螳螂拳

The Mantis Boxing

莱阳市历史久远，民风淳朴，占山田河海之利，历代为兵家重镇，人文景观独具特色，历史的演变，社会的进步，为我们提供了莱阳市灿烂文化的众多信息，成为人类文明历史的宝贵文化遗产。螳螂拳，经过300多年近10代传人的创新、筛选、提炼，已经成为最能体现莱阳传统体育竞技风貌和特点的文化结晶。

Legend has it that the mantis boxing was created by a Jiaodong citizen named WANG Lang at the turn of the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty over three centuries ago.It was among the first group of the Nine Sects of Traditional Martial Arts systemically organized by National Sports General Administration of Sports Management Center.According to legend,WANG Lang's patriarch created the mantis boxing by observing the movement and manner of the mantis stalking the cicada,endowing it with the spirit of Yin and Yang,rigidity and flexibility,and deficiency and excess in the ways of up and down,left and right,back and forth and advance and retreat and integrating the skills of the ancient 18 schools.After WANG Lang,the mantis boxing mainly spread in Laiyang with LI Bingxiao,a citizen of Laiyang's Xiaochishan,as its first recorded successor.In 2008 Laiyang mantis boxing was included in the list of China's intangible cultural heritage.