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Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛, 1915–1974)

Updated 2026-06-05
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Wong Hon Fan (黃漢勛 / Huáng Hànxūn, 1915–1974) was a 7th-generation Seven Star Praying Mantis master, the principal disseminator of Northern Praying Mantis through Hong Kong and to the world. Known as the "King of Praying Mantis" (螳螂王), he led what he called the 新武化 (New Martial Culture) movement — an effort to systematize, document, and publish the mantis art at a time when most martial-arts knowledge still lived only in oral transmission. His ~27-title Praying Mantis Series (螳螂拳術叢書), published from the 1940s through the 1970s, remains the single most extensive published lineage canon of any Chinese martial-arts style.

Life

Born in Shunde (順德), Guangdong, in 1915. From childhood he trained Hung Gar Southern Shaolin; in his teens he relocated to Shanghai and discovered Northern Praying Mantis at the Shanghai Chin Woo (上海精武體育會) under Luo Guangyu (羅光玉, 1888–1944), the senior Seven Star teacher of the era. He became Luo's senior disciple — the inheritor of the 范旭東 (Fan Xudong) manuscript tradition that Luo had received from his own teacher.

In 1938 he moved to Hong Kong and established the 黃漢勛健身院 (Wong Hon Fan Athletic Academy) as a permanent Hong Kong institution. From this base he taught for the next 36 years, until his death in 1974. By his death the HK Praying Mantis network he had built had spread the art across Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, the United States, Canada, and Europe — making the Wong-line Seven Star the most internationally-disseminated mantis branch by a wide margin.

What he gave the art

Three things, beyond his own teaching:

  1. A complete published curriculum. The 螳螂拳術叢書 — Praying Mantis Series — comprises some 27 books spanning the empty-hand forms (崩步, 插捶, 八肘, 大架式, 小架式, 領崩步拳, 梅花拳/落/手, 醉羅漢, 白猿出洞 / 偷桃, etc.), the weapons forms (燕青單刀, 子午劍, 六合雙刀, 虎尾三節棍), the supporting material (羅漢功 conditioning, 跌打骨科學 bone-setting medicine for the school), and the literature (武林知聞錄 historical essays in two collections, 螳螂拳譜, 螳螂拳術闡秘, 搏擊闡要 fighting principles).

  2. The 范旭東 source manuscript. Wong inherited from Luo Guangyu the lineage manuscript 螳螂拳術真傳 ("Authentic Teaching of Praying Mantis Boxing") that descends from 升霄道人 → 范旭東 → 羅光玉; he preserved it and passed it on. It is one of the principal surviving manuscript witnesses of the early lineage.

  3. The international spread. Through his students and his published books, Wong-line Seven Star reached every continent where Chinese diaspora communities settled. Most Western Seven Star Praying Mantis schools today trace their lineage through Wong directly or through one of his disciples.

Place in the lineage

Wong's place in the Seven Star transmission:

升霄道人 (Shengxiao Daoren, legendary) → 范旭東 (Fan Xudong, 19th c.) → 羅光玉 (Luo Guangyu, 1888–1944) → 黃漢勛 Wong Hon Fan (1915–1974) → his disciples

His major disciples include Lee Kam Wing (李錦榮), Chiu Leun (趙倫), Wong Choi (黃才), and many others; the contemporary master Lee Kam Wing in Hong Kong has himself published prolifically.

(The famous 趙竹溪 Zhao Zhuxi / Chu Hsi, 1900–1991 taught a related but distinct 太極螳螂 branch — not directly within Wong's line, though contemporaneous.)

Where his archive lives today

The 黃漢勛 Praying Mantis Special Collection at the Chinese University of Hong Kong is the single largest mantis archive in the world: 286 items including 71 publications (the full Praying Mantis Series), 63 manuscripts (including the inherited 范旭東 source manuscript), 17 photo albums, and 132 newspaper cuttings, donated by Wong's family.

The Wong family also maintains a continuing lineage site that publishes form videos (including 1979 super-8 footage of Wong's own demonstrations) and short documentary essays:

See also

Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — the full style overview

七星螳螂 Seven Star Mantis — branch deep-dive

Diaspora — Where Chinese Martial Arts Went

Sources

[1] 黃漢勛, Chinese Wikipedia (zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/黃漢勛) — biography, the Praying Mantis Series title list.

[2] Wong Hon Fan Praying Mantis Special Collection, CUHK (repository.lib.cuhk.edu.hk/en/collection/whf) — institutional record of his complete archive.

[3] 螳螂派黃漢勛, Wong family lineage site (hfwong-mantis.com) — official family record, archival film, ongoing publications.

Details

Section:
Notes
Updated:
2026-06-05

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