This origin of Kung Fu, pronounced Gong Fu in Mandarin, dates back more than 2500 years in China. Around 500 AD, a Buddhist monk named Bodhidarma traveled from India to China to spread the teachings of the Buddha. He settled at the Shaolin Temple (in today’s Henan Province). He brought with him Buddhist philosophies and exercises which he taught to the resident monks. Since then, Shaolin Kung Fu evolved to transform Chinese Kung Fu from military training and tactics to a vessel for physical, philosophical, and spiritual practice.

Today, Kung Fu is practiced around the world in hundreds of styles that vary significantly. However, most traditional Kung Fu styles trace their origin to the Shaolin and in military practices of Ancient China.

Tan Tui Tang Lang

The Praying Mantis style of Kung Fu is believed to have been originated in the 1600’s at the Shaolin Temple. A young monk named Wang Lang created the system after observing the quick and devastating techniques of the Praying Mantis.

Legend begins with Wang Lang as a young boy training at the Shaolin Temple. He was a very passionate and disciplined martial artist and well respected within the temple even though he was smaller in size than many of fellow warrior monks. He grew up at Shaolin practicing techniques and sparring with the other monks to improve his skills. It is at this time that Wang Lang found that he had reached a plateau with his martial abilities.

Wang Lang regularly left the temple grounds and went to the mountains to train and work on improving his skills in solitude. During one of his many trips to the mountains he happened upon a praying mantis engaged in a fight with a cicada. Wang Lang was astounded by the speed and agility of the praying mantis who was dominating a much larger insect. The praying mantis fascinated and inspired Wang Lang. He captured the praying mantis and kept it in a bamboo cage to study it. Over the next months Wang Lang observed and mimicked the movements of the praying mantis and adapted them for the human anatomy. He diligently worked to integrate these movements into his own Shaolin fighting style to improve his techniques.

After training in solitude, Wang Lang decided that it was time to test their effectiveness. He returned to the temple and engaged the warrior monks in a sparring match to test his skills. The Abbot and other monks were impressed that Wang Lang was able to hold his own against formidable opponents.

Over the following months and years, the monks at the temple worked with Wang Lang to improve his new style, the Praying Mantis style, which evolved and became one of the Shaolin Temple’s systems.

Praying Mantis style has become widely practiced but has also evolved as masters passed it on to students. Over the years, twelve distinct styles derived from the original Shaolin Praying Mantis. Some of the well-known ones are Seven Star Praying Mantis, Plum Blossom Praying Mantis, Six Harmony Praying Mantis and Tai Chi Praying Mantis.

At Wu Dao, we teach a less well known system of Praying Mantis, called Tan Tui Tang Lang (Seeking Legs Praying Mantis). This style can be traced back to Ching Yeung, the Abbot at the Wah Lum Monastery in Ping To district in Shandong Province. In the early 1900's, an accomplished martial artist by the name of Lee Kwan Shan sought refuge in the monastery. Already skilled in his family style, the Tan Tui (Seeking Leg) system, Lee Kwan Shan committed himself to a ten-year study under the guidance of Abbot Ching Yeung. After completing his studies, he left the temple and resettled in Sha Cheng Village, also in Shandong Province. There, he integrated his training under Ching Yeung with his own Tan Tui family style, rendering a new system of Praying Mantis Kung Fu. This became known as the Wah Lum (Flourishing Forest) Tan Tui (Seeking Leg) Tang Lang (Praying Mantis) System.

Choy Lay Fut

Choy Lay Fut is primarily a southern system of kung fu but has its origins in both Northern and Southern China. The system's founder, Chan Heung, had two teachers from the South and one from the North. Choy Lay Fut combines the long arm techniques and hard hitting power of the South with the quick agile footwork and high kicks of the North.

Choy Lay Fut was founded in the early 1800’s by Chan Heung, a renowned martial artist of that time period. Chan Heung was born in 1806 in Jing Mei, a village in Guangdong Province.

Chan Heung’s martial arts career began at a very young age, when he went to live with his uncle, Chan Yuen Woo. Chan Yuen Woo was a famous martial artist whostudied at the Southern Shaolin Temple.

At the age of 17, Chan Heung had reached a level where Chan Yuen Woo felt Chan Heung would benefit from even more advanced training. At this point Chan Heung was sent to study under Li Yau San, Chan Yeun Woo’s older Kung Fu brother.

Chan Heung studied under Li Yau San for several years and again reached a level of mastery that was beyond the teaching ability of Li Yau San. Realizing this, Li Yau San recommended for Chan Heung to train with a Shaolin monk who lived as a recluse in the mountains.

After a long time of searching, Chan Heung found the monk, Choy Fook, on Lau Fu Mountain. Reluctantly, the monk accepted Chan Heung as a student of Buddhism and eventually martial arts. As part of the agreement Chan Heung, committed to train with Choy Fook for ten years. He also agreed to learn Buddhism along with training in the martial arts.

At the age of 29, Chan Heung left his teacher and returned to Jing Mei villiage. He spent several years refining the techniques that he learned from Choy Fook and integrating it with those he learned from Li Yau San. Integrating the techniques, he established a new system of Kung Fu he named Choy Lay Fut, in honor of his two teachers Choy Fook and Li Yau San. He added the word Fut (Buddha) to the name of the system out of respect for his Buddhist master and for the Shaolin roots of his system.

Chan Heung set up a martial arts school in his village to teach the new system. His reputation spread and many people from nearby villages came to study. He taught many students between 1847 and 1875 and passed his legacy to his two sons, Chan On Pak and Chan Koon Pak.

Over the following years, Choy Lay Fut evolved into two branches, Hung Sing and Bak Sing. At Wu Dao, we teach Hung Sing Choy Lay Fut, which was brought to America by Master Lee Koon Hung.