Small Rolling Wheel (小翻車) — Eight Step Mantis

小翻車 (Xiǎo Fānchē, "Small Rolling Wheel") is a foundational empty-hand form of the Eight Step Praying Mantis curriculum of Wei Xiaotang (衛笑堂) — 38 postures built on the 翻車 ("rolling-wheel") action, in which the body wheels over to deliver chopping smashes (劈砸) and avalanche punches (崩捶). It is the smaller of a pair with 大翻車 (Large Rolling Wheel).

What it trains

• The 翻車 rolling-wheel action — the whole-body turnover that powers the chop

• Chopping smash (劈砸) and avalanche punch (崩捶) chains

• Mantis trapping (採手 / 摟手 / 勾手) feeding the wheel

• Named accents — 美人照鏡 ("a beauty gazes in the mirror"), 白虎洗臉 ("white tiger washes its face"), 回馬鞭 ("turning-horse whip")

Full posture script — 38 postures

The posture-name list as set down in the 松傳古藝武術學苑 拳譜 (the 林松賢 / 左顯富 line, direct Wei Xiaotang disciples), reproduced under fair-use citation; the English are the wiki's own working glosses. Eight Step movement names are longer and more descriptive than the tight four-character Seven Star style.

Place in the curriculum

An early-curriculum foundation set, after 七手 and 力劈. Note: distinct from the Seven Star 小翻車 — that branch's "Small Water Wheel" has no surviving open script (see the Mantis Forms map); the Eight Step 小翻車 documented here is a different, well-preserved Wei-line form.

Videos

• [八步螳螂拳] 小翻車 (王聖穎) — lineage demonstration

See also

八步螳螂 Eight Step Mantis — the branch and full curriculum

Wei Xiaotang (衛笑堂) — the Eight Step disseminator

力劈拳 Li Pi Quan — Eight Step's Force-Chop form

Mantis Forms — the script-and-video map of every form

Sources

[1] 衛笑堂 Wei Xiaotang, 實用螳螂拳 series (1968 / 續集 1972 / 秘笈 1977; Yiwen 逸文 reprints) — the in-copyright primary published source for the Eight Step curriculum; cited, not reproduced.

[2] 松傳古藝武術學苑 (suntrans88.blogspot.com) — the 拳譜 posted by the 林松賢 / 左顯富 line (direct Wei Xiaotang disciples). The bare posture-name list is reproduced under fair-use citation; the English are the wiki's own working glosses. Source post: http://suntrans88.blogspot.com/2016/11/blog-post_6.html.