Wǔshù (武術 in Chinese) literally means martial arts.
In current parlance word "wushu" is often used as a synonym for kungfu. More specifically, it frequently refers to the modernized kung fu as a performance sport promoted by People's Republic of China.
Note: The Actual reading of Wushu (武術) is 武 wu (martial, fighting, war) 術 shu (art) so literally means martial art.
In full historical perspective, "wushu" means all aspects of person-to-person combat. It is not used to refer to troop movements, fighting army against army, etc. But it does include swordsmanship, the use of hafted weapons, the use of "flying knives" (biao), wrestling, locking techniques (qin na, akin to Japanese aikido), and so forth.
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2 Wushu as public performance 3 Competitions |
Wushu, the arts used in personal combat
(pending)Wushu as public performance
This article will discuss wushu as the modern performance sport. See kung fu as an martial art.
China has suggested that Wushu as a sport be added on the list of sports represented in the Olympics in the next Olympics, which are to take place in China. This would probably mean an easy win for China, as the routines for Wushu are created there.Competitions
Generally Wushu is judged in routines. Competitions are held and entrants are judged on the quality, speed, accuracy and power of movements. Jet Li the famous Chinese actor is known to have won many of these competitions, some at a young age.
this is a wikipedia stub. Any one know the official wushu as promoted by China please add. For example, what are the main competitions, when did China start to promote wushu, is it being introdoced into Olympics, exactly what type of competitions are there in wushu, does wushu actually have fighting competitions like boxing or takendo or is it just coreographed fight? ...