Wushu's future?

[Ray Pina]

In the future, will Wushu practitioners wear baggy camo gear with ruffles and sling plastic, cheap replica M-16s on their shoulders while rolling around beautifully .... land in a crouch stance, shoulder their toy weapon and shout: "Bang. Bang"?

I was wondering about this while showering last night. People -- especially military personel -- would probbaly think it rediculous.

[crumble]

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[Ray Pina]

Very good:)

[truewrestler]

:D

[crumble]

Thanks guys. Good insight E-Fist!

[Kristoffer]

vigor rules

[norther practitioner]

The sc guys wore camo at taiji legacy this year.

[MasterKiller]

I think he was referring to Contemporary Wushu, sc_guy, not Traditional Wushu (kung fu).

BTW, I saw those camo shirts at Taiji Legacy.

[Unmatchable]

what about tai chi?

[ngokfei]

IMO

Wushu is going to grow very much like TKD & Kempor of the 80's. Very easy to teach especially since China has created a very indepth curriculumn.

Good for overall basics(Northern & Southern stylist) and I think a fantastic means to weed out those individuals who can't cut it in a TCMA

:eek:

[wall]

I think that the current (last 10-15 years) trend of contemporary wushu becoming more and more like poor gymnastics (especially chan quan) will actually stop soon, perhaps already prior to the 2008 olympics. There will be a "devolution" back to the MARTIAL aspect of Wushu routines, with emphasis on power, martial techniques, precision and striking and just the odd butterfly or tornado, rather than the current few sloppy stances and kicks intermixed with loads of twists to splits, 720s, etc.

The Wushu authorities are waking up to the fact that they are:

1 - ruining what Wushu was, as in a stylized rapresentation of Chinese MARTIAL Arts, the emphasis on martial.

2 - to become approved as an Olympic event it will makes sense and be accepted by the IOC as CMA, and the only forms martial event at the Olympics, it won't get approved as a crappy copy of an existing event (gymnastics).

W

[mickey]

Greetings,

I am shocked by the growth of contemporary Wushu. The forms have nothing in them. From the combative viewpoint when you finish a form there should be no opponents left; when they finish their forms their opponents are on the ground--laughing.

The only thing that is good, and I echo ngokfei on this, are the basic training methods. The traditional martial arts had this, but we did not SEE them do stuff like the chin to toe stretch. It was often passed of as inspiration. When wushu arrived here it was like, "it was no joke", people can do these stretches. We weren't accustomed to seeing the Chinese martial arts performed with such speed and power. Kung fu was supposed to be soft and graceful. All traditional martial artists simply need to do is upgrade and reemphasize the basics. Then they will be ahead of the game.

mickey

[crumble]

Originally posted by Kristoffer
vigor rules

Thanks for my new signature!:

[GeneChing]

Did someone say camo? I love camo. I was into camo way before it was trendy. But we don't carry camo uniforms, only camo belts (http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/1190cf.html) - I guess that's so people can't see your waistline.

Truth is actually stranger than fiction. At one point, Wushu did exactly what you describe, except it was the people's olive drab uniforms, not camo. Just prior to the Cultural Revolution, Mao's wife Jiang Qing, had restriced all performances down to eight propagandist operas. Martial arts were already government supported at that time, but wushu was still in it's formative years - the compulsories were not quite in place yet. Everyone still practiced traditional kung fu because that's all there was. In order to toe the line, the traditional martial artists, mostly led by Yu Hai (a famous Shandong master and the big monk in Shaolin Temple (http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/dvd40021.html)), created new forms based on the people's weapons - sickle, hammer, and of course, rifle and bayonet. So they actually were doing wushu-like forms for rifle, wearing military uniforms no less. It ws mostly adapted spear technique. Now this is different than the actually military martial arts that train bayonet sparring based on spear technique (still in use today.) If you want to know more, you'll have to check out our upcoming issue - MAR/APR 2004 which should be on stands by the end of the month. I've been working on a big piece about the evolution of modern wushu that covers the bayonet period. And there's an article on Xingyi Bayonet practice.

