The Chinese martial art known as Southern Praying Mantis (南派螳螂, literally "Southern style praying mantis") originated with the Hakka (客家) people. "南派螳螂" can be Romanized in various ways depending on the dialect and transliteration scheme. Examples:

  • Meixian Hakka Guandong: nam2 pai tong2 long2
  • Sixian Hakka Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: nàm phai thòng-lòng
  • Sixian Hakka Taiwan: namˇ pai tongˇ longˇ
  • Cantonese Jyutping: naam4 paai3 tong4 long4
  • Cantonese Yale: nàahm paai tòhng lòhng
  • Cantonese Sidney Lau: naam4 paai3 tong4 long4
  • Mandarin Pinyin: nán pài táng láng

As a result, you'll see Southern Praying Mantis also referred to as Hakka Mantis, Praying Mantis, or Tong Long.

  Southern Grasshopper?

 While my mom is a native speaker of Hakka and Mandarin, she didn't know the English translation for 螳螂. She guessed "grasshopper"!

Despite the similarities in name, Southern Praying Mantis is unrelated to Northern Praying Mantis. For a surface-level comparison, please see Northern Praying Mantis vs Southern Praying Mantis.