Wushu (sport)

From Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A typical wushu competition, here represented by the 10th All-China Games.
Wushu
Traditional Chinese武術
Simplified Chinese武术
Literal meaningmartial arts

Wushu is a sport that is originated from traditional Chinese martial arts.[1][2] It was created in China after 1949. It was created to nationalize the practice of traditional Chinese martial arts.[3] Most of the competitions had influences of martial arts. This was created by government committees. Wushu has become an international sport through the International Wushu Federation (IWUF). The IWUF holds the World Wushu Championships every two years. The first World Championships were held in 1991 in Beijing.[4]

Competitive wushu is made up of two disciplines: taolu (套路; forms) and sanda (散打; sparring).[5] Taolu involves martial arts routines. These are judged and given points according to specific rules on quality and difficulty of movements. The movements could be stances, kicks, punches, balances, jumps, sweeps and throws. Competitive forms have time limits that can range from 1 minute, 20 seconds to over five minutes. Modern wushu competitors practice jumping techniques such as 540 and 720 and even 900 degree jumps and kicks.[6]

Sanda (sometimes called sanshou or Lei tai) is a modern fighting method and sport. It was influenced by traditional Chinese boxing, Chinese wrestling and Chinese grappling. Sanda has all the combat features of wushu. Sanda is similar to kickboxing or Muay Thai, but it involves more grappling techniques. Sanda competitions are often held alongside taolu competitions.

References[change | change source]

  1. "Kung Fu Fighting for Fans". Newsweek. 2010-02-18. Archived from the original on 2008-08-30. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
  2. Wren, Christopher (1983-09-11). "OF MONKS AND MARTIAL ARTS". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-11.
  3. Fu, Zhongwen (2006) [1996]. Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan. Louis Swaine (trade paperback ed.). Berkeley, California: Blue Snake Books. ISBN 1-58394-152-5.
  4. Lee, Sb; Hong, Jh; Lee, Ts (2007). "Analysis of Physical Activities in Wu-Shu Training". 2007 29th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Vol. 2007. British Kung Fu Association. pp. 632–5. doi:10.1109/IEMBS.2007.4352369. ISBN 978-1-4244-0787-3. PMID 18002035. S2CID 27935639. Retrieved 2008-08-27.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. International Wushu Federation. Wushu Sport Archived 2014-09-04 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. Wu, Raymond (2007). Fundamentals of High Performance Wushu: Taolu Jumps and Spins. Lulu. ISBN 978-1-4303-1820-0.

Books[change | change source]

Other websites[change | change source]