Wei Xiao Tang
Praying Mantis Shifu
The information presented in this chart was collected from different sources -see Bibliography-, therefore the romanizations in Pinyin according to the Mandarin pronunciation of the characters sometimes is not available. If you find any mistakes or inaccuracies please contact me.
His name is also romanized as:
Wei Hsiao Tang.
Born in 1901. His name was Wei Yen Tong, but later he changed to Wei Xiao Tang.
Being a kid shifu Wei Xiao Tang started training with his father, who was also a martial artist.
Before meeting shifu Feng Huan Yi, shifu Wei Xiao Tang was already proficient in the Ditang school of boxing and had some tang lang quan knowledge knowing Ba Zhou, Lan Jie and Xiao Hu Yan Quan (these forms are not part of the Ba Bu Tang Lang Quan system and shifu Wei Xiao Tang decided not to train them anymore after he learned Ba Bu Tang Lang Quan).
In 1917 Wei Ji Yun, shifu Wei Xiao Tang's father, invited shifu Feng Huan Yi to their home to teach shifu his son. Being 16 years old, shifu Wei Xiao Tang invited shifu Feng Huan Yi to cross hands and compare skills. But the young master soon discovered that he was no match for shifu Feng Huan Yi as he was easily tossed to the ground. Instead of getting up, shifu Wei Xiao Tang stayed on the ground and waited for Feng to attack. Shifu Wei Xiao Tang hoped to use his Di Tang Quan "scissors kick" or "lying break kick" to attack shifu Feng Huan Yi as he advanced. But shifu Feng Huan Yi did not even bother to attack, he just stood there and shouted out, "To lie on the ground is a shameless man, it's a good man who will get up and fight again.". On hearing these words from shifu Feng Huan Yi, shifu Wei Xiao Tang came to a realization and respectfully honored shifu Feng Huan Yi as his master.
Shifu Wei Xiao Tang lived with his master and received an intensive training. He learnt the complete system of Eight Steps Praying Mantis and he managed to develop phenomenal strength and incredible speed. While some of his students mention he was nicknames as "Thunder Hands" shifu Lin Chun Fu mentioned it is doubtful he was given this name.
After training for four years (incorrect versions mention eight years of training), shifu Wei Xiao Tang had obtained the essence Ba Bu Tang Lang Quan. In 1921, being 20 years old shifu Wei Xiao Tang left shifu Feng Huan Yi because he was invited to be martial arts intructor in Fu Shan County. Later in 1924 (being 23 years old) he started teaching to the Chinese Army. He was chief instructor in charge of instructing the 25th Regiment.
In 1931 shifu Wei Xiao Tang's moved to Korea, there are two versions about this trip. Xung Guang Long says that after serving in China, he went to Korea where he was an instructor to their military. However, shifu Lin Chun Fu mentions that shifu Wei Xiao Tang did not move to Korea or trained the Korean military but he was a merchant, travelling to Korea just to sell his own farm products. The second seems to be more accurate because Korea did not have army at the time (because it was conquered by the Japanese). On the same line, shifu Zuo Xian Fu (another shifu Wei Xiao Tang student) adds a small twist to shifu Lin Chun Fu's version mentioning that shifu Wei Xiao Tang just took a pleasure trip to Korea.
In Korea, several of shifu Wei Xiao Tang's friends knew that he was a martial arts instructor and would get up early in the morning with him to practice gong fu and chat. It was also in Korea that a famous incident occurred. According Xung Guang Long, shifu Wei Xiao Tang was walking through town when he saw several Koreans attacking a Chinese merchant. Wei intervened to help the Chinese man and in the fight he defeated several opponents, who after that run after Wei around town. A Korean newspaper told Wei Xiao Tang had fought with about 50 men and had killed several.
Shifu Lin Chun Fu added some different details to this story. He mentioned that a Chinese customer in the restaurant was being harrassed by a group of Koreans. Shifu Wei Xiao Tang tried to stop this peacefully but violence ubrupted. Shifu Wei Xiao Tang used a iron hook (used to stir charcoal) to defend himself and the customer.
