南派螳螂 can be translated literally as “Southern School Praying Mantis” or “Southern Style Praying Mantis.”

Despite its name, the Southern Praying Mantis style of Chinese martial arts is unrelated to the Northern Praying Mantis style. Southern Praying Mantis is instead related most closely to fellow Hakka styles such as Dragon and more distantly to the Fujian family of styles that includes Fujian White Crane, Five Ancestors, and Wing Chun.

This style of martial arts focuses more on fighting skills rather than aesthetics.

Of course, you already knew that if you were looking for this term.

Note: This title can be pronounced and does have meaning in Korean but only to Koreans familiar with Chinese martial arts.

This can be translated literally as “Praying Mantis Fist.”

螳螂拳 is sometimes called Shandong Praying Mantis after its place of origin. It was created by Wang Lang and was named after the praying mantis, an insect, the aggressiveness of which inspired the style.

Shaolin records document that Wang Lang was one of the 18 masters gathered by the Shaolin Abbot Fu Ju, which dates him and Northern Praying Mantis style to the Song Dynasty (960-1279 A.D.).

The fact that the word “Northern” is used in the English title has more to do with where this style came from (Shandong is in northern China), but “north” is absent from this Chinese title.

Note: 螳螂拳 is also a title in Japanese - however, only a Japanese person who practices or is familiar with the “Praying Mantis Fist” style would recognize it.

In Japan, they used to write praying mantis in Kanji, but this Katakana title has taken over as the most common version.

This refers to the narrow-winged mantis, Tenodera angustipennis if you are a biologist.

Note: Because this title is entirely Japanese Katakana, it should be written by a Japanese calligrapher.

祈禱 is a second way to write “prayer.”

It is a little more formal than “dao gao” but the general meaning is the same.

This Chinese/Japanese/Korean word can be translated as “to pray,” “to say one's prayers,” or simply “prayer.” Like the other common term for prayer, this term generally applies only to western religions that pray to the God of Abraham (Christians, Jews, and Muslims).

螳螂 is mantis or “praying mantis,” as it's often titled in English.

Technically speaking, this especially applies to the narrow-winged mantis (Tenodera angustipennis)

It is best to use this very common two-character Asian title for the mantis, as the second character alone can mean mantis or dragonfly (totally ambiguous).

This title is antiquated in Japanese, as they tend to write カマキリ (kama kiri) in Katakana to mean praying mantis.

Note: There is an alternate form of this title which uses the character shown to the right instead of the first character shown above. This is uncommon in both Japan and China (if you really want it anyway, please let us know).

禱告 is the noun that describes the act of praying to God.

This term generally applies only to western religions that pray to the God of Abraham (Christians, Jews, and Muslims).

Zhu (朱) is a very common Chinese surname meaning "vermilion" or "red," famously associated with the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, and derived from an ancient state in Shandong.

朱 is the most prominent of several Chinese surnames sharing the same Pinyin romanization (like 祝, meaning "pray" or "wizard," 竺, linked to India/Buddhism, and 竹 meaning "bamboo,") and is also spelled Chu (in Cantonese/Taiwan) or Choo (in Singapore/Malaysia).

The imperial family name during the Ming Dynasty was Zhu (朱).

真主 is how Chinese Muslims refer to God (it literally means “True Master”).

Oddly, in China, two different names for God have emerged. Even though Muslims, Christians, and Jews all worship the same God of Abraham.

In Arabic, the word Allah is just the Arabic way to say, God. Arab Christians pray to Allah, just like Arab Muslims. Somehow in China, the title of God diverged.

If you are curious, there are millions of Muslims throughout China but especially in the northwest portion of China known as Xinjiang. Here you will find descendants of Turkmen, Persian, Arab, and other ethnicities. Some are mixed with Han-Chinese blood; others appear to be pure Turkmen. Many have fair complexions, green eyes, and light hair but all are citizens of China. A visit to Xinjiang will shift your paradigm and blow away all of your stereotypes about what it means to be Chinese.

關公 is a Chinese title, Guan Gong, that means Lord Guan (The warrior saint of ancient China).

While his real name was Guan Yu / 關羽, he is commonly known by the title of Guan Gong (關公).

Some Chinese soldiers still pray to Guan Gong for protection. They would especially do this before going into battle. Statues of Guan Gong are seen throughout China.

念佛 is used primarily in Japanese, where it is romanized as nenbutsu.

The meaning is to pray to Buddha, chant the name of Buddha, or repeat the name of Buddha. This can be an audible or inaudible chant.

This Chinese title, Wusheng, means Saint of War.

武聖 is usually a reference to Guan Yu (關羽), also known as Guan Gong (關公).

Some Chinese soldiers still pray to Wusheng for protection. They would especially do this before going into battle.