Chinese martial arts

Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms kung fu (/ˈkʌŋ ˈfuː/; Chinese: 功夫; pinyin: gōngfu; Jyutping: gung1 fu1; Cantonese Yale: gūng fū), kuoshu (Chinese: 國術; pinyin: guóshù; Jyutping: gwok3 seot6) or wushu (Chinese: 武術; pinyin: wǔshù; Jyutping: mou5 seot6), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families" of martial arts. Examples of such traits include Shaolinquan (少林拳) physical exercises involving Five Animals (五形) mimicry or training methods inspired by Old Chinese philosophies, religions and legends. Styles that focus on qi manipulation are called internal (内家拳; nèijiāquán), while others that concentrate on improving muscle and cardiovascular fitness are called external (外家拳; wàijiāquán). Geographical associations, as in northern (北拳; běiquán) and southern (南拳; nánquán), is another popular classification method.

Kung fu and wushu are loanwords from Cantonese and Mandarin respectively that, in English, are used to refer to Chinese martial arts. However, the Chinese terms kung fu and wushu (listen (Mandarin)^ⓘ; Cantonese Yale: móuh seuht) have distinct meanings. The Chinese equivalent of the term "Chinese martial arts" would be Zhongguo wushu (Chinese: 中國武術; pinyin: zhōngguó wǔshù) (Mandarin).

In Chinese, the term kung fu refers to any skill that is acquired through learning or practice. It is a compound word composed of the words 功 (gōng) meaning "work", "achievement", or "merit", and 夫 (fū) originally meaning "man" or "person," but functions here as a suffix indicating someone who has attained skill or discipline through effort.

Wushu literally means "martial art". It is formed from the two Chinese characters 武術: 武 (wǔ), meaning "martial" or "military" and 術 or 术 (shù), which translates into "art", "discipline", "skill" or "method". The term wushu has also become the name for the modern sport of wushu, an exhibition and full-contact sport of bare-handed and weapon forms (套路), adapted and judged to a set of aesthetic criteria for points developed since 1949 in the People's Republic of China.

Quánfǎ (拳法) is another Chinese term for Chinese martial arts. It means "fist method" or "the law of the fist" (quán means "boxing" or "fist", and fǎ means "law", "way" or "method"), although as a compound term it usually translates as "boxing" or "fighting technique." The name of the Japanese martial art kempō is represented by the same hanzi characters.

The genesis of Chinese martial arts has been attributed to the need for self-defense, hunting techniques and military training in ancient China. Hand-to-hand combat and weapons practice were important in training ancient Chinese soldiers.

Detailed knowledge about the state and development of Chinese martial arts became available from the Nanjing decade (1928–1937), as the Central Guoshu Institute established by the Kuomintang regime made an effort to compile an encyclopedic survey of martial arts schools. Since the 1950s, the People's Republic of China has organized Chinese martial arts as an exhibition and full-contact sport under the heading of "wushu".^{[citation needed]}

According to legend, Chinese martial arts originated before the semi-mythical Xia dynasty over 4,000 years ago. It is said that the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi), who ascended to power in 2698 BC, introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Emperor is renowned as a great general who, prior to becoming China's leader, authored extensive treatises on medicine, astrology, and the martial arts. One of his primary adversaries was Chi You, credited as the progenitor of jiao di, a precursor to modern Chinese wrestling.^{[citation needed]}