Regards.
That’s a cool looking place to work out. Nice gothic architecture.
Any more info on the curriculum? Forms taught?
Welcome.
SD??
Interesting. Just playing “Devils advocate”,..looks like an incarnation of SD. More information would be greatly appreciated.
?
I have never heard of this branch of Tang Lang before , has anyone ever come across it before ?
Not to seem rude but shouldnt forms be taught earlier on than five years ? Forms are the basis of Tang Lang , how can you train in tang Lang without them ?
How can you be a senior student / instructor without training forms ? Where do the techniques come from that you use ? 50 forms are a vast amount to start 5 years into your training . 
Re: ?
Originally posted by FEELERSTRIKE
… Not to seem rude but shouldnt forms be taught earlier on than five years ? Forms are the basis of Tang Lang , how can you train in tang Lang without them ? …
Well, you have to give the instructor time to learn the forms first eh? 
OK JUST KIDDING !
Maybe that is how they were taught in that line?
UM.
You could be right 
it is a branch I am not familiar with , could be a new approach ? :rolleyes: If it works , then use it .
Feelerstrike
Your in-country,…go check it out for us!
I would like to but unfortunately I have club nights Monday to Thursday and do not live locally to our capital , but if I get a chance I will . It would be good if the guys from that branch would kindly give us more information on who they are and what they do as their site only gives very limited information .
Getting back to the London Mantis website it’s unfortunate that there isn’t enough substantial information there to determine what the style is about. At first I thought it might be a variation of Wah Lum from Sifu David Hawkins (ex-WL who switched to CLF) but after viewing the website it’s obviously something else.
Ref corja shantung mantis
Corja shantung is a northern mantis system.
you can log on to Sifu Alims website : www.northernmantis.co.uk
Sean
http://www.frixo.com/sites/mantis/sifualim-poster.jpg
Hmm… I don’t know much about the system… but… a combination of Tae kwon do, jiu jitsu, judo, and praying mantis? Maybe it’s just my lack of experience, but that seems a little off to me?
Ironox ,
Hello and welcome to the community . I am afraid I have never come across your branch before but it will be good to have your opion on this forum .
Re: Ref corja shantung mantis
Originally posted by ironox
[B]Corja shantung is a northern mantis system.
you can log on to Sifu Alims website : www.northernmantis.co.uk
Sean [/B]
Ironox, welcome to the forum.
The members for the most part here are all traditional praying mantis practitioners from around the world. They know what mantis looks like and have a grasp of what is in it.
They need to know more about a system than an obscure story to convince them that they system protrayed is legitimate; The Corja site does not do this. All it does is send the all to familiar alarms of being made up.
No, I am not saying that it is made up, but that the website sends that alarm to most of us here.
Thanks for posting & we are looking forward to more information on the Corja school.
Well the website makes the claim that it is the original NPM yet offers no lineage. Definitely a red flag. With all the historians here I’m sure nothing less than verifiable documentation will suffice.
“My teacher told me so” just isn’t going to cut it.
If it is a verifiable offshoot then it could open up a new perspective on the history of NPM.
We’re all eagerly waiting to hear.
It would be interesting to know more as the northern mantis scene in the U.k. is not overly large but has been quite well established for many years with my shifu being a strong promoter of the 7 star branch as passed on to him by his master Mo Lam for nearly 30 years .
Ref Corja shantung mantis
Hi All, Firstly this is not my system, I’m a teacher of Iron ox Praying mantis, ( Dit Ngau Hakka tong long)
I have known Sifu Alim for Over 20 years, He is a Highly skilled martial Artist and a very good teacher.
I can assure you he knows his lineage, There are a lot of sites that don’t list the lineage of their styles this does not mean that its made up.
I will try to find out a little more history about the shantung praying mantis style, i will pop and see Sifu Alim Shortly.
With regarding the historians of mantis how many of you speak , read and write chinese? or have seen their systems or family books that get handed down from sifu to sifu? . These are almost always kept secret from Gwailo’s. So apart from the common History of the styles on the net or whats been told by the instuctor maybe or may not be true.
sEan
Re: Ref Corja shantung mantis
Originally posted by ironox
[B]mantis style, i will pop and see Sifu Alim Shortly.
With regarding the historians of mantis how many of you speak , read and write chinese? or have seen their systems or family books that get handed down from sifu to sifu? . These are almost always kept secret from Gwailo’s. So apart from the common History of the styles on the net or whats been told by the instuctor maybe or may not be true.
sEan [/B]
R&R? Off-hand, I can think of about 5. Thats just the ones I know of.
Ironox , what you say is sometimes true , but not always ! I have come across the same predudice within the TMA community but just because I am not chinese does not mean what I have been told or am taught is not correct . My shifu uses his English name which is what his family wanted and has not used the chinese name that was given to him by his father since he was a child in Hong Kong . I am lucky enough to be a close family friend as well as a student of my shifu and so do know where our Tang Lang has come from . I have seen the photos of our late grandmaster that my shifu has and have been lucky enough to hear the storys of his training from his family .
One of the most important factors in traditional martial arts is not who taught you but who taught them !! The history of your lineage and the developement of the style is a treasure that must be kept alive and passed down to the next generation for it shows who you are . It is good to introduce new ways for people to learn but not at the expense of losing the traditional form and movement names . Again they are all there for a reason . We do not use the chinese names for the techniques mainly because all the students that have been through our school doors since I have been there do not speak or understand chinese so using English is far more successfull . This is progress but do not knock it . I’ll get off my soap box now or am I the only one to feel this way ?
All styles are made up. Some recent, some long ago, and some are based off other styles. That’s not an issue here and I don’t think anyone intended to accuse Alim Sifu (or his teacher) of making it up.
Maybe you don’t know what you’re getting into but there are quite a few members here who read chinese and have been studying the history of PM (all branches, not just their own) for many years.
The problem is that we don’t have enough information to even guess at whether it’s really PM or something else. And claiming to be the original NPM is a pretty bold statement. Any information you can provide would be a great help. BTW, it can get a little rough around here so don’t take things too personal. Just explain your position and I’m sure a good discussion will follow.
On a side note I have no clue what Iron Ox Praying Mantis is either. How does your style fit into the NPM family?
Iron Ox is, I believe, a Southern Mantis Style.