Chuka Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu

The Chuka Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu has its genesis from the style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu. There were various accounts on the origin of the style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, however, for reasons to be discussed below, most of these accounts cannot be independently verified. Most likely, the accounts are combinations of historical facts and folk stories. Nevertheless, all of these accounts, though varying in details, all bear some common events.

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The style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu first appeared on these account in the end of the Ming Dynasty (1386-1644 A.D.) . The first Grandmaster of the Praying Mantis Kung Fu, Superior Tung Chan, a superior monk from the Shaolin Monastery, was believed to be one of the brothers of the last Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. However, accounts varied as to how he came to know the style. One of the popular accounts was that during his refuge from the Manchurians, out of self-preservation, he became a monk and bettered the various Kung Fu techniques he previously learned from the Shaolin Monastery and founded the style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu. The other account had him as the first Master from the royal family of the Ming Dynasty to pass on an art that hence before was taught exclusively to the members of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty. The first So-Ji Grandmaster of the Chuka Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu was Chu Nan-Chieh. He was one of the few second-generation students of Superior Tung Chan. After mastering the style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu, he posed as a beggar and absconded to the southern edge of China. Eventually, he settled down and taught in the Wu-Hau county of the Kwangtung province, an area commonly known as Hakka.

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The Hakka people, being a very closely knitted ethnic group within the Chinese society, not only shielded their Master from the Manchurians, but also limited the teaching of the style of Praying Mantis Kung Fu to Hakka people only. Out of respect to their Grand Master, and to distinguish their style from other Praying Mantis styles, the Hakka people renamed their style Chuka Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu. "Chu" is the last name of the royal family of the Ming Dynasty (or that of the Grand Master); "ka" means a family or an order. Literally translated, "Chuka" bears similar meaning to "Chu's". Thus, throughout the Ching Dynasty, and even up to World War II, the System was only taught in the Hakka area in a secretive manner and was rarely known, let alone practiced by non-Hakka people. The atmosphere of persecution under which the System was originated, and the secretive manner under which the System was taught contributed greatly to the lack of historical corroboration on the origin and history of the System. Si Tai Gung Sammy Wong was born in 1950 in Po-on, China. He started his training in the System at age 11. He received his training from his uncle, the late Great Grand Master Wuk-Kwong Wong. He taught the System for over 35 years in various places around the world such as Hong Kong, New York and Chicago. The Chuka Praying Mantis Kung Fu, Inc. school was officially founded in August 1984.

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