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Sifu Kurt Wong
Shifu Kurt Wong teaches Northern Style kung fu in the city of Anchorage. In conjunction with the physical aspects of kung fu , he teaches tradtional Chinese culture in order to guide his students along the proper path of the learning process.
Born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, Shifu Wong's martial art studies began with the Korean art of Tae Kwon Do. Later, he joined Wu-Tan out of a desire to learn more about Chinese Culture and the martial arts.
Shifu Wong's main instructor was Su Yu-Chang . He was also taught by Grandmaster Liu Yun-Qiao and Adam Hsu . His teachers instilled in him not only the aspiration to achieve skillful techniques, but also high moral standards.
Shifu Wong learned Qixing Tanglangquan (Seven Star Praying Mantis ), Babu Tanglangquan (Eight Step Praying Mantis ), Mei Hua Tanglangquan (Plum Blossom Mantis), Liu He Tanglangquan (Six Harmony Mantis), Bajiquan (Eight Infinite Fist), Piguazhang (Splitting and Deflecting Palm), Chen style Taijiquan , Changquan (Islamic Long Fist ), Baguazhang (Eight Diagram Palm), and several weapons.
Currently, Shifu Wong teaches three Northern Styles of Kung fu : Northern Praying Mantis , Chen Taijiquan , and Bajiquan/Piguazhang.
Tanglangquan, or praying mantis boxing, is charecterized by the ferocious hands of the praying mantis combined with the light nimble step of the monkey. The style was developed in Shandong Province, China. Shandong is known throughout China as being a academic and cultural province. Many famous people came from Shandong, such as Lao Tzu and Confucious. The province is also known to be a very dangerous place filled with bandits. That is why the martial arts of Shandong is considered to be very effective and intelligent.
Praying mantis boxing can trace it's origins back to a man named Wang Lang, of Shandong province. Wang had trained in martial arts and was schooled in shaolin boxing.
While in Laoshan mountain, Wang witnessed a fight between a praying mantis and cicada. At first, Wang believed that the cicada would defeat the mantis since it was much smaller; much to Wang's surprise, he was wrong. With one quick and precise attack, the mantis defeated the cicada. Inspired by the fight, Wang captured the mantis and began observing it's movements.
Wang combined 17 of the best techniques from General Qi Ji-Guang's military manual and combined it with the hand techniques of the mantis. Along with this, Wang included the footwork of the monkey to his system. This new system would be called tanglangquan, praying mantis boxing.
| The Praying Mantis insect. |
Originally there were no distinction between styles in the tanglang system. Generations after Wang, his decendants would develop new sub-styles of tanglangquan. Among the most well known systems of mantis are meihua (plum blossom), qixing (seven star), liuhe (six harmony), babu (8 step), mimen (secret door), and changquan ( long fist ).
The praying mantis forms taught at Wu-Tan are selected forms from qixing, babu, mei hua, and liu he styles. Our tanglang systems come directly from Master Kurt Wong and Master Su Yu-Chang .