Wushu questions?

Question

What is Wushu all about, what are the characteristics of this art and how applicable is it to real world situations?"

Answer 1

You're going to get a lot of arguments with regard to phonetics which is coming down to splitting hairs...

No, "wushu" itself is not a particular discipline, nor is "kung fu". These are both common (and incorrect!) terms for grouping all Chinese martial arts together.

Wushu, however, as it is commonly recognized is essentially Chinese boxing (a better term for grouping all CMA together) with many martial applications removed for the sake of performance. It was instituted during the communist regime of Mao in hopes of eliminating any threat to his reign in this regard and to standardize (unify?) all aspects of CMA.

This being the case, wushu as many people recognize is a performance art. This isn't to say certain aspects couldn't translate into a real world situation, but that is not the goal for which wushu practicioners train.

Answer 2

The term Wushu means martial art or martial skill.

It is not AN art or style. All Chinese martial arts ARE Wushu.

What is called Wushu today is a gymnastics and sports based form of Chinese martial arts. After the name conversion, the term Kuoshu was adapted to refer to the Traditional, correct way of executing Chinese martial arts.

There are the traditional forms and the same forms are done as the modern wushu... lots of running and jumping.

Answer 3

Bruce Lee did not know Wushu. He knew Wing Chun, a modern reality based system of Chinese Kung Fu. Wushu is form's based and focuses on athletic jumps, leaps, kicks, and twirls. Much like Capoeira, it is more of a performance then an actual fighting style despite some moves being usable.

So no Wushu is not very applicable for real world scenarios. Not because flying kicks to the head aren't going to hurt anyone (they're pretty much a guaranteed knock out if you land them), but because its emphasis is not on fighting and therefore sparring will rarely if at all take place. Reality based Kung Fu systems are the variuos Shaolin arts which were proven in war, Wing Chun which has been street proven, Hung Gar, Choy Li Fut, and Southern Praying mantis are also very good arts for self defense.

Answer 4

Wushu is a translation of martial art. Many would call it "fighting art". But the true meaning of wushu is the art to stop fighting.

Many ppl refer wushu as kungfu. But kungfu is not the correct term to call chinese martial art. Kungfu actually means effort and time. Thru many years, hong kong movies have been using kungfu to call chinese martial art. Wushu is the actual term.

Answer 5

it's a form of kung fu. if i remember correctly this was one form of martial arts in bruce lee's arsenal