There are many differing accounts of the creation of Southern Mantis Kung Fu. Some state that it is a descendant of the Shaolin system of Northern Mantis. Others state that it was the creation of a Monk from a Daoist monastery on Omei Mountain in China, famous for the Pak Mei system. With its upright stances, hand forms and short range powers, it could arguably be said that Southern Mantis bears a greater resemblance to Pak Mei than it does to Northern Mantis - which uses traditional Shaolin low stances, leaping kicks and long arm techniques. The question of the origin of Southern Mantis will probably never be satisfactorily answered.

There is similar debate over which of the various branches of Southern Mantis is the original system: -

*CHU GAR TONGLONG

*CHOW GAR TONGLONG

*JOOK LUM TONGLONG

*CHI GAR TONGLONG

*IRON OX TONGLONG

Again, there is little evidence to come to a conclusive decision as to which system was the first. However, there are many parallels, which run through all Southern Mantis systems, in forms, exercises and weapons used, and it is probably safe to say that they are all related in one way or another.

Each school has an oral history, which is passed from Sifu to student. This does not really assist in the accurate detailing of what really happened, as each generation has no doubt embellished and added to the stories as they moved through the centuries. This aside, Sifu Ip Chee Kung related the following story: -

The History of Chow Gar Praying Mantis

The creator of Chow Gar Praying Mantis was a monk named Chow Ah Naam. He was a Cantonese man, and was born into a wealthy farming family. When he was about ten years old he developed a stomach illness and many doctors failed to find a cure for him. A friend of his fathers told them that his illness was probably be due to something environmental, and suggested that he travelled to different areas possibly finding a better doctor. Otherwise the illness could get more serious.

His father gave this some thought and decided that his friend's advice seemed reasonable, so he gave Chow Ah Naam some money to travel North with a servant. Being young he hadn't had a great deal o experience in life or travel. When they had travelled some distances his stomach illness grew worse and at the same time his servant became ill and could not keep up with Chow Ah Naam, so he decided to stay at an Inn and a few weeks later his servant died.

After the funeral Chow Ah Naam realised that he had spent all of his money and sent a letter back home requesting that they send him some more money urgently, but because he was so far from home he was unable to receive the money.

The owner of the Inn knew of Chow Ah Naam's illness and that he had run out of money so he advised him to go to the Shaolin Temple to see a Buddhist Monk named Sim Yan. This Monk was a famous medical man and did not normally treat outsiders, but he got on well with Chow Ah Naam and after a few m months of treatment Chow Ah Naam had recovered fully.

When Chow Ah Naam realised the money would never arrive, he became very concerned about the cost of staying at the Inn and he spoke to the owner about it. The owner understood his plight and asked him if he would like to be a servant in the kitchen? This Inn in fact was part of the Shaolin Temple, and the rules were whether you were a monk or not after being accepted you must practice Kung Fu for at least two hours each day.

So Chow Ah Naam decided to stay at the Temple. During his stay he had a work mate named Set. Now Set was a big man with powerful arms and could easily pick up people as he had been practising Kung Fu for many years. One day Set was carrying two buckets of water and Chow Ah Naam accidentally bumped into Set. Set was so angry that he hit Chow Ah Naam. Although Chow Ah Naam tried to defend himself he was knocked down with one punch. This man Set thought he himself was the strongest of the lot and was always telling people off and picking on others, so Chow Ah Naam tried to avoid him as much as possible.

One day Chow Ah Naam went to a nearby forest to collect wood for the stove in the kitchen when he heard a bird making a lot of noise, he went to investigate and he saw the bird using its beak against a Praying Mantis. Watching closely Chow Ah Naam saw the Praying Mantis suddenly cut across the birds throat with it's arm, the bird fell and was covered in blood and did not move. Chow Ah Naam was very surprised at this incident. Chow Ah Naam was an intelligent person and it occurred to him to copy this insect and so caught the Praying Mantis and many others after it, feeding them and using a twig to test their fighting reaction developing the Praying Mantis style.

Nobody knew about this in the Shaolin Temple until one day, a few years later Set was showing off in front of some monks as Chow Ah Naam was passing through. Set saw him and thought he could pick on him, Chow Ah Naam realised he could not always avoid him and so he challenged Set, Set began to laugh and then struck out at Chow Ah Naam. Chow Ah Naam was cool and avoided all his punches, Set became angry and used all his power to try to knock him down. All the other monks around were shouting and jeering, the noise was loud and so awoke the High Monk Sim Yan. Sim Yan went out to investigate what was going on and saw Chow Ah Naam fighting. Sim Yan knew that his fighting style was different to the Shaolin style, and while he was watching, Chow Ah Naam struck out at Set knocking him down to the ground.

Sim Yan stopped Chow Ah Naam and asked where he studied his Kung Fu from, so Chow Ah Naam told Sim Yan the truth that he observed the Praying Mantis' fighting habits. Sim Yan praised Chow Ah Naam because he felt that there were not many people like him. Sim Yan personally taught Chow Ah Naam the highest of the Shaolin Temple training to develop a strong and powerful bridge. Everybody heard about this method of training and its creator for miles around, so Chow Ah Naam went back to Canton many years later and taught a monk named Wong Fook Go. After several years training Wong Fook Go went to a place named Wai Yearn and taught a young man named Lau Soei.

At that time it was the end of the Ching dynasty and Lau Soei went to Hong Kong where he became famous. His Kung Fu was superb and he had thousands of students in Southern China. After the death of Lau Soei there were only a few people who knew the highest of Chow Gar Praying Mantis Kung Fu and Grandmaster Ip Sui was one of the few.

Ip Sui is now the Grandmaster, of Chow Gar Praying Mantis Kung Fu, and is the father of Sifu Ip Chee Keung.