Tanglang Boxing
01 · Historical Records
Mandarin Duck Mantis Boxing is a branch of Mantis Boxing, marked by a boxing method that is left-right symmetric and combines yin and yang; it takes its name from the image of mandarin ducks paired together, form and shadow following each other. The art was long passed down in secret among the people. According to its lineage records, in the mid-Qing period Ma Guo transmitted it to Li Zhijian, after which it continued in the Shandong Peninsula through master-to-disciple teaching. In the mid-20th century it entered the urban area of Qingdao, where boxing halls, training institutes, and community squares in Shinan District became the main venues of transmission. Within the school, a relatively clear lineage and a complete system of sets and techniques have been preserved.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Mandarin Duck Mantis Boxing takes the union of yin and yang and the dual cultivation of inner and outer as its philosophical foundation, and is marked by left-right symmetric boxing movements, like mandarin ducks paired together, form and shadow following each other, hence the name Mandarin Duck. What it shares with the mantis lies not in imitating the form, but in capturing the idea of swift, fierce, and exquisitely changeable hand techniques. Mandarin Duck Mantis Boxing displays an artistic beauty through its distinctive body methods. Taking the Mandarin Duck Internal Skill as its foundation, it cultivates body and character, and includes basic skills, boxing methods, internal training, and auxiliary exercises. First are the sets (32 in total), including Zuogang (Sitting Post), Bai Yuan Chu Dong (White Ape Leaves the Cave), Bai Yuan Tou Tao (White Ape Steals the Peach), Bai Yuan Xian Guo (White Ape Offers Fruit), Dan Cha Hua (Single Flower Insert), Shuang Cha Hua (Double Flower Insert), Zhong Cha Hua (Central Flower Insert), Lian Cha Hua (Linked Flower Insert), Bao Cha Hua (Embracing Flower Insert), Shiba Sou (Eighteen Searches, 18 sets), and Yuan Yang Pu (Mandarin Duck Register, 5 sets). Second are the techniques. The basic postures (12) are the horse-riding stance, mountain-climbing stance, tiger-straddling stance, swallowing-collapsing stance, lifting-standing stance, pouncing-leg stance, sitting-coil stance, single-leg stance, collapsing-base stance, sitting-stride stance, contained-base stance, and jade-ring step. Hand techniques include sticking, pinching, assisting, pressing, coming, calling, following, sending, lifting, seizing, sealing, closing, hooking, drawing, gathering, and hanging. Leg techniques include raising, hanging, stumbling, pressing, intercepting, trampling, shoveling, sweeping, whipping, and pouncing-pressing. Third is the internal exercise method, namely the Mandarin Duck Internal Skill. Fourth are the auxiliary exercises, including leading hand, arm-striking springing leg, raised leg, and stone-lock training. Its body methods, footwork, boxing methods, techniques, and combat applications all have detailed oral formulas. Over its long history, Mandarin Duck Mantis Boxing was long transmitted in secret among the people. At the same time, this project places particular emphasis on the way of harmony in training: through balanced training of the left and right hands and feet it activates the potential of the brain, serving to develop intelligence, build physical fitness, and regulate mental state.
The thirty-two routines
Thirty-two routines, among them the white ape sets, the inserting-flower sets, the eighteen searches and the five-part Yuanyang manual.
The twelve basic postures
Twelve base postures from the riding stance to the jade-ring step.
Inner and auxiliary exercises
Inner cultivation forms the root, supported by auxiliary drills, with detailed formulas for body, step, fist and fighting methods.
From Ma Guo to Li Zhijian
By its lineage record the art passed from Ma Guo to Li Zhijian in the mid-Qing and has been taught master to pupil ever since.
Sun Richeng and the Qingdao hall
Born in Qingdao in 1967, he opened the Yuanyang mantis boxing hall in 2005 and has taught tens of thousands through public classes.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Mantis Boxing is an important component of traditional Chinese martial arts, and Mandarin Duck Mantis Boxing is one of its schools; it is widely transmitted in the Shandong Peninsula, with the greatest concentration in Qingdao, Shandong Province.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Tanglang Boxing · Tanglang Boxing · Tanglang Boxing.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Until the mid-Qing period, Ma Guo transmitted it to Li Zhijian; thereafter the art was passed down through master-to-disciple teaching, with a fairly clear lineage and a good state of survival. Mandarin Duck Mantis Boxing draws widely on the strengths of other arts; its system of sets and techniques is complete, and it has developed a fairly systematic body of martial ethics and boxing sets, reflecting the martial connotation of establishing oneself in order to establish others and ceaseless self-strengthening, while also having the practical value of strengthening the body and preserving health. Sun Richeng (related inheritor, official archive records): Male, Han ethnicity, born in May 1967, from Qingdao, Shandong Province. He practiced Mantis Boxing from childhood under his father's instruction. His movements are plain and classical, his techniques rich, the structure rigorous, and the linking ingenious. In 2005 he established the Qingdao Mandarin Duck Mantis Boxing Hall to teach the art, and has emphasized external exchange, transmission, and dissemination. For many years he has devoted himself to the transmission of Mantis Boxing, running multiple public-benefit training classes. His teaching has benefited tens of thousands of people, and he has selected about 150 disciples from within China and abroad. He is a representative inheritor of Mantis Boxing, a national-level intangible cultural heritage item from the fifth national batch. In 2006 he won two gold medals and one silver at the International Hong Kong Mantis Boxing Invitational Tournament. He has taught courses for foreign teachers and students on understanding traditional Chinese culture and learning Chinese kung fu.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Sun Richeng 05-2550
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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