What is Wushu?
Wushu, a time-honored sport in China, traces back to as early as the time of the clan commune in primitive societies. At that time, there appeared the "Xi (sport) of Jiaodi (wrestling) and the "Wu" (dance, or exercise) of Ganqi (axe and shield). These were the earliest embryos of Wushu, which served as a means to build up health, cure diseases, prolong life, temper the fighting will and train military skills for the members of these societies. During the Shang and Zhou dynasties, there appeared activities of Wushu, which served as means of training soldiers and became courses for students at school as well. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, the applications of fighting techniques in the battlefield were emphasized. To choose soldiers, the "Jiao (wrestling) exam" was held every year in spring and autumn. And the activity of sword fight became very popular then. Theories about Swordplay were recorded in Lyu's Spring and Autumn and Zhuangzi: On Sword.
During the Qin and Hart dynasties, dancing sports similar to routine exercise such as Broadsword play, Dagger-Axeplay, Swordplay, Double-halberdplay appeared successively. Activities of bare-hand fighting, competitive wrestling and sword fighting were recorded in Annals of Arts/Han Book, Biography of Emperor Wu/Han Book and Preface/On Allusion. During 'the Tang and Sung Dynasties, many civil Wushu organizations Came into existence, such as Yinglue Society (on Cudgelplay), Archery Association and Xiangpu (similar to modern sumo) Society, and Xiangpu Hut, etc.
In 1928, the Republic Government established the Central Wushu Institute, in Nanjing. After its establishment, local Wushu institutes were established in provinces, cities and counties. 2 National Wushu Meets were held by the Central Wushu Institute in 1928 and 1933 in Nanjing, which carried out competitions on long weapons, short weapons, free sparring and wrestling. In 1939 the Chinese Wushu Delegation was organized to visit Southeast Asia. In the same year, the Chinese Wushu Team gave a demonstration in Berlin at the XI Olympic Games. Since the founding of the People's Republic of China, Wushu has become a component of the socialist culture and the people's physical education and sports, and has developed spectacularly
. In 1953 the Nation-wide Traditional Sports Demonstration and Competition was held in Tianjin, at which Wushu was the major content. Wushu was listed as a formal course in local sports institutes and their physical education departments. In 1956, the Chinese Wushu Association was set up in Beijing, and Wushu thus became an official competition event. The State Physical Culture and Sports Commission in 1958 compiled the first draft of Wushu Competition Rules. Routine exercises such as the Simplified Taijiquan, Changquan, Broadswordplay, Swordplay, Spearplay and Cudgelplay of first class, intermediate class and primary level were published successively, which greatly helped the popularity and promotion of Wushu. The general and specific policies of Wushu development in the new historical period were made at the first National Wushu Conference held in Beijing in 1982, which brought the development of Wushu to a new climax.
Under the guidance of the Chinese State Physical Culture and Sports Commission and the Chinese Wushu Association, Wushu associations, Wushu schools, Wushu societies, research societies, Wushu teams of amateur sports schools and teaching centers were set up in many counties in all provinces, cities and autonomous regions, forming a vast network for Wushu activities of the masses and a wide path for the development of Wushu. All schools have made Wushu part of the program of physical education. Wushu societies and teams were set up in some colleges and universities. Wushu specialty has been established in some Physical Education Institutes and Normal Institutes to bring up undergraduates and postgraduates of Wushu. The State Council set up a Wushu Master's degree in 1984. Approved by the Chinese government, the Chinese Wushu Research Institute was set up in 1986 as a high standard body for conducting academic and technical researches on Wushu. To inherit and develop this precious cultural legacy, a nation w
ide investigation was carried out, which generally. uncovered the situation of Wushu in China.
The work of excavating, collecting and collating has been fruitful. On this basis, the books Detailed Outline of Chinese Wushu History and Record of Chinese Pugilism and Weaponplay will be compiled and published. The experimenting competition of free sparring started in 1979 and it became a competition event in 1989. In order to make contributions to the health welfare of the human being-and dedicates Wushu as a new sports event' to the world, the promotion to the abroad has been carried out through projects step by step since 1983. Central and local governments sent Wushu delegations, teams, instructors and experts to go abroad giving performances and lectures for many times.
excert taken from the "International Wushu Judges book"
[Wushu]
[History] [The Sifu]
[Curriculum]
[News] [Students]
[Pictures]
[Achievments]
[Main]
[Tekka's wushu page]