[shaolinboxer]

LOL

Gene, that was fantastic.

Looking forward to the article.

[GeneChing]

Thanks for your support. The article - The Secret History of Wushu Behind the Red Curtain - should be on newsstand by the end of the month. I'm particularly interested in how this one is received since it was a big research piece for me. So many people talk about the effect of Communism on Kung Fu, but few people really know the details, the history, or the role that wushu has played for China. While this piece is far from comprehensive, I think it will reveal a side of history that most CMA practitioners are painfully unaware of, so I'm pretty excited to bring it to print. I'll be eager to hear your reaction when it comes out.

It's a good time to subscribe (http://store.yahoo.com/martialartsmart/19341.html)!

[blooming lotus]

sounds good, can't wait! :D I have been arguing this point on this forum vehemently a bit back, so it'll be interesting to see what you have to say........providing I can get myself a freakin magazine delivered ( the nearest stockest is miles away :( )

[Vash]

When I was in the ATA, I had a camo belt.

[rogue]

Gene, have you ever visited the big temple in Shirley, New York? Here's a picture.

Temple Pic (http://www.angelfire.com/ct2/dimple/hug.JPG)

[ngokfei]

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[ngokfei]

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[ngokfei]

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[ngokfei]

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[ngokfei]

Mickey

The forms were never designed for fighting. At least for TCMA we can adapt these sets to include real combative applications. They were done for the masses and Competitive Gymnastics were the rule of thumb.

IMO they do serve the purpose of introducing people to CMA. What's good about the sets and basics is that they introduce the "Primary Movements" What holds up the mass interest in CMA today is the over emphasis of secondary, etc actions even when the student doesn't understand the Primary.

Classic sets like Tan Tui, etc contain both primary and secondary actions but as we know it takes a student some time to comprehend them.

Also the "chin to toe exercise" is a classic stretching drill in alot of Chang Chuan styles. While not very popular it has existed.

Gene:

Sounds like a great article. Kind of like the "Krav Maga" of China. I know this KF guy in the NYPD who teaches various methods using the rifle and batton that come out of TCMA weapon sets. Must more realistic then the BS they try to teach recruits at the academy. Too much like the TJ Hooker series.

[GeneChing]

bl - have you contacted our office about delivery? Try emailling Margie at sales@martialartsmart.com.

v - Really? What rank was camo?

r - I haven't been to that temple nor have I seen it with your link. The site was down and I was hit by 4 pop ups.

nf - You got to work on that stutter. Actually, the portion on the wushu bayonets is only a paragraph in a much larger piece. Fifty years of history is a lot to cover. Plus it's based on interview material from two of wushu's biggest "guns" - Chen Daoyun and Zhang Lingmei. It was nearly 8 hours of interview tapes. The Xingyi Bayonet article is more along Krav Maga. Did I mention the Bagua pistol article? That's in there too.

[Vash]

Originally posted by GeneChing
v - Really? What rank was camo?

We didn't exactly have "names" for the ranks, but I think it was the 6th or 7th belt. We just paid our dues, got a belt, came to class.

ATA is not known for it's production of effective fighters.

[ngokfei]

used to stutter, thought I had gotten over that. Boy can't wait toget a new computer andperhaps dsl.

Xing Yi Pistol. What is it Qi Bullets? (heh, heh)

Would love to see the 5 postures merged into bullets -

[rogue]

I haven't been to that temple nor have I seen it with your link. Gene, you've never been to the Shirley Temple?

[lkfmdc]

Shirley you must be joking :D

(coudn't resist)

[rogue]

I'm not and stop calling my Shirley.

(Sorry couldn't resist either :D )

[Volcano Admim]

the future is not to different from now
it will still be an impopular ugly dance with phoney weapons and disgusting taste for clothes

[norther practitioner]

Disgusting taste for clothes!?

I like my silks...:D