Difference between Wing Chun, and Wu Shu

[orion82698]

Can someone tell me the difference between these two?

[shogeri]

Wushu means martial art. Similar to budo meaning martial way or way of the warrior. It is an all encompassing term. All categories of Chinese martial arts, traditional, contemporary, hard and soft, can be called Wushu, this includes Wing Chun.

Kung Fu means, "skill", or "prior lifelong work"...

Thus one can say that your kung fu is good, any apply it any facet of another's life.

The following is from wikipedia and is farely accurate, though not all inclusive:

Principles of Wing Chun

The tenets of Wing Chun are practicality, efficiency and economy of movement. This core philosophy becomes a useful guide to practitioners when modifying or refining the art. New techniques which do not conform to these principles are often discouraged and discarded.

Practicality

Wing Chun was designed purely for fighting rather than artistic or sport applications. As such, its techniques emphasise practicality and effectiveness over aesthetic or athletic value. Most strikes are fatal and target vulnerable areas of the body such as the throat, groin, eyes and lower torso.

Following this utilitarian approach, the names of Wing Chun techniques are purely descriptive. For example - spreading hand (tan sau), wing arm (bong sau), slapping hand (pak sau). Wing Chun terminology is traditionally rendered in the Cantonese dialect of Chinese.

Efficiency

Wing Chun believes in using the least amount of required force in any fighting situation because it is a more efficient use of the body's energy. Wasted or unnecessary movement which does not produce a combat advantage is discouraged.

Wing Chun believes that small movements, properly timed and correctly positioned, can and should be used to defeat large movements. This is achieved through balance, body structure and relaxation. The famous Chinese "8 taels to move 1000 catties" (referring to an old Chinese measurement system) is appropriate here in describing how a small amount of force, precisely applied, can repel large attacks.

Strictly speaking, there are no blocks in Wing Chun because they are believed to be inefficient. It is better to deflect the force (as opposed to meeting it head-on) and counter-attack at the same time. The practitioner uses parries to deflect the incoming strikes and offset the attacker. A parry usually requires a very small amount of energy when compared to harder block. A parry can be used to deflect the strike of the opponent and launch a counter-attack at the same time. Also there exits an idea to offset the striker's balance and attack vulnerable points.

Economy of Movement

Wing Chun believes that the shortest path between two points is a straight line. Thus, most Wing Chun movements are linear and initiated along an imaginary centre line. The Wing Chun punch, for example, is delivered centrally from the practitioner's chest rather than diagonally from the shoulders, because the distance is shorter.

Wing Chun uses all four limbs in fighting because this offers the practitioner more options in selecting the best limb for the task.

Now if you are refering to contemporary Wushu, which is really distinct form the term Wushu, you have the following:

Contemporary Wushu

Wushu, modern wushu, and contemporary wushu often refer to the modern recompilations of traditional wushu forms created in the People's Republic of China. These are practiced as a demonstration sport, much like gymnastics, and judged and given points according to specific rules. Originally practiced just in the PRC, the contemporary wushu forms have now spread all over the world through the International Wushu Federation, which holds the World Championships of Wushu every two years; the first World Championships were held in 1991 in Beijing. -wikipedia

 

Contemporary Wushu is primarily used in the Chinese Opera, and in Chinese Martial Art films.

 

Again, according to a wikipedia article, "Probably the three most famous Wushu practicioners in the world are Jet Li (李連杰), Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee. Jet Li started Wushu as a competition sport, and gained fame as a five-time national champion of China; he is now a famous movie star who uses his wushu skills onscreen. Many of his old teammates have also appeared onscreen with him, especially in his older movies. Jackie Chan never practiced modern wushu, but learned similar skills at the Beijing opera as a child, along with Sammo Hung, Yuen Biao, Yuan Wha, Yuan Qiu, and others. Beijing Opera martial arts are in many ways similar to modern wushu, as both are performance-oriented; however, Beijing Opera also includes singing."

I hope that is helpful...

[orion82698]

That was very helpful! Thank you

[Goju_boi]

wing chun is very simple,efficient , and for actual fighting.Wushu is a sport with it's roots in martial arts and if you can do it,it means that you are very conditioned.

[Anbu Alex]

Wushu in its non sport form is a mixture of a bunch of kung fu styles taught as a basic and then when the practicioner gets to an advance level they specilize in one perticular style or thats how it worked in my old dojo also wushu can sometimes be another name for Kung fu

[Goju_boi]

so if you specialize in one style, will the instructor go and teach this to you and the regular stuff to everybody else?

[Anbu Alex]

well there were advance classes for ppl to learn different styles while Beginners and intermidiets learned basics

[Goju_boi]

so does wushu have sparring or is it just forms and things like that?

[Anbu Alex]

in my school we did

[Goju_boi]

how was it like?