung ng trained a group of people on the red junk opera troups.

 

as for the venerable five, their names and styles and who they taught all very. if you were to belive all of the legends then it appears that these five people invented/originated practically all chinese martial arts after the burning of the original shaolin temple.

[paolung]

i agree with rb.

 

the idea that 'wing chun was created to defeat shaolin styles' doesn't really make a whole lot of sense when you put it to the test.

 

i have always heard that wing chun's roots were in shaolin systems, especially crane... i've never seen anyone show otherwise, although i am open to debate this.

 

it is more likely that wing chun was created as a system into itself that could be used to fight other systems (as most good systems can), but not necessarily "the style to defeat shaolin".

 

many systems make this claim "we were designed to beat other systems!" but few can back it up. they all try to, with various arguments and logic, but really... think about it. to create a system with the sole purpose of beating other systems, doesn't that essentially prove the other systems' superiority in the end? if you have to create a full system to specifically counter another one? not to mention it would be quite narrow in thinking if it was developed for that specific purpose.

 

wing chun is an effective system to itself, but it is not the end-all be-all system. wing chun practicioners get their arses handed to them just like everyone else sometimes. it's not some 'super system'.

[ahgao]

As the Chinese saying: "All Forms Of (Chinese) Martial Arts Evolve From Shaolin".