The current status and future of Wushu

[firepalm]

If you disliked what the Wushu people have been doing in the past not sure how most of you will react to the newest thing in Wushu?

Dramatic Scenarios fight routines
http://i.youku.com/u/id_UMTU5MzAzNTgw.html
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzQwNzA2NTY0.html

[hskwarrior]

ohhhhhhhh, the drama......pronounced "drawmah".......

not bad, for a performance art group

[wenshu]

If you disliked what the Wushu people have been doing in the past not sure how most of you will react to the newest thing in Wushu?

Dramatic Scenarios fight routines
http://i.youku.com/u/id_UMTU5MzAzNTgw.html
http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzQwNzA2NTY0.html

That there is some fancy walking.

You know how sometimes wushu players will use chalk or baking soda in their sleeves, pant cuffs and on the insteps of their shoes to create a dramatic effect when they slap kick and all that?

They should start using glitter. Xuanzi zhuanti into ce kong fan into xuan feng jiao POW! glitter bomb. Sparkly dramatic pose.

I mean, if you're already affecting effeminate mannerisms while wearing pastel colored silk, might as well go for the full homo.

[Jimbo]

TMA will NEVER DIE. why? because TMA is about more than just fighting. I have no more time to explain to hard headed people why. Those who know....know. those who don't will b1tch and complain about this or that.

TMA'tists can continue what they're doing long after a fighter has to quit fighting.
TMA is way more than just beating someone down. for one, its part of the Chinese culture. Fighting has no other culture other than violence.

its never gonna be enough to get it in the heads of BRICK HEADS about there are people who like to fight and to do so legally they join MMA. There are others who don't like to fight but CAN FIGHT and has effectively done so throughout his life. Not everyone is a competitor. martial arts is and was always a personal thing. fighting is only ONE aspect of TMA. Same thing as lion dancing. its only one aspect of TCMA. but how can people mock something they know they can't do themselves? i can understand if someone watch lion dancing once and picked it up completely on the first attempt. i know they won't.

Agreed. Some people believe that all others must train for the same reason(s) that they themselves train, and every other reason is stup!d. The fact is, everyone who trains has their own purposes for doing so. And I see nothing wrong with that. I personally never cared for lion dance and have never done it; yet I give credit to those who do it and enjoy it. Nothing is as easy as it looks.

As for wushu's future, esp. taolu, I doubt there's much of one in China. There's probably more people outside of China who like it. I think wushu's popularity saw its heyday in the 1980s and has declined since then. Similar to what wenshu mentioned earlier, most Chinese I've spoken to (regarding these things) don't seem to care at all about MA in general and CMA in particular. Many act embarrassed by or ignorant of it, and it's certainly not a high priority like a high education or learning piano/violin, etc. Most will not view either wushu or CMA as a valid or lucrative career option; thus, not an activity worth pursuing.

[GeneChing]

Wushu takes a lot of its posturing from classical Chinese opera. If you've ever watched that stuff, you can see how one aspect of performance integrated into kung fu. We ran an article on this in our 2009 May/June issue: A Day at the Beijing Opera: An Analysis of the Wushu and Acrobatic Skills of Beijing Opera By Emilio Alpanseque

I love the fight scenes in Beijing Opera. There's some amazing stuff, especially in Monkey King. That's some 200+ years of tradition pouring into kung fu. I just can't hang with pentatonic scale for too long.

Here's a taste: Beijing Opera 京劇 A Monkey King 孫悟空

I think most people muddle traditional kung fu vs. modern wushu with performance vs. combat effectiveness. Clearly, there is performance in traditional. There is also combat effectiveness in modern wushu too, but you really got to dig for it, and for most practitioners, it's just not worth it.

[Neeros]

once MMA dies down, what do you feel will be the next big thing?

Midget mud wrestling. tbh

[hskwarrior]

Midget mud wrestling. tbh

sexy midgets...gotta love em

[Yao Sing]

When I was in China the big thing was ballroom dancing, forget the Kung Fu. But at the same time no matter where you go you can find someone in a park that knows something. But you have to bust out a form first to get them to come forward.

