History of Modern Wushu... anyone?
Where does "wushu" come from? I know the short story is it was created during the culture revolution when kung fu was banned, but isnt there more to the story than this? It must have been created by people who knew kung fu already, who could the founders/creators of this be?
We've published several articles on this topic
My most comprehensive stab at this was in a two-part article series that we ran in 2004 as part of the Wushu in the White House series. The articles were titled The Secret History of Wushu From Behind the Red Curtain: Champions Chen Daoyun and Zhang Lingmei reveal their Warrior?s Journeys under Communist Rule
Part 1 was run in our2004 March/April issue, Part 2 in our 2004 May/June.
I reprinted both articles in my book, Shaolin Trips, for two reasons. Firstly, it's my most comprehensive stab at this history and second, the tale discusses Shaolin and its relationship to the early development of wushu.