Characteristics of Chinese Wushu
2 min readAs the offspring of the history and culture of the Chinese nation, Chinese Wushu holds the special internal features and temperaments of the Chinese nation. Chinese Wushu has its own national characteristics, which differ from foreign combat techniques.
Systematic
Among the historical and cultural heritages of the Chinese nation, Wushu is a large and complete system. Compared to other cultural heritages, it has relative independence.
Shaolin Monks Practicing Wushu in the Mountains
The Chinese Wushu has many schools. Almost all Wushu schools take the Yin and Yang and Five Element Theory as the common basis of philosophy and regard “harmony between soma and spirit”and”harmony between quan and dao”as the end result of Wushu exercises. In view of the theories on quan techniques, Chinese Wushu develops complementary to Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
The exercises which benefit the internal organs mainly borrow ideas from traditional Chinese medicine and the Taoist practices of maintaining good health. Therefore, Chinese Wushu combines the philosophy, medicine, the art of attack and defense, and practice of maintaining good health, to make up one large and profound theoretical system. This makes the martial art unique around the world.
Other internationally popular combat techniques are characterized by speed and strong movements. But despite their respective theories, such combat techniques lack discussion on connotation; the theories only focus on the external movements of the attack and defense movements. Some combat techniques used in Muay Thai only have simple forms and no set exercises. It has speed and strong movements, but no devotion to deep theories reflecting the psychological features of Southeast Asian peoples. Karate from Japan evolves from the Shaolinquan of China, reflecting the Yamato characteristics of perseverance, emulousness, valor and discipline. Boxing reflects the psychological features of Occidental peoples, including enjoying exercises and pursuing stimulation. By contrast, Chinese Wushu is characterized by the profound connotations, the gentle manners, the harmony of dynamic and static movements and the integration of strong and soft strength. Such characteristics are part of the psychological features of the Chinese nation.