In Shanghai 1998 we were practicing the seminar form in a parking lot when a guy riding by on a bicycle going to work saw us and stopped. Turned out he knew the set we just learned and trained with the Master when he was younger. And the Master teaching the seminar came in by train and wasn't even from the area. Pretty good for a few billion people.

[Yao Sing]

Oh yeah, then there's this.

[AJM]

I just read a good article from JAMA

"Wushu's transformation from local boxing ring to the world stage"

What is your oppinion on this matter?

It died decades ago.

[Dragonzbane76]

P.S it is my view that many people get into wrestling arts because they can't handle being punched in the face or the guts. This after many years of watching that happen again and again.

I can see why you would say that, but IMO its not. Some people gravitate towards the grappling aspects of arts, myself included. It's in my nature and I feel more comfortable in that range. I've been punched in the gut and face on many occations and probably like it as well as the next guy in line. No one likes to take one like that but it's part of the game. Most of the people that get into the wrestling/grappling arts tend like the controlling aspect of it. To me it's just another area to train in that is crucial, but it's also one that I am more proficient in.

Another thing you see in that area is bigger guys. Not all mind you but a higher percentage. I would venture to say that strength is an applicable outlet in it. And being bigger has it's benifits when doing wrestling/grappling.

But I get what your saying, but again I would say that some just gravitate towards it for the body structure they hold and their comfort level in it.

[PalmStriker]

So who's ready to hold their face out for a wushu SPINNING MONKEY-FIST to the forehead !?!

[YouKnowWho]

Here are TCMA front kick and modern Wushu front kick. Will you be able to see any major difference there?

You may see that the TCMA way is a "downward" curve, and the modern Wushu is an "upward" curve.

The TCMA way is not just bend your leg, fold your upper leg and lower leg, and then straight it out. It's much more complicate than that. If you look at the toe (or instep), it's always remain a perfect "straight line (or downward curve)".

TCMA:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wt83nvRwq-4

Modern Wushu:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-0gF...feature=relmfu

[David Jamieson]

That there is some fancy walking.

You know how sometimes wushu players will use chalk or baking soda in their sleeves, pant cuffs and on the insteps of their shoes to create a dramatic effect when they slap kick and all that?

They should start using glitter. Xuanzi zhuanti into ce kong fan into xuan feng jiao POW! glitter bomb. Sparkly dramatic pose.

I mean, if you're already affecting effeminate mannerisms while wearing pastel colored silk, might as well go for the full homo.

Call me pretentious and haughty, but this made me almost choke on my triple mocha latte!

[William123]

In Lorge's new book, Chinese Martial Arts, he finds evidence of martial dances as far back as the Warring States period (475 to 221 BCE). Martial dances appear across many cultures, not just Chinese. You'll find them in Europe, the Americas, Africa, pretty much in every traditional culture.

Martial elements have inspired other cultural expressions; call it literature, dancing, theater etc. However there is a big difference between those and Martial oriented practices, where the goal is to fight (battle field or self defense). Just because armies participate in parades or demonstrations, do this means that their main purpose is to show off or look pretty? Military dances were use in different social outlet such as ceremonies, but they had a practical purpose, as a way of training fighting skills. This might be the earliest form of routines/taolu practice.

Routines in the army is a way to train large groups of people, where you can gauge the level of development of the soldiers without taking too much time. Of course routines must be followed by applications and free fighting practice. This is quite different from modern/competition wushu. Wushu separates taolu, practiced without applications and following the Olympic motto "Citius, Altius, Fortius.", which explains the inclusion of "nandu” (difficult movements) all of which are aesthetics. Even Sanshou has no connection with taolu practice. What is the point to train one way but fight in another way. If one has to do that then there is a serious problem with the skills being practice.

Independent scholars in China and the west have pointed out this and other issues with the current wushu/sanshou practice. If one claim to train MARTIAL arts then you better know how to hold your own, otherwise there is no substance.