Pingshan Mantis Celebration: Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu

I'm a student of this martial art and this series of books is providing me with tons of valuable information regarding the history of this martial art as well as the mindset and actually how to train the art.

The author has done the Martial Arts community a great service in publishing this book Pingshan Mantis Celebration. Chock full of large amounts of historical photos that prove Brother-Friendship exists in the South Mantis community! Do not miss out on owning this and the other volumes in the series.As mentioned by other people reviewing, this style of Chinese martial art has been talked about in the second and third person etc. so much that its hard to know what is true and what is pure embellishment. This book puts to rest many rumors as well as prove that many styles and their respective masters can coexist and respect each other. Shifu Roger Hagood shows us more background on Shifu Wong Yuk Gong, his life, his way of teaching, and how Shifu Wong brought this closed door art of Jook Lum Gee Tong Long Pai(Bamboo Temple Praying Mantis) out into the public in Pingshan, China and beyond.Books on South Mantis are rare, like legs on snakes.So my advice is to get your copy as soon as possible.The photos themselves are worth the price of the book as many of them have never been seen or only published in Hong Kong newspapers or Chinese Martial Arts publications.I thank, Shifu Roger Hagood for his hard work documenting and preserving this information on South Mantis and sharing it with us!

It becomes very plain and obvious all of the time and effort Sifu Roger Hagood has put into gathering AND compiling all of the info for this book (and all of his others as well). It can only be done as a labor of love for the Southern Mantis kung fu, it's past masters and it's little known history. Whether you are a practitioner of this system of kung fu, or just a gatherer of kung fu knowledge, this book is indispensable and irreplaceable should you decide to show wisdom in purchasing this book and SIFU Roger's others as well. You truly will not be disappointed. I can't wait for the time when he decides to put it in Kindle format.

Have you ever heard of about a story from someone second hand and then spoke to someone who was actually there? That is how I feel about this book. You get a chance first on to witness the origin and culture of where this temple art was born. If you study this art you while have a better understanding of the culture of your art and if you don't study this art you will understand the importance of culture when it comes to any art.