The creator of Chow Gar Praying Mantis is Chow Ah Naam. He was a Cantonese man, born into a farming family which was quite wealthy. When he was about ten years old he developed a stomach illness. Many doctors failed to find a cure for him.

Then one day a friend of his fathers told the family that his illness was probably due to the area where they were living. The friend suggested that Chow Ah Naam travel to different areas with different climates to see if his health could be improved. At the same time he could look for a doctor who was able to cure him. His father gave this some thought and decided that his friend's advice was right. He gave Chow Ah Naam some money to travel north with a servant, and said to him "wherever you go do as you please".

Chow Ah Naam said goodbye to his parents  and traveled north. Since he was so young he had not had experience of life or travel. When he had gone quite some distance his stomach illness grew worse and at the same time his servant became ill and could not keep up with Chow Ah Naam. He decided to stay at an Inn. A few weeks later his servant died. After the funeral Chow Ah Naam realized that he had spent all of his money and sent a letter back home requesting that they send him some more money urgently, but because he was so far from home he was unable to receive the money. The owner of the Inn knew of his illness and that he had run out of money so he advised him to go to the Shoaling Temple to see a Buddhist Monk named Sim Yan. This Monk was a famous medical man and did not normally treat outsiders, but he got on well with Chow Ah Naam and after a few months of treatment Chow Ah Naam had recovered fully. When Chow Ah Naam realized the money would never arrive he became very concerned about the cost of staying at the Inn and he spoke to the owner about it. The owner understood his plight and asked him "do you want to be a servant in the kitchen"? The Inn was part of the Shaolin Temple, and the rules were whether you were a monk or not after being accepted you must practice Kung Fu for at least two hours each day. So Chow Ah Naam decided to stay at the Shaolin Temple.

During his stay he had a work mate named Set. Now Set was a big man with powerful arms and could easily pick up people as he had been practicing Kung Fu for many years. One day Set was carrying two buckets of water and Chow Ah Naam accidentally bumped into Set. Set was so angry that he hit Chow Ah Naam, although Chow Ah Naam tried to defend he was knocked down with one punch. Set thought himself to be the strongest of all students and was always telling people off and starting fights with others so Chow Ah Naam tried to avoid him as much as possible.

One day Chow Ah Naam went to a nearby forest to collect wood for the stove in the kitchen when he heard a bird making a lot of noise. He went to investigate and saw the bird using its beak against a Praying Mantis. Watching closely Chow Ah Naam saw the Praying Mantis suddenly cut across the bird's throat with his arm. The bird fell covered in blood and did not move. Chow Ah Naam was very surprised at this incident. Chow Ah Naam was an intelligent person and saw he could learn how to fight a bigger person by copying this insect. He caught that Praying Mantis and many others after it, feeding them and using a twig to test their fighting reaction, gradually developing the Praying Mantis style. Nobody knew about this in the Shaolin Temple until one day a few years later Set was showing off in front of some monks as Chow Ah Naam was passing through. Set saw him and thought he would start a fight with him. Chow Ah Naam realized he could not always avoid him so he challenged Set.  Set began to laugh and then struck out at Chow Ah Naam. Chow Ah Naam was cool and avoided all his punches. Set became angry and used all his power to try to knock Chow Ah Naam down. All the other monks around were shouting and jeering. The noise was loud and so awoke the High Monk Sim Yam. Sim Yam went out to investigate what was going on and saw Chow Ah Naam fighting. Sim Yam knew that Chow Ah Naam's fighting was different to the Shaolin style. While he was watching Chow Ah Naam struck out at Set knocking him down to the ground.

Sim Yam stopped Chow Ah Naam and asked where he studied his Kung Fu form, so Chow Ah Naam told Sim Yam the truth that he observed the Praying Mantis fighting habits. Sim Yam praised Chow Ah Naam because he felt that there were not many people like him. Sim Yam personally taught Chow Ah Naam the highest of the Shaolin Temple  training to develop a strong and powerful bridge.  Everybody heard about this method of training and its creator for miles around. So Chow Ah Naam went back to Canton many years later and taught a monk named Wong Fook Go. After several years training Wong Fook Go went to a place named Wai Yearn and taught a young man named Lau Soei.

At that time it was the end of the Ching dynasty and Lou Soei went to Hong Kong. His Kung Fu was superb and had thousands of students in Southern China and he also became famous in Hong Kong.