In the Wutang Kung fu and Tai Chi Institute, the Seven Star Preying Mantis boxing style is taught. Seven Star Preying Mantis Boxing was created during the late Ming Dynasty in Shantung Province, China by a man named Wong Long. Wong Long was an expert boxer of several different styles who came to the Shaolin Temple to challenge the legendary monks to a fight. The Shaolin monks were known throughout China for their prowess in Wushu and many at one time believed these monks were unbeatable. Wong Long wanted to see for himself if the Shaolin monks were unbeatable and to see if they were truly expert fighters.
Wong Long reached the Shaolin Temple and challenged the head monk to a duel, but instead the head monk of Shaolin referred Wong to a novice student. To Wong's surprise, the novice monk easily defeated him. Ashamed of his defeat, Wong retreated to the mountains to perfect his boxing techniques. After some time training, Wong returned to Shaolin to challenge the monk once more. Wong defeated the monk who had defeated him before and worked his way up to the head monk. Confident once more about his boxing, Wong believed he would defeat the monk easily. Again he was defeated; every technique Wong through at the head monk seemed to miss and never landed. Wong once more left the Shaolin Temple battered by the match and ashamed of his defeat.
Longing to beat the Shaolin Monks, Wong returned to the mountains to perfect his boxing skills. Wong practiced hard every day and every night. One day while resting after a long day of practice, Wong heard shrill of a cicada. Wong then saw a battle between a cicada and a mantis. He thought the mantis would lose surely since it was much smaller than the cicada, but the mantis proved Wong wrong. With one fierce and fast strike, the mantis defeated the cicada. Impressed by the techniques of the mantis, Wong captured the mantis and began to observe its fierce forelegs. With a reed stock, Wong poked the mantis and observed the mantis' techniques. The mantis used its' forelegs to strike the reed stock and eventually got hold of the reed stock. Wong then began to imitate the mantis’ techniques and trained very hard. Happy with what he still felt that something was missing. The techniques of mantis' fierce forelegs needed good footwork along with it. Wong then observed the movements of the monkey. The monkey was light on its feet and was very quick. He then combined the monkey's footwork with the fierce forelegs of the mantis and thus created the Xi Hsing Tang Lang Quan style (7-Star Preying Mantis Boxing).
Wong returned to Shaolin confident once more with his boxing skills and challenged the head monk to a fight. Again the two met and this time Wong was ready for him. The head monk was easily defeated and accepted that Wong was a superior fighter. Curious of the style Wong used, Wong answered it was a new style that he developed which was the Seven Star Preying Mantis system. Eventually this style was taught in the Shaolin Temple and became a major style in Shaolin Boxing. The Seven Star Preying Mantis Boxing Style is the original style, which Wong created and eventually gave birth to other mantis styles such as 6 Harmony Mantis, 8 Step Mantis, Plum Blossom Mantis, and Closed Door Mantis.
Today Preying Mantis Boxing is enjoying its' success in the United States and now in Anchorage Alaska. Sifu Kurt Wong of the Wutang Kung Fu and Tai Chi Institute learned the Preying Mantis boxing style from Sifu Su Yu Chang. Sifu Su was known throughout Taiwan for his skills in the Mantis style; he was an expert in all the five major mantis systems. Sifu Wong learned several mantis styles from Sifu Su such as Seven Stars, Eight-step, and Six-harmony styles, and is now sharing his knowledge to his students in Alaska.