KUNG FU WUSHU (China): The term "Kung Fu" came into popular use in the west because of its use in television and movies, but it is not technically the correct term for a style of martial arts. The proper term is "Wushu" and generally anything that is called "Kung Fu" by westerners is really Wushu. Wushu is perhaps the foundation of all east Asian fighting systems- some authorities date its beginnings all the way back to 3000 B.C., others claim it was brought to China from India along with Zen Buddhism by a man named Bodhi Dharma around 500 B.C. Either way, there is little argument that the Shaolin temple in China (where Bodhi Dharma was said to have taught the monks) was the centre of martial arts development for hundreds of years. It was from the Shaolin temple that Wushu spread throughout southeast Asia and branched into the Korean, Japanese, Okinawan, Thai, Vietnamese, Philippines, and Indonesian styles that we see today. Wushu itself has fragmented incredibly, with as many as 1500 styles practised. These cover all ranges of any spectrum you care to imagine, and defining even the most popular styles would be too large of an undertaking to be practical. A beginner who wishes to study Wushu should make a list of the things that they are looking to get out of martial arts and contact training centres by telephone to avoid wasting time going to visit training centres that may not even have an approach compatible with that individual. Though many styles defy these categorisations, a good starting-off point may be to ask the training centre if it teaches an internal or external style of Wushu. Internal styles- focus on life energy, circular techniques, uses hands more, Taoist philosophy, may also teach healing arts External styles- focus on muscular force, linear techniques, uses feet more, Buddhist philosophy, may also teach speed and strength conditioning. |
| Kung Fu |