Hao Family Taiji Meihua Praying Mantis from Korea

[C.J.W.]

Nice to see these Korean Mantis guys doing their thing and keepin' it real.

Also like how they practice short combinations with speed and intensity on focus mitts and wall bag while making use of the body movements and monkey footwork characteristic of northern Mantis.

[windwalker]

nice clips, reminds me of how we practiced.

A clip of one of my teachers students Mr Lee, met him many yrs back
he had some classes around camp Casey in Korea.




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA5-Q6wALTg

the type of training we did plum flower mantis...

They were extremely quick able to cover and close distance quite fast.

Mr park my teacher back in the day...

"His name is also romanized as:
Park Chi Moon.
Shifu Park Chil Sung was born in 1930 in what is now North Korea. He first began studying gong fu within his family at a very young age (around 7 or 8 years old). He later traveled around the Korean peninsula studying under any master he could find. At that time he met his main master, shifu Lin Ping Jiang.
During the Korean war he along with most other young men from his home town were recruited to fight for the south as guerilla fighters not actually associated with the formal army.

After the war he was able to relocate to the south and has not seen his family since then.
Shifu Park Chil Sung worked for some time after the war for the South Korean equivalent of the American CIA, training in hand to hand combat.
He has been teaching at Camp Casey Tongdushon (a U.S. Army post just south of the DMZ - north of Seoul) since the 70's, with many of his students being U.S. Military personnel. In the year 2000 he was still alive and teaching in Korea."
http://www.oocities.org/mantiscave/parkchil.htm

Very real in his approach, he mentioned they used to kill pigs practicing certain tech on them...
and that during the war they could not use weapons "guns" to kill the enemy at night, what they did had to be real.
Never really spoke to much about this.

It took me some 20yrs to finely figure out who his teacher might have been or was....

It was something he never mentioned....we used to try to get him drunk and ask him about, it was funny he would just laugh.....we all end up drunk together.

Soju, helps to take the pain away from the training . .

mantis an interesting style never really fit me,,,,

[chenyaolong]

nice clips

The Hao family guys in the first clip I believe learnt their Mantis from Sun De Long in Qingdao.

The clips posted by Windwalker are from the Cui Shou Shan-Ji Chun Ting lineage (same as mine), which spread to Korea during WW2

[Trick]

How widespread is CMA in Korea ? Since Tongbeiquan and Tanglangquan is strong in the northeastern part of China it seem natural it also has spread in to the Korean Peninsula, but how about Xingyiquan, Baguazhang that is/was strong in Tianjin/Beijing area and ShuaiJiao(Mongolian) are/where these MA practiced to a "bigger extent" or where they overshadowed by the influx of Japanese MA traditions and then eventually TKD?

[wiesiek]

Lu shu tien was teaching in Korea, and Park Bo Nam his direct successor is Korean, so Bagua in Korea should be first hand .

[windwalker]

Mr Park, had said it was difficult for the Koreans to find masters willing to teach CMA to Koreans at the time, the Chinese didn't really want to teach it to them. This was at time when Korea was still under martial law, lots of things not so out in the open.
Interesting enough yrs later my last taiji teacher in Beijing mentioned that he would not teach Koreans.

[C.J.W.]

nice clips

The Hao family guys in the first clip I believe learnt their Mantis from Sun De Long in Qingdao.

The clips posted by Windwalker are from the Cui Shou Shan-Ji Chun Ting lineage (same as mine), which spread to Korea during WW2

While I'm not sure about their lineage, the application clip that Windtalker posted actually comes from the same Youtube user as mine. There are also a couple of clips featuring a heavy-set teacher by the name of Wang Xiuyuan, who I am guessing is probably their grandmaster.

[windwalker]

While I'm not sure about their lineage, the application clip that Windtalker posted actually comes from the same Youtube user as mine. .

That would be windwalker, anytime you feel like talking its only a train ride away, nice temples and food here


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gK5QGTMoh0Y

Very different flavor then 7* or eight steps mantis.

http://www.oocities.org/mantiscave/meihua.htm
A good site although old for lineage information

[windwalker]

nice clips

The Hao family guys in the first clip I believe learnt their Mantis from Sun De Long in Qingdao.

