| History |
| History About Kung Fu |
| History - Tai Chi Chuan Tai chi chuan (literal translation "Supreme Ultimate Fist") is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and its health benefits. It is also typically practiced for a variety of other personal reasons: its hard and soft martial art technique, demonstration competitions, and longevity. As a consequence, a multitude of training forms exist, both traditional and modern, which correspond to those aims. Some of tai chi chuan's training forms are especially known for being practiced at what most people categorize as slow movement. Today, tai chi has spread worldwide. Most modern styles of tai chi trace their development to at least one of the five traditional schools. Each named after the Chinese family from which it originated: Chen-style of Chen Wangting (1580 - 1660) Yang-style of Yang Lu-ch'an (1799 - 1872) Wu- or Wu/Hao-style of Wu Yu-hsiang (1812 - 1880) Wu-style of Wu Ch'uan-yu (1834 - 1902) and his son Wu Chien-ch'uan (1870 - 1942) Sun-style of Sun Lu-t'ang (1861 - 1932) The order of verifiable age is as listed above. The order of popularity (in terms of number of practitioners) is Yang, Wu, Chen, Sun, and Wu/Hao. The major family styles share much underlying theory, but differ in their approaches to training. Tai chi training involves five elements, nei gung, tui shou (response drills), sanshou (self defence techniques), Weapons, and solo hand routines, known as forms (套路 taolu). While the image of tai chi chuan in popular culture is typified by exceedingly slow movement, many tai chi styles (including the three most popular - Yang, Wu, and Chen) - have secondary forms of a faster pace. Some traditional schools of tai chi, including the CYK school, teach partner exercises known as "pushing hands", and martial applications of the forms' postures. In China, Tai chi chuan is categorized under the Wudang grouping of Chinese martial arts, that is, the arts applied with internal power. Although the Wudang name falsely leads people to believe these arts originated at the so-called Wudang Mountain, as some of them did, it is simply a dichotomization to distinguish the skills, theories and applications of the "internal arts" from those of the Shaolin grouping, the "hard" or "external" martial art styles. Since the first widespread promotion of tai chi's health benefits by Yang Shaohou, Yang Chengfu, Wu Chien-ch'uan, and Sun Lutang in the early 20th century, it has developed a worldwide following among people with little or no interest in martial training, for its benefit to health and health maintenance. Medical studies of tai chi support its effectiveness as an alternative exercise and a form of martial arts therapy. It is purported that focusing the mind solely on the movements of the form helps to bring about a state of mental calm and clarity. Besides general health benefits and stress management attributed to tai chi training, aspects of traditional Chinese medicine are taught to advanced tai chi students in some traditional schools. This school being one of them. Tai Chi Chuan schools do not require a uniform, but both traditional and modern teachers often advocate loose, comfortable clothing and flat-soled shoes. The study of tai chi chuan primarily involves three aspects: Health: An unhealthy or otherwise uncomfortable person may find it difficult to meditate to a state of calmness or to use tai chi as a martial art. Tai chi's health training, therefore, concentrates on relieving the physical effects of stress on the body and mind. For those focused on tai chi's martial application, good physical fitness is an important step towards effective self-defense. Meditation: The focus and calmness cultivated by the meditative aspect of tai chi is seen as necessary in maintaining optimum health (in the sense of relieving stress and maintaining homeostasis) and in application of the form as a soft style martial art. [b]Martial art: The ability to use tai chi as a form of self-defense in combat is the test of a student's understanding of the art. Tai chi chuan is the study of appropriate change in response to outside forces, the study of yielding and "sticking" to an incoming attack rather than attempting to meet it with opposing force[9]. The use of tai chi as a martial art is quite challenging and requires a great deal of training. |
| Kung Fu: A History Chinese martial arts, also referred to by the Mandarin Chinese term wushu and popularly as kung fu (gōngfu), are a number of fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common traits, identified as "families", "sects" or "schools" of martial arts. Examples of such traits include physical exercises involving animal mimicry, or training methods inspired by Chinese philosophies, religions and legends. Styles which focus on qi manipulation are labeled as internal, for example Tai Chi Chuan, while others concentrate on improving muscle and cardiovascular fitness and are labeled external. Geographical association, as in northern and southern, is another popular method of categorization. Terminology: Kung-fu and wushu are terms that have been borrowed into English to refer to Chinese martial arts. However, the Chinese terms kung fu and wushu have distinct meanings; the Chinese literal equivalent of "Chinese martial art" would be Zhongguo wushu. Wǔshù literally means "martial art". It is formed from the two words (wǔ  , meaning "martial" or "military" and (shù), which translates into "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 weapons forms (Chinese: pinyin: tàolù), adapted and judged to a set of aesthetic criteria for points developed since 1949 in the People's Republic of China. The term "kung fu" in Chinese, can also be used in contexts completely unrelated to martial arts, and refers colloquially to any individual accomplishment or skill cultivated through long and hard work. Wushu is a more precise term for general martial activities. According to legend, Chinese martial arts originated during the semi-mythical Xia Dynasty more than 4,000 years ago. It is said the Yellow Emperor Huangdi (legendary date of ascension 2698 BCE) introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a famous general who, before becoming China’s leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology and the martial arts. He allegedly developed the practice of Shuai jiao and utilized it in war. The Shaolin style of wushu is regarded as the first institutionalised Chinese martial art. The oldest evidence of Shaolin participation in combat is a stele from 728 CE that attests to two occasions: a defense of the Shaolin Monastery from bandits around 610 CE, and their subsequent role in the defeat of Wang Shichong at the Battle of Hulao in 621 CE. From the 8th to the 15th centuries, there are no extant documents that provide evidence of Shaolin participation in combat. However, between the 16th and 17th centuries there are at least forty sources which provide evidence that not only did the monks of Shaolin practice martial arts, but martial practice had become such an integral element of Shaolin monastic life that the monks felt the need to justify it by creating new Buddhist lore. References of martial arts practice in Shaolin appear in various literary genres of the late Ming: the epitaphs of Shaolin warrior monks, martial-arts manuals, military encyclopedias, historical writings, travelogues, fiction and poetry. However these sources do not point out to any specific style originated in Shaolin. These sources, in contrast to those from the Tang period, refer to Shaolin methods of armed combat. This include a skill for which Shaolin monks had become famous—the staff (gwan). The Ming General Qi Jiguang included description of Shaolin Quan Fa (Pinyin romanization: Shào Lín Quán Fǎ or Wade-Giles romanization Shao Lin Ch'üan Fa, "fist principles"; Japanese pronunciation: Shorin Kempo or Kenpo) and staff techniques in his book, Ji Xiao Xin Shu, which can be translated as "New Book Recording Effective Techniques". When this book spread to East Asia, it had a great influence on the development of martial arts in regions such as Okinawa and Korea. The fighting styles that are practiced today were developed over the centuries, after having incorporated forms that came into existence later. Some of these include Bagua, Drunken Boxing, Eagle Claw, Five Animals, Hsing I, Hung Gar, Lau Gar, Monkey, Bak Mei Pai, Praying Mantis, Fujian White Crane, Wing Chun and Tai Chi Chuan. In 1900-01, the Righteous and Harmonious Fists rose against foreign occupiers and Christian missionaries in China. This uprising is known in the West as the Boxer Rebellion due to the martial arts and calisthenics practiced by the rebels. Though it originally opposed the Manchu Qing Dynasty, the Empress Dowager Cixi gained control of the rebellion and tried to use it against the foreign powers. The failure of the rebellion led ten years later to the fall of the Qing Dynasty and the creation of the Chinese Republic. |
