mantis boxing

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Mantis Boxing

Applicant: Laiyang City, Shandong Province

Project No.: 805

Project No.: VI - 33

Time of publication: 2008 (second batch)

Category: traditional sports, recreation and acrobatics

Region: Shandong Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Laiyang City, Shandong Province

Protection unit: Laiyang Cultural Center

Introduction to Mantis Boxing

Applicant: Laiyang City, Shandong Province

It is said that mantis boxing was created by Wang Lang of Jiaodong in the late Ming Dynasty and early Qing Dynasty. It is widely spread in Jiaodong Peninsula along the coast of Shandong Province, and Laiyang City is the most popular.

It's said that Wang Lang observed the mantis's action of catching cicadas, took its expression, endowed it with the principles of yin and Yang, hardness and softness, emptiness and reality, and applied the methods of up and down, left and right, back and forth, advance and retreat. He created the Mantis Boxing by performing the eighteen ancient techniques. Its successors include Li Bingxiao, Liang mengxiang and song Zide. After the spread of Mantis Boxing from Laiyang, it gradually formed four main genres of Taiji mantis, Meihua Mantis, Qixing mantis and Liuhe mantis in Jiaodong. Although there are many schools of mantis boxing, they all emphasize pictographic meaning, focusing on meaning, "meaning" rather than "shape". The technique, footwork, leg technique and body method are closely connected and ingenious, steady and flexible, seeking speed in life, stability in speed and perfection in stability. The main techniques of mantis boxing are hook, cuddle, pick, hang, stick, stick, lean, Diao, Jin, Beng and dozen words. A series of attacks are required, which are "no Diao, no fight, once Diao, fight several times". Generally speaking, the style of mantis boxing is fast and brave, resolute and courageous. It is characterized by attack from the front to the side, interaction between the virtual and the real, combination of long and short, combination of hardness and softness, and the use of both hands and feet, which makes people elusive and impossible to defend; it uses a series of tight techniques to press the enemy directly, so that the enemy has no chance to breathe. There are many techniques, such as long hitters, short and quick stealers, elbow catching and wrestling. In the aspect of routine drills, we should pay attention to speed but not chaos, rigidity but not rigidity, softness but not softness. The routine structure is rigorous, and the connection between movements is ingenious. The external skill is iron sand palm, and the internal skill is Luohan skill. Often practicing mantis boxing can cultivate people's strong fighting spirit and agility.

Mantis Boxing is the specific manifestation of Jiaodong Peninsula local culture in the field of martial arts. It embodies the "martial spirit" of the Chinese nation. Its unique martial arts techniques are valuable materials for tracing back history and studying Chinese martial arts culture.

There are practitioners of Mantis Boxing in Jiaodong, even in the whole country and all over the world. However, with the overall decline of Wushu, the complete inheritance of mantis boxing has also been severely challenged. The number of practitioners is decreasing, and it is urgent to excavate, rescue and protect it.