Shifu Zuo Xian Fu gives the most complete version about this incident. Shifu Wei Xiao Tang's friend Tsuei managed a restaurant in Korea and ran into some serious business trouble. Tsuei was being chased and beaten by 4 or 5 Koreans and ran to shifu Wei Xiao Tang crying out "The Koreans are beating me with sticks!". As shifu Wei Xiao Tang ran forward he shouted out to the Koreans "Don't strike!, Don't strike!" trying to stop the Koreans from using their sticks. Unfortuneatly they did not speak shifu Wei Xiao Tang Shandong dialect and they could only understand that shifu Wei Xiao Tang and Tsuei where friends...so they hit them both! Shifu Wei Xiao Tang his friend had no choice but to run back to Tsuei's restaurant and hide. The Koreans wouldn't give up so easily and used their sticks to smash through the windows and jump in. Shifu Wei Xiao Tang his friend would not survive in there so they escaped through the back door and the Koreans quickly gave chase with shouts of death. At this point shifu Wei Xiao Tang realized that he would be beaten to death if he did not fight back. As he ran he pulled out from inside his jacket a Ba Bu Tang Lang Quan weapon "Reach to Sky Palm" (similar to the Emei Needles), and attached it to his hand. The Koreans were about to smash shifu Wei Xiao Tang and his friend with sticks, but when running he suddenly turned around and dodged to the side using the technique "Green Dragon Shakes its Tail" and with his concealed weapon cracked the skull of the nearest Korean, knocking him to the ground. The other Koreans saw this and started shouting out something to the effect "Chinaman kills Korean!". Since it was now only shifu Wei Xiao Tang standing there they did not run, figuring his two fists could not take all four of them. Just then the electric tram stopped nearby and many of the passengers, hearing the shouts, jumped off and surrounded shifu Wei Xiao Tang. The mob grabbed whatever was available and advanced on shifu Wei Xiao Tang ready to strike him to death, but as soon as shifu Wei Xiao Tang was attacked he fought back with the speed characteristic of a fighting mantis. When telling the story shifu Wei Xiao Tang could not recall what techniques he used when fighting and running, he only knew that he had managed to smash his way out of the circle and escape back to his friend's house. On reading the next day's newspaper he discovered that he had seriously injured one and killed three Koreans.
The Korean government set out to capture shifu Wei Xiao Tang after this incident, but he was able to return back to Shandong thanks to the help of his friends and started teaching Ba Bu Tang Lang Quan over there.
Although shifu Wei Xiao Tang was a qualified instructor, he was too young according to the traditional standards. Some other shifus were angry about that and he had to face several challenges. He gained a formidable reputation because he won all the challenges. Shifu Wei Xiao Tang was known for his remarkable strength, he could hug and lift up a donkey.
It has been said that in the 30's shifu Wei Xiao Tang moved to Shanghai and met shifu Wu Jing To of Wu style of Tai Ji Quan (Wu Jian Quan son). It has also been said that they exchanged their systems in their entirety. This in incorrect, shifu Wei Xiao Tang learned learned his weapons and Wu style Tai Ji Quan from his father, and he never went to Shang Hai. He always lived in his home farm until he fleed to Taiwan.
Shifu Wei Xiao Tang was also very adept at using the 3 sectional staff.
In 1949 the communists won the power in China. They took his land and hanged him up side down for punishment in the field. He was left there for 3 days but the 3rd night he escaped, only to find that his wife and other family members had been killed. Then, shifu Wei Xiao Tang escaped to Korea again, and after that to Taiwan.
He never re-married in Taiwan for the rest of his life. He was so graved of his lost that he wasn't able to sleep well, he used to wake up at night break /smash home furnitures at that time.
Shifu Wei Xiao Tang worked as a cook when he arrived to Taipei (Taiwan) until he got fired by his boss because of a discussion. He become jobless and lived on his saving/investment from the years of his working in Taiwan.
Then he started teaching Ba Bu Tang Lang Quan and Wu style Tai Ji Quan in a park. In Taiwan he also wrote a 100 pages book titled "Shi Yong Tang Lang Quan".
Shifu Wei Xiao Tang was an exceptional martial artist, but really not a great teacher because he was not a patient person. Since 1975 shifu Wei Xiao Tang was still teaching but he was not as active as before.
According to shifu Lin Chun Fu, shifu Wei Xiao Tang passed away in 1985 (other sources mention he passed away in 1982 or 1984).
Page Updated: 1st June 2003.
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Fernando Blanco Dopazo .