Brief Synopsis of Shandong Praying Mantis Kung Fu and Development of CCK TCPM
In mainland China, it is generally acknowledged that there are 4 main branches of Shandong Tanglangquan. They are Meihua (plum blossom), Taiji (grand ultimate), Qixing (seven stars), and Liuhe (six harmonies). There are sub styles and hybrid styles that came out of these 4 main branches.
It is commonly agreed upon that Wang Lang (), also Romanized as Wong Long, was the founder of the praying mantis system. This is based mainly on an existing Quanpu (manuscripts) that is called Luohan Xing Gong Duanda (Arhat short strikes) which is believed to be an indigenous Shandong pugilistic system existed sometime between Ming to mid Qing dynasty (approx. 1368 - 1780 CE). Many versions of this manuscript are available including couple that influenced the Qixing line and Greater Meihua Line (GML), which is consisted of Meihua, Taiji, Taiji Meihua. It is believe that GML basically adsorbed the concepts and principles of the Arhat short strikes and subsequent manuscripts were written by the progenitor of the GML - Liang Xuexiang (1810 - 1895 CE); while Qixing keeps the content of the manuscript pretty much intact. The theoretical portion of the Arhat short strikes manuscript is known as Shaolin Yi Bol Zhen Chuan () which means Shaolin authentic transmission.
Since CCK TCPM is derived from the GML, this article will not comment further on other lines’ development. We will however describe briefly the Greater Meihua Line’s development.
There is without a doubt that Liang Xuexiang was the progenitor of the GML as we know it. The GML is composed of 3 main sub styles - Meihua, Taji Meihua, and Taiji. These sub style distinctions happened because Liang Xuexiang changed the convention of private teaching to public teaching. This attracted a lot of other styles practitioner to his Tanglangquan system. They brought in a lot of different material as well. All 3 designations of the sub styles came from an entry found in Liang’s Quanpu about the profile of Tanglang Pugilism in which the Meihua referred to the five old hands or signature techniques, and Taiji referred to the constantly changing formation of the hands of the Mantis strikes. There are also mentioning of monkey body and rooster stepping which formed the Mantis stance from the same entry but they are irrelevant to the designations.
The difference between the sub styles is both geographical and structural.
Meihua is possibly the earliest and the widest spread of them all. It’s found in various Counties in the Shangdong area such as Haiyang, Laiyang, Yantai, Qingdao etc. It has not only the core of mantis that is consisted of 3 mother forms and 6 Zhaiyao/essentials forms, but also the white ape series. The weaponry of this sub branch isn’t extensive at all.
Taiji Meihua used to be mainly found in Yantai City, old Capital of Shandong, but are now found further north east into former Manchurian territories. Also internationally it is quite well known these days and has fairly large contingents both in Korea and Germany. It has the core of mantis, white ape series, long fist (possibly Sun Bin Quan) materials that are found in local armed escort service and extensive weaponry with spear that of Hao family being the crème de la crème weapon.
Taiji is perhaps the one that is remained close to the fundamentals of Tanglangquan. There are 2 main lines in the Taiji Tanglang - Sun Yuanchang and Jiang Hualong-Song Zide. Both Sun and Jiang are Liang Xue Xiang’s outstanding students. Jiang Hualong (1855 – CE) who is well known as a master of Meihua Tanglang created Babu Tanglang (8 Step). It is mainly taught in Laiyang, Haiyang (Liang’s home County) and Yantai (via Chi Shoujin). The Qingdao contingent is started by Wang Yushan, son-in-law of Song Zide, who was the sworn brother and student of Jiang Hualong.
There are the 3 mother forms, 7 sections of Zhaiyao, and Digong Men material (groundfighting system - Liang’s early art). It has focus on lots of Tanglang Shou Fa, otherwise known as Mishou (secret hands), and emphasis on both hard and soft Qigong. Weaponry is minimal. In some ways, this is the back to be basic sub style amongst the Greater Meihua Line.
It is believed that Sun Yuanchang (1846 – 1935 CE) taught publicly in Haiyang with Meihua Tanglang; while, he taught his honorary son, Chi Shoujin (? – 1927 CE), who taught Grandmaster Zhao Zhuxi (Chiu Chuk Kai 1900 - 1991 CE) Taiji Tanglang. Grandmaster Chiu took it a step further into developing what I would consider a hybrid style of Taiji Tanglang that includes his Taizu Men (also his link to armed escort service), Jingwu Men, Taijiquan (Chen style) and Yong Chun wooden dummy work to form CCK TCPM. I would caution though that it was never his intention to develop a hybrid style of Tanglang. He had always called what he taught as Taiji Tanglang or Tai Chi Tong Long (in Cantonese). It’s just that his life long experiences warranted in my humble opinion a distinction that his students and grand students including myself proposed posthumously the designation of CCK TCPM.
