Introduction to Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu
It should firstly be noted that Northern Praying Mantis Kung Fu is a completely unrelated martial arts style to Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu.
As the name suggests, the Praying Mantis Kung Fu Style is a school of Kung Fu that has taken inspiration from the unique fighting technique of the Praying Mantis insect. Amongst all the animal Kung Fu styles, this is the most widely followed and the most ruthless of them all. It is one of the many Kung Fu forms, which had the Shaolin Temple act as a catalyst for their origin and promotion. The founder of this innovative form of martial art was a master named Wang Lang, who invented this form, while China was under the Ming Dynasty.
The art of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, which was designed by Wang Lang, is known as the Seven Stars School. It remains the most popular style even in today’s times, in spite of the introduction of various other forms like Six Harmonies, Eight Step, Tai Chi and Closed Door. These new forms of Kung Fu came into existence, when a few of Lang’s disciples claimed to have formulated strategies that were better than his. These disciples were allowed to come up with their own individual versions of this style of Kung Fu, but none of them managed to get the same kind of recognition as the Seven Stars School.