Six Harmonies Praying Mantis (Liuhe Tanglangquan)
六合螳螂拳A branch of Shandong mantis that Wikipedia classes as soft mantis and traces to the line of Wei San, Lin Shichun and Ding Zicheng.
Quick Facts
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Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Six Harmonies Praying Mantis (Liuhe Tanglangquan)
Liuhe tanglangquan, the Six Harmonies mantis, is one of the branches of northern Chinese mantis from the Jiaodong peninsula in Shandong province. China's national list of intangible cultural heritage, in its 2008 listing from Laiyang, places it among the four main branches of mantis alongside taiji, meihua and seven-star mantis. No listing describes it separately, however, and we have not found it on any provincial or municipal list either.
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The branch's lineage is described in detail by Chinese Wikipedia. According to it, the line begins with Wei San, whose own name was Wei Delin and who passed it on to the Lin family while hiding in Zhaoyuan, and from Lin Shichun it reached Ding Zicheng of Huang County. Ding Zicheng, who lived from 1880 to 1956, was according to both Wikipedias a transmitter, not a founder. We have not found the founder or the year the branch arose in the sources. According to Chinese Wikipedia the name Six Harmonies mantis is later, and in Zhaoyuan the art was simply called liuhequan. English Wikipedia describes the Six Harmonies mantis as the softest and most internal of the mantis styles, with a very different syllabus and its own forms. Chinese Wikipedia ranks it as soft mantis, whereas seven-star, meihua and taiji it ranks as hard. According to English Wikipedia, Ding Zicheng's students taught in Shandong and on Taiwan, where according to Chinese Wikipedia his student Zhang Xiangsan went in 1949. Today the Six Harmonies mantis competes separately. The national mantis competition in 2025 and the first international competition in Laiyang in 2026 both ranked it among the main branches.
History
The 2008 Laiyang listing on the national list of intangible heritage states that the Laiyang mantis spread and formed four main branches on the Jiaodong peninsula, the Six Harmonies among them. No listing gives the name of a transmitter of the Six Harmonies branch.
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Chinese Wikipedia describes the lineage in detail. According to it, the Six Harmonies mantis is a Shandong fist art from the late Qing dynasty that begins with Wei Delin, called Wei San, from a village west of Laiyang, who lived during the Tongzhi reign. In his youth he reportedly studied liuhe, tongbei and pigua in Cangzhou and in Laiyang under Li Bingxiao. After escaping from prison in Dengzhou he hid on the Lin family estate in Zhaoyuan and passed the Six Harmonies mantis to them, but he reportedly never named his teachers. Lin Shichun of Zhaoyuan, who according to Wikipedia lived from 1825 to 1912, although the same Wikipedia gives his age as 88, taught only relatives and friends, and according to it the true transmission went to Zhao Tongshu in Zhaoyuan and to Wang Jichen and Ding Zicheng of Huang County. According to Chinese Wikipedia, Ding Zicheng founded an institute for martial arts research in Huang County in 1926. According to it, his student Zhang Xiangsan went to Taiwan in 1949, where he co-founded the Taiwan provincial martial arts association. English Wikipedia states that Liu Yunqiao also learned the Six Harmonies mantis from Ding Zicheng.
How it differs
The national list places the Six Harmonies mantis among the main branches of mantis but does not describe the differences. Chinese Wikipedia divides mantis into hard, comprising seven-star, meihua and taiji, and soft, called Six Harmonies, and states that each branch has its own character and demands. English Wikipedia calls the Six Harmonies the softest and most internal. According to Chinese Wikipedia, in Zhang Xiangsan's line a set of liuhequan arts, including saber and staff, is passed on alongside the six mantis forms. From this Xu Ji infers, according to it, in an article on the Six Harmonies mantis that it arose by combining liuhe arts with mantis. According to the same Wikipedia, Zhang Xiangsan's Taiwan line also practises the meihua and zhaiyao forms thanks to an exchange with a transmitter of another mantis branch from Yantai.
Technique
Sources of higher reliability do not describe the technique of the Six Harmonies branch separately. The Laiyang listing on the national list sums up mantis hand techniques in general in twelve characters and the rule that without a catch there is no strike, and after a catch one strikes at once and repeatedly. English Wikipedia calls the Six Harmonies mantis the softest and most internal of the mantis styles. The syllabus on Su Yu-chang's school website lists sixteen basic techniques for it.
Training
Training is described only by Chinese Wikipedia and one school's syllabus. According to Chinese Wikipedia, the Six Harmonies mantis has six surviving forms, whose names differ by place, and transmitters also teach the forms luohanquan, shuangjin and duanchui. According to it, the line of Zhao Chunhe and Zhang Yukun in Zhaoyuan passes on ten forms. The syllabus on Su Yu-chang's school website lists nine hand forms, two of them practised in pairs, and among weapons the saber, double sabers, sword and spear.
Ranks and progression
Chinese Wikipedia describes the order of instruction in Zhang Xiangsan's Taiwan line, referring to an article on his line. According to it, instruction begins with basic forms and zimu lianhuan quan, and continues, among others, with the twelve rows of tantui, luohanquan, the forms meihua lu and qixing zhaiyao, and liuhe duanchui. According to it, the highest level is the six main forms of the Six Harmonies mantis, among them tiechi and shuangfeng.
Competition
The daily Renmin ribao reports that the Six Harmonies mantis was among the branches of the national open mantis competition, held in June 2025 on the grounds of the Shandong Physical Education Academy in Rizhao and the first national competition for mantis alone. The agency China News Service wrote that at the first international mantis competition in Laiyang in August 2026 the Six Harmonies mantis was a separate bare-hand event. The competition was co-organized by the martial arts administration of the General Administration of Sport and the Chinese Wushu Association.
Today
On the national list of intangible heritage the Six Harmonies mantis is named only as one of the branches in the listings from Laiyang, Qixia and Laoshan. China Daily wrote in May 2025 about Zhang Daojin of Yantai, a practitioner of the Six Harmonies mantis, who was invited to Spain for a martial arts exchange. According to English Wikipedia, Ding Zicheng's students taught in Shandong and on Taiwan, and in Spain a school of Su Yu-chang has the branch in its syllabus.
Did you know
According to Chinese Wikipedia, Ding Zicheng gave Zhang Xiangsan his own handwritten manuscript of mantis techniques with ninety-three techniques. At Liu Yunqiao's request, copies were made for his students, according to Wikipedia, and Liu's student Xu Ji handed the manuscript back to Shandong. According to the same Wikipedia, Ding Zicheng was a wealthy pawnbroker nicknamed Ding Baiwan and Tie Gebei.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded the Six Harmonies mantis?
We have not found the founder in the sources. Chinese Wikipedia begins the lineage with Wei San and lists Ding Zicheng, who lived from 1880 to 1956, as a transmitter, not a founder.
How does the Six Harmonies mantis differ from the seven-star mantis?
Chinese Wikipedia ranks the Six Harmonies among soft mantis and the seven-star among hard. English Wikipedia describes the Six Harmonies as the softest of the mantis styles, with its own forms.
How many forms does the Six Harmonies mantis have?
According to Chinese Wikipedia it has six surviving forms, whose names differ by place. According to it, the Zhaoyuan line passes on ten forms.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.