xingxing

hey all, i have to agree to the lemonade or watering down to modern wushu. but at most wushu schools in dengfeng and henan province (i'm not sure about the other areas) modern wushu classes are combined with sanda/san shou, again adding a bit more of the fighting aspect. there are many traditional routines that are still practised/offered, but most students dont want to learn these because they do not look that great when performing. most of so called wushu is just performance based, sadly but true. doesnt mean that its not a good workout, not that after many years you might not be a good 'fighter', too. it depends on the person and whether one only sees beauty in the moves or also applications.

and it refers to their ancient point of view, that china was (in) the middle/centre of the world

from personal experience by talking to people there are other 'titles' to describe the relationship between fellow students and teachers. some common used are simply didi/gege (the same as mandarin for yougner/older brother), jiaolian (teacher), dashi (lit.: big teacher), shixiong/shidi (older/younger brother in a temple environment).... peace,

i have to agree with granmasterchen... when i was a kid i began training in shotokan karate but after a few years i switched to taekwondo and even later started a kung fu/gong fu. the shotokan/taekwondo transition i did not find too difficult, because even though the stances/forms are different the basics are the same. the taekwondo/gong fu transition i found more difficult for several reasons: shotokan/taekwondo is rather linear and 'broken' in comparison with most styles of gong fu, which tend to be more fluid. the stances and movements are very different, they generally require more flexibility and harmony of the body. yet punching and kicking fundamentials are very similar. it depends a lot on the style of gong fu you choose to practise. i hope that helps a litte

Hi all, Well, I just saw the post (a bit late.... ) and wanted to add a little bit regarding the pronunciation: kung fu apparently being mandarin and gung fu Cantonese. I am not sure about the Cantonese but in Mandarin (using Pinyin to transcribe the characters, which is the only officially accepted transcription system) it is spelt gong fu. You arrive at 'Kung Fu' by using a different transcription system. It’s the same as the capital Beijing transcribed to Peking, Xiang Gang to Hong Kong, Guangdong to Kanton/Canton. I have to agree with ovine king regarding the meaning of the word itself, it is hard work. When traveling through China I have heard 'gong fu' applied to many different situations, not just Martial Arts. But in recent years as well as in the West Gong Fu/Kung Fu is the term used only to describe Chinese Martial Arts. As many of you have said Wushu is the term traditionally meaning martial arts but has become the synonym for the performance orientated, modern martial arts seen in many movies and on stage. Most of the time I’ve just heard the various forms of Martial Arts called by their name, ie. White Crane xyz, Praying Mantis, Northern/Southern this/that, Shaolin, Ba Gua, Qi Gong, Tai Ji etc. So in a way, the difference between these words only depends on your point of view. Peace,