question about the term Wu-Shu

[Giuseppe_S]

i was wondering is the term wu-shu given to the art practiced in the shaolin and is it a term that can be applied to TCMA such as Hung Kuen, Lau Gar, praying mantis etc etc.

cheers.

p.s sorry for the question you have to bear with me as i am quite new to the chinese martial arts.

[PangQuan]

"Modern wushu is a dynamic performance and competition sport grounded in traditional Chinese martial arts. The cultural and combative tradition of wushu is retained as an integral element while the art and the sport of wushu is expressed physically and mentally. Wushu reigns as the most popular sport in China, and now is being considered for the Olympic games. In wushu, every movement must exhibit realistic combative application and aestheticism even thought its emphasis has shifted from combat to performance. Routines are performed solo, paired, or in groups, either barehanded or with traditional Chinese weaponry."


here is a start. you've opened a large can of worms. i am positive you will recieve plenty of reply's to this thread.

[Giuseppe_S]

just to say that i havent started this thread as a means for flaming wars, i only want each individuals intake on the terminology "Wu-Shu" please keep it to a formal polite discussion.

thank you.

[BruceSteveRoy]

quan fa or quan shu or just quan is the fighting or boxing methods.

da quan: you are practicing open hand fighting.

wu yi is the term to mean fighting arts including open hand, weapons, tactics and strategy etc

wu shu is more on techniques.

study of fighting would be wu xue.

so wu xue=wu yi+wu shu+---

Gong or kung was used as a practice of something.

Kung fu together means some thing or skills that need time and practice to be good at.

[BruceSteveRoy]

you would not be technically wrong to call them wushu but the implication of the term has come to mean the contemporary incarnation of the CMA. which is to say the high flying, flashy, demonstrative version that lacks real application. it resembles gymnastics with martial arts like movements. you would be better describing hung kuen, choy li fut, wing chun , etc, etc by the actually name of the style so as not to lump the traditional stuff with the modern. but again technically from a linguistic standpoint it wouldnt be wrong. the same way calling all of those styles the very general term 'martial arts'. but you can also call karate and tkd martial arts and that is correct. it is usually best to distinguish the differences. i think i am rambling. so before i diverge from the point i will stop.

[PangQuan]

Giuseppe

in other words, Wushu would be perfectly acceptable to cover the term Martial Art, for any chinese based arts.

As bruce stated earlier, technically this would be correct. However with the surge of modern wushu, the term wushu has become more commonly associated with the more modern practices. IE: non traditional, non combative focused Art with a twist of martial flavor.

Generally the more common term is Kung Fu. although this is a very broad descriptive term, its more easily understood by the general populace of practitioners and non practitioners alike.

kung fu being a very old term popularized by media and movies to describe chinese martial arts.

[PangQuan]

P.S.

my original statement about "the can of worms" is in relation to the fact that this is a subject that can be looked upon very differently depending on where you live, what you were taught by your masters...etc..

its kind of an "iffy" subject, even though technicalities should make it rather straight forward. Unfortunately when something like this is practiced world wide, you will find people with very differing opinions.

[BruceSteveRoy]

however if you go to china most people are not familiar with the term kung fu. at least that was my experience and you are better off calling it by its name or quan fa or wushu. they all seemed to know the terms like tong long quan, shaolin quan, etc. but not gong fu or kung fu. just thought i would trow that in there. from my understanding that people in the guangdong province (in particular in and near hong kong) are the ones most likely to undersatnd the term kung fu. but i spent most of my time in beijing and can only go by what i was told by my friends there and my own experience.

[PangQuan]

good call bruce, kung fu is western mans term pretty much.

we can thank the movies for that, oh and david caradine. :rolleyes:

generally if people ask me what i do i just say martial arts or chinese martial arts. or shaolin, or kung fu. almost anyone in america knows kung fu means martial arts....

i usually just use english when speaking to people who dont know chinese or chinese martial arts. its much easier that way.


long responses to a simple answer in the long run though.

wushu = martial art

so ya its perfectly fine to say, if you get people familiar with modern wushu performance art, likely you will be mis understood as to be meaning this modern practice.

[Giuseppe_S]

thanks guys for all of the info you have provided. its been a great help. again sorry for the thread like i said i am a novice when it comes to CMA.

[PangQuan]

its all good

everyone starts at the beginning.

i think you will find a bunch of people here are more than happy to answer any questions you might have.

post away!

[Giuseppe_S]

cheers PQ, well i have to say compared to the other MA boards out there, this has to be quite a friendly one and i have yet to encounter a flamer. fingers crossed i dont lol.

[PangQuan]

lol

ya they are here for sure, every forums got em. we like to poke with sharp sticks here though so they dont get to boring.

we like our local trolls, helps the long work day's get by.

[Giuseppe_S]

LOL i can agree with you on that, i'm working at the moment.

[PangQuan]

haha ya. man i sit in this office all day every day. thank god for the internet.

[BruceSteveRoy]

yeah but only feed the trolls that are good at it. there are a few sub-par trolls that really aren't worth antagonizing. but otherwise this place is pretty nice. what style do you study?

[Giuseppe_S]

hi BruceSteveRoy, i study Hung Kuen. just started a month ago. really is an interesting art.

[BruceSteveRoy]

cool man, stick with it. its a great style. there are a lot of very knowledgeable ppl on here that could tell you a lot about hung kuen so if you have questions feel free to ask. remember there are no dumb questions just dumb people... wait thats not how it goes... there are no dumb questions but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots... wait thats not it either. ummm... like my mother always said "the only dumb questions are the ones you know the answer to" ok thats more like it. lol. no but seriously don't be afraid to ask.

[Giuseppe_S]

LMAO. thanks mate i appreciate it.