the postures of well known practitioners of this style. The emphasis on the techniques of sticky hands, the use of the forearm with the elbows tucked into the chest, claw like fingers and quick explosive actions creates an image that are visually similar to a praying mantis preparing to strike its prey. However, other martial artists argue that those techniques are more similar to the actions of the Five Ancestors style or the White Crane style than a praying mantis. Unlike the Northern Praying Mantis, which have a special hand technique that is directly attributed to a Praying Mantis strike, for example, the tángláng gōu, the Southern Praying Mantis do not have similar special hand techniques named after the mantis. The legacy of Lau Soei that is related to the praying mantis name was his famous staff form - the Tong Long Bo Sim Staff (). Lau Soei Lau Soei (1866–1942; 劉瑞; 劉水﹞) was a Hakka who established a reputation as a martial artist during the turn of the century in Southern China and later as a martial arts teacher in Hong Kong. Lau Soei was also known as the tiger of Dong Jiang (). His signature techniques include the "Zhoujia (Chow Gar)-Tanglang-Sanjian" (the three arrows of Zhoujia praying mantis, 周家螳螂三箭拳) and the staff form “Tanglang-puchangun” (). Like many martial artists of his generation, he resettled in Hong Kong after the Chinese Civil War. He continued to teach the Southern Praying Mantis Style and many of his students eventually became teachers of this style. He was acknowledged by both the Chow Gar and the Chu Gar practitioners as the founding teacher of the system in the modern era. Chow Gar The most famous branch of Southern Mantis martial arts, the Chow family () branch traces its art to c. 1800 to Chow Ah-Nam (), a Hakka who as a boy left his home in Guangdong for medical treatment at the Southern Shaolin Monastery in Fujian where, in addition to being treated for his stomach ailment, he was trained in the martial arts and eventually created Southern Praying Mantis. His student was Wong Fook Go () who was one of the teacher of Lau Soei. The continued popularity of modern Chow Gar is due to the work of Ip Shui (), a student of Lau Soei. He promoted the style within Hong Kong and later, to the United Kingdom and Australia.