# Plum blossom and Taiji mantis differences



## qwerty (Mar 24, 2015)

Plum blossom mantis and Taiji mantis seem nearly identical to me... Can anyone tell me the main differences?


----------



## clfsean (Mar 25, 2015)

They're nearly the same. Both use the 12 keyword formula, pressings/leanings/hards/softs. I think it's more execution and application rather than real differences.


----------



## BTrent (Apr 1, 2015)

Many of the forms from the different styles of mantis are shared
For instance, Plum Flower Hand is part of 7 star mantis 




When you look at Bung Bo in the 7 star style, it is very rigid 




When you look at Bung Bo in the Plum Flower style, you see it has those wave motions that were part of the Plum Flower Hand form from 7 star mantis






Taiji Plum Flower Mantis has even less rigidity






Bung Bo in Tai Chi Praying Mantis is very different from Plum Flower and Taiji Plum Flower 






and in 6 Harmonies Mantis it is different still  1 - YouTube (first form)

additionally, tai chi praying mantis has an enormous number of weapons forms that are lacking in plum flower mantis CCK Taichi Mantis-double daggers vs spear - YouTube

They are all cousins, so the differences are subtle, but they are there


----------



## Flying Crane (Apr 1, 2015)

I've heard that Brendan Lai may not have been the best example in 7star mantis.  So if it looks stiff, it might just be him.


----------



## BTrent (May 1, 2015)

Flying Crane said:


> I've heard that Brendan Lai may not have been the best example in 7star mantis.  So if it looks stiff, it might just be him.


Brendan Lai demonstrates Wong Hon Fun lineage of Seven Star Mantis out of Hong Kong.  You probably heard something from some other lineage or from someone who was not an inheritor of the system.  Another possibility is that personal feuds among people no longer living get passed down through the decades to students.  Here is an example of Hong Kong Seven Star Mantis with the same kind of rigity or "stiffness" as you call it. 




Brendan Lai lived in San Francisco, so that might have something to do with it.  He's dead now, so feuding schools competing for students 40 years ago, or being sold a weapon that fell apart after a year is not that meaningful anymore.


----------



## Flying Crane (May 1, 2015)

I lived in San Francisco for many years, and still live in the area. I never knew him, but I've known his wife and son from their store for many years, until they closed it recently.  I don't know mantis, nor one lineage from another.  However, I did work for a while with a man who had worked with Sifu Lai, and had helped him teach, many years ago.  Interesting stories, he had to tell.  My comment is simply based on what he had told me.

In hindsight, I should not have commented as it was not my intention to speak poorly of him.  His wife and son always treated me well whenever I came into their store, they are wonderful people.  I know that he had difficulties later in life, health problems and whatnot.


----------



## Kung Fu Wang (May 1, 2015)

Flying Crane said:


> I've heard that Brendan Lai may not have been the best example in 7star mantis.  So if it looks stiff, it might just be him.


One night Y C Wong, Brendan Lai, Adam Hsu, and myself just had a nice dinner at Y C Wong's house (his wife was mean to him). After the dinner, we all walked on the street of San Francisco China town. Brendan suddenly dropped into a low empty stance, his body vibrated just like a preying mantis that vibrates in the wind. When he vibrated his body, his body clearly was pulling/pushing his arms. His waist and Kua were as soft as any Taiji guy could have.

In the praying mantis system, when you move, people should only see your body movement and they should not see your limbs movement. Brendan had definitely reached to that level.


----------