The clips posted by Windwalker are from the Cui Shou Shan-Ji Chun Ting lineage (same as mine), which spread to Korea during WW2

"His name is also romanized as:
Lin Pin Jang / Lin Ping Jiang / Lim Poom Chang / Lim Pom Chang (Korean pronunciation).
The Korean branch use a different character for "Zhang" to write shifu Lin Pin Zhang's name. This character "Zhang" should have a jade radical (yu or wang) instead of the hill (fu) radical on the left. According to the Korean sources this character was only used in Manchu male names. The sources in China write shifu's Lin Pin Zhang name as writen in this web page.

Born in 1910, shifu Lin Pin Zhang was student of shifu Ji Chung Ting (Mei Hua Tang Lang Quan) and he also learnt Tai Ji Tang Lang Quan style under shifu Sun Yuan Chang.

According to the Korean oral tradition, shifu Lin Pin Zhang was a bannerman (Manchu), as his master shifu Ji Chung Ting.

Shifu Lin Pin Zhang emigrated from Da lian (Shan Dong Province) to Korea in the late 40's (or early 50's). He first taught in Chuncheon (Kangwondo), in a tent apparently. Then he was invited to Seoul by the "Chinese Resident's Association" to teach and he accepted as post as physical education teacher for the Chinese Primary school in Myongdong.

A guan was set up within the embassy initally and this was the beginning of mantis teaching in Seoul. Other Korean sources mention that he had a school, but sometimes at the Chinese embassy (Chung Gook Tessa Gwon).

There are rumors circulating among Tang Lang Quan community that shifu Ji Chun Ting brought to Korea a Tang Lang Quan manuscript which was written by shifu Jiang Hua Long and handed by his shifu Ji Chung Ting. If you have access to this manuscript please contact me !!
There is conflicting information about the date shifu Lin Pin Zhang passed away, some of them stating 1983 or 1984, but the actual date of him passing away was in December 1982.
http://www.oocities.org/mantiscave/linpin.htm

Interesting history.

[HotSoup]

Always wondered if Taiji tanglangquan had any connection to Taijiquan or it's just a reflection of the Chinese cosmogony in its name?

[C.J.W.]

Windwalker -- I stand corrected! (Must've been thinking about that movie 'Windtalkers' starring Nicholas Cage when I typed it. lol)

Speaking of CMA in Korea, I once met a middle-aged Chinese Korean lady at a park in New Taipei City where I used to practice every morning years ago. She saw what I was doing and told me that she, as someone of Chinese descent but born and raised in Korea, grew up watching people practicing CMA (and brawling in the streets) in her community.

Tanglangquan (Praying Mantis Boxing), she proudly said, was considered the most well-respected CMA style and feared by many local Korean martial artists. According to her, Chinese mantis boxers gained a reputation after kicking a lot of Korean asses in violent street fights and challenge matches. And that the relatively simple punches and kicks taught in traditional Korean styles were no match against the lightning-fast strikes and take-downs that Mantis boxing is known for.

[windwalker]

CJW

In Korea one was tested in many different ways...The guys I used to know made sure that what they did was functional.

My fist meeting with Mr Park and his style, was not about watching form play or talking theory.

"Do you want to try your White Crane against my student

In CMA tradition this is really the only real way to know something.

In a gym on a US Army base close to the demilitarized zone “DMZ” A test was being conducted between 2 very different ideas. The student Mr Cho, unknown to me at the time was one of Mr Parks top students who would later go on to do body guard work for foreign heads of state.

We saluted each other and set up about 6 feet apart from each other. Each in a posture distinctive to the style. Having encountered many other stylist before, White Crane being at home as long range style I was quite confident of the outcome. Started to move, before my foot hit the ground Mr Cho, had covered the distance, dropped low, and touched my face with a quick flicking movement of his hand the mantis “dill sow” or mantis claw.


left to right: Roger Haygood, Mr Park’s wife, Mr Park, Bobby Drake, Mr Cho
the pic is from rogers site http://www.chinamantis.com/rdh-photo-album.htm
for those interested he would go on to learn and teach s-mantis

We looked at each other and smiled, both knowing the outcome should it continue, one not in my favor.
I saluted him and turned to Mr Park who was watching quietly.

The speed, and manor of how he had covered the distance was something I had not yet encountered to this degree. While with more time it would have been something I could have adjusted to and dealt with, I also felt that I needed something more in my CMA training. It was a choice, one not lightly made. It would mean totally reworking everything that had served me well until this point."

