The White Ape Forms (白猿) — Steals the Peach and Leaves the Cave

A small family of Seven Star Praying Mantis forms is built around the image of the White Ape (白猿, bái yuán) — the agile, thieving monkey of Chinese legend, the forms English-speaking practitioners call "Monkey Steals the Peach" and "Monkey Exits the Cave." Master Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛) published each under two animals — one titled 白猿 ("White Ape") and one 螳螂 ("Mantis") — so the same form appears in parallel recensions. The two are siblings in vocabulary and even share an identical closing trio (撤式左統捶 → 馬式右補捶 → 跨虎捕蟬式).

Each form has its own page with the complete, printable move-by-move script:

Mantis Steals the Peach (螳螂偷桃 / 白猿偷桃) — 49 postures, full script

White Ape Leaves the Cave (白猿出洞 / 螳螂出洞) — 49 / 69 postures, full script

These are intermediate-to-advanced forms — they assume the foundational vocabulary drilled in Bung Bu. For the full open translations, see Paul Brennan's bilingual editions, linked on each form's page; for the wider catalogue and every other Mantis form, see the forms map.

See also

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

Bung Bu (崩步拳) — the foundation form

Seven Star Mantis (七星螳螂) — the branch these belong to

Mantis Canon — the full index of Brennan's translated scripts

Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — the style overview