Registered User
Wushu's supposed "exageration" comes a great deal from Cha Quan. GLW can explain it very well. A lot of athletes in China don't focus as much on the basics anymore though due to the wonky new requirements that change every year(very strange new difficulties).No Aerials and tricks won't make you a wors fighter. But Wushu forms tend to ezgerrate moves and chage the way it supposed to be done for it to look better.
Shaolin Disciple
I agree with you in 95% of what you said. I also think that the reason Shaolin Quan was made was because of the retired generals and not Damo, although Damo's exersices give the monks the streghen and vitality to practice martial arts. I'm also find it sad that TAiQuanDao is being integrated now in Shaolin too because Northern Shaolin is actually the ancestors of taekwondo's ansestors:Tae-kyon and Soo bak Do.
I agree that alot of master fled to HK and the US but I still beleive that even in Shaolin(even if its more than 5% of what is being taught) There are still great trditional masters(like Gene Said the older monks) and through out China.
Registered User
A couple reasons I've heard...I got a question:
Why was modern wushu created before the cultural revolution if its almost exactly the same as the traditional??
1.They wanted a common ground for competition in China. Standardized forms helps eleminate some political problems. Old competitions would have the athletes perform a compulsory form to qualify for the main competition, and then in the main competition they would perform their individual style. Drunken boxing, duck style, etc. I'll have to ask my coach sometime about specifics, as he was a competitor back then(national all around champ in 1959, I think).
2.New more scientific training methods were developed by combining the knowledge of sports scientists and wushu masters coming up with a basic training regimin that allowed you to become stronger, faster, more agile, etc. in a shorter amount of time. Got rid of some sillier training methods like holding a horse stance over a well at noon every thursday to increase qi power and crap like that.
3.People weren't as interested in martial arts as much any more. Guns and stuff like that made wushu a waste of time in a lot of people's views, so they wanted to get people interested in it again.
BTW, another random fact, did you know that Wang Ziping, one of the founding fathers of modern wushu, was placed under house arrest during the cultural revolution?
Shaolin Disciple
What wrong with holding a horsestance over a well at noon ???
Registered User
The biggest difference I’ve noticed between modern wu shu and traditional forms is the forms are not repetitive. In traditional forms you do the set of techniques with your right hand, then the exact same techniques with your left hand. Or you will do a set of techniques in one direction and then do the same techniques in the opposite direction. This is not done in modern wu shu. Otherwise, yeah, they are pretty much the same.
Oh, I almost forgot, the swords in modern wu shu are made out of tin foil, the ones in traditional school are made of steel, another big difference.
Registered User
Oh I forgot, wu shu has all that flowery gymnastics crap at the beginning of every form, just like a floor routine or something, usually gives me an urge to vomit when I see it. What was wrong with the simple cat stance shaolin salute anyway, not ghey enough?
Registered User
A lot of schools will drill all the techniques found in the forms as individual line drills, training both sides that way. There's less emphasis on learning through forms in modern wushu, I think.The biggest difference I’ve noticed between modern wu shu and traditional forms is the forms are not repetitive. In traditional forms you do the set of techniques with your right hand, then the exact same techniques with your left hand. Or you will do a set of techniques in one direction and then do the same techniques in the opposite direction. This is not done in modern wu shu. Otherwise, yeah, they are pretty much the same.
The newer competition swords get rid of that tin foil characteristic for the most part(no more snappingOh, I almost forgot, the swords in modern wu shu are made out of tin foil, the ones in traditional school are made of steel, another big difference.) and are heavier. The balance is MUCH better now too
But they're not required over here and they're 3 times as much as the "tin foil" swords so they're just not super popular over here yet. I'm very happy with mine though(it's much better for taiji, I think).
Registered User
trollOh I forgot, wu shu has all that flowery gymnastics crap at the beginning of every form, just like a floor routine or something, usually gives me an urge to vomit when I see it. What was wrong with the simple cat stance shaolin salute anyway, not ghey enough?
Registered User
Forms for us are meant to be a sort of mental reference book. The important thing is to realize how to translate the techniques from forms to fighting, because the application isn’t always obvious.A lot of schools will drill all the techniques found in the forms as individual line drills, training both sides that way. There's less emphasis on learning through forms in modern wushu, I think.
Registered User
sorry, coulnd't help it, that was actually meant as a joke, I wasn't being serious.troll
Shaolin Disciple
Absolutly, that what called the transition from form to combat application.Originally posted by Sim Koning
Forms for us are meant to be a sort of mental reference book. The important thing is to realize how to translate the techniques from forms to fighting, because the application isn’t always obvious.
Shaolin Disciple
Altough one has to train until one does not think,ie it becomes second nature. That what SYM doesn't understand.He says that he odesn't teach application because it makes the student think in a fight but thier meant to be practiced until they become second-nature to you. And thats whats called form formlessnes to form.
Registered User
That's ok, I've seen some competition forms that have made me want to vomit toosorry, coulnd't help it, that was actually meant as a joke, I wasn't being serious.
Registered User
I'm sorry, Shi Yan Ming is more full of sh!t than a outhouse. He doesn't know the applications to his own forms, so of course he is going to say "I don't believe in them". Just like someone who can't fight will say, "I don't believe in sparring, our techniques are too deadly?".
Forms are just a more complex form of shadow boxing. Just like shadow boxing, you practice set combinations first until they become second nature, then you do it free form, then you get in a ring and punch someone in the head with it, there you go, application.
Shaolin Disciple
That bendy dstell used by the wushu guys in competition is called Wushu steel and it is practical for demostartions since it light and flashy.
There is another type of steel called combat steel thats heavy and rigid and it is meant for practice since it develops strengh
There is a happy medium steel called spring steel, this one is not so light not so heavy and it bends alittle bit but not as much as wushu steel.
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