Praying Mantis Kung Fu - Brendan Lai Meihua Quan

Rare footage of the late 7 stars praying mantis kung fu grandmaster Brendai Lai doing the 7* mantis Plum Blossom Form (Meihua Q'uan). Shifu Lai defined mantis hand speed and 'clean hands', and was one of the greatest ambassadors of Chinese Kung Fu in the West. He is sorely missed by all...

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• seven
• stars
• praying
• mantis
• kung
• fu
• gong
• tanglang
• tonglong
• brendan
• lai
• shifu
• meihua
• plum
• blossom
• form

[nestosolo]

Plum blossom or Plum flower..isn't that Southern Praying Mantis? I thank you for posting this. I know that Brandan's style came down from the Mantis King (WHF).

[mantis108]

Actually plum blossom/flower forms can be found in a wide variety of kung fu styles, though they will differ from system to system in their motions.

[Unrealxiaist]

So fast....

You sure that was meihua? Notice how he only moves in two directions. It looked like beng bu.

[mantis108]

Yep, positive. We have this form in our lineage as well, it is Plum Blossom Boxing (Meihua Q'uan). There are several Plum Blossom forms in 7* mantis, including Plum Blossom Falling, Plum Blossom Fist (Hand), and Plum Blossom Boxing. It's unfortunate that the end of this video is cut off, as the last few moves are missing. Best Regards!

[siulumkuen]

you dont see kung fu like that anymore. truely awesome.

[Tirfing88]

THAT, my friend, is a real kung fu master

[TheJackel0pe]

I trained with Grandmaster Sifu Brendan Lai for a few years in San Francisco around 1992. The style is "Seven Star Praying Mantis" specifically "Northern White Plum Flower". It is one of the animal forms of Shaolin Kung Fu. He was an amazing teacher, and extremely sharp (mentally and physically). He graduated top 20 out of 4,000 students at the Shaolin Temple. He was a scholar, author, PhD, rather famous, and respected by all. Sadly he passed away in 2002.

[BdizzleFaReal]

Ay, can he actually do moves like that and make them flow like that in a fight?

[LopuszynskaJulia]

as long as tornado can dance...

[KotLeopold]

Totally agree there, man. The stuff now is like a dance moves, breakbeat bonanza. This stuff was built for pure fighting, not show. People are often surprised when I show them a mantis form because they expect me to perhaps flip around or something, when, in general, the majority of the moves are built for defense and attack, that's it.

[psifudragon1]

I met the Master over 10 years ago, amazing man.

[hanvo216]

his form is solid fast and strong. unlike ones these days all show .like dancing

[J0hn4lexB0r]

Qixing Quan and Meihua Quan are styles of Traditional Kung Fu, and there is no relation between those styles and the forms of praying mantis, though they are call the same.

[fall0utboy]

so who won