Later I would understand that for me it was a wrong choice but did lead to and teach me some hard lessons learned.

[windwalker]

Always wondered if Taiji tanglangquan had any connection to Taijiquan or it's just a reflection of the Chinese cosmogony in its name?

Taiji Meihua Tanglang Quan originated from Tanglang Quan. 'Taiji Meihua Tanglang' means 'Taiji Plum Blossom Mantis'. As the name states it is different from the original Mantis Boxing hence it was combined with Taiji. Taiji’s movements and power lines and the Yin and Yang principles were added into the Mantis Boxing to increase its effectiveness. Taiji is famous for its power redirecting techniques and for its usefulness against physically superior opponents. Therefore it was chosen to supply the improving ideas that lead to the origin of Taiji Meihua Tanglang Quan.

The word 'Meihua' means 'plum blossom' which is a metaphor for the applications of Taiji Meihua Tanglang. Like plum blossoms in fall, the attacks should rain down on the opponent and therefore cause confusion. Typical is, that five to six complex attacks and counter movements of extreme variety follow each other with high speed so that it is not possible for the opponent to see which attack is a feint and which attack will be the actual blow.
http://www.wanfu-qingdao.com/index.php/ ... a-tanglang

Typical is, that five to six complex attacks and counter movements of extreme variety follow each other with high speed so that it is not possible for the opponent to see which attack is a feint and which attack will be the actual blow.

A very important point based on "for me" a false assumption:

"it is not possible for the opponent to see which attack is a feint and which attack will be the actual blow."

Some kick boxing styles can

If ones training is really ingrained its not possibly to change the movements once an attack has been launched the movements
have been ingrained into ones natural action.
Found this out the hard way

Just something I noted about the training others may find different.
An interesting style with a long history, just never really matched well for me.

[Trick]

Shifu Lin Pin Zhang emigrated from Da lian (Shan Dong Province) to Korea in the late 40's (or early 50's). He first taught in Chuncheon (Kangwondo), in a tent apparently. Then he was invited to Seoul by the "Chinese Resident's Association" to teach and he accepted as post as physical education teacher for the Chinese Primary school in Myongdong.

A guan was set up within the embassy initally and this was the beginning of mantis teaching in Seoul. Other Korean sources mention that he had a school, but sometimes at the Chinese embassy (Chung Gook Tessa Gwon).
.

Interesting about yours teacher in Beijing refused to teach Koreans. In Dalian in 'Liaoning' province there are living many Koreans(Chinese korean), They seem to mainly stay and interact among them self, if that is by their own choice or they are not "allowed" in I don't know, I thought about this but never asked when I lived there. But there at least used to be a lot of good Korean restaurants in Dalian that many Chinese liked to dine at. In Beijing I remember one "well known" Taiji teacher that was teaching classes in "Koreantown" (wangjin area) but had not many students in that area, although in the mornings there where the usual groups going through the basic 24form and similar sword play.

[Trick]

Windwalker -- I stand corrected! (Must've been thinking about that movie 'Windtalkers' starring Nicholas Cage when I typed it. lol)

Speaking of CMA in Korea, I once met a middle-aged Chinese Korean lady at a park in New Taipei City where I used to practice every morning years ago. She saw what I was doing and told me that she, as someone of Chinese descent but born and raised in Korea, grew up watching people practicing CMA (and brawling in the streets) in her community.

Tanglangquan (Praying Mantis Boxing), she proudly said, was considered the most well-respected CMA style and feared by many local Korean martial artists. According to her, Chinese mantis boxers gained a reputation after kicking a lot of Korean asses in violent street fights and challenge matches. And that the relatively simple punches and kicks taught in traditional Korean styles were no match against the lightning-fast strikes and take-downs that Mantis boxing is known for.

A little of topic, but that post made me remember about a "classmate" back when I was into Karate. He was a most excellent competitor (kumite/fighting) mainly using only the lead punch, reverse punch and foot sweeps always with an extremely precise timing. His kicking was good but he felt he wanted to improve so he got this idea to take up some TKD. He was put up for sparring the very firs day of training in the TKD school and he literally cleared the floor using his seemingly simple arsenal. Not to take anything away from TKD and Korean MA, my friend liked the kicking practice and picked something up. Anyway, interesting personal reflections and story's about CMA in Korea in this tread.