Kung Fu <> Wushu

[Draven Chen Zhen]

Kung Fu = Wushu = Gung Fu ???

I'm confused... some say yes, some say no...I need the truth

[fallen_milkman]

Different people answer this differently. Here is my take.

Kung fu is the Romanized Chinese form of gong fu. They mean the same thing. Basically, in this context, any martial art originating in China. Technically, the Chinese apply the term gong fu to any skill you put a lot of effort and time into mastering, but using it to refer to Chinese martial arts in general is pretty well accepted.

Wushu has two meanings, again depending on who you're asking. The more common use for it that I hear is in reference to the sport based on Chinese martial arts. However, it can be used as a synonym for gong fu as well.

[Draven Chen Zhen]

K thx very much.

Does anyone else have an other opinion?

[Draven Chen Zhen]

nobody...

none of you follow wushu? ... Or have a wide knowledge about the subject in general?

[BlackWolf]

i see alot of teachers making up names for martial arts, and its all effective if you know the philosophy behind it all. But you can study them they are all similar.

[Moe]

I do Wushu, and as other people have already said the word means Martial Art in Chinese. But what I practice is a performance art made up of forms. There isn't much combat to it and is reliant on speed and flexiblity. Its nice to watch but very demanding on the physical department.

For combat I practice San Shou which is the chinese version of kickboxing

[SigungWhite]

Kung Fu is Mandarin for Special Skill

Gung Fu is Cantonese for Special Skill

Wu-Shu Translated mean Martial Arts

The reality of is all

Sigung White

[ovine king]

wushu means in the original language martial art but because these days, wushu is also the name of a particular art (that being the display one described above), wushu isn't used, except when you are speaking in mandarin, to refer to martial arts.

in cantonese especially, wushu (actually in cantonese it is closer to mo-shu) is hardly ever used, with kung fu (sounds closer to gung fu) being the prefered term. of course, that's ignoring the fact that most people will refer to their art by name instead of using a general term.

kung fu/gung fu itself is more poetic in meaning.

directly, it translates to "work".

what it describes is both the work as well as the results of hard work.

you can say that something needs a lot of kung fu and mean that it is a lot of hard work.

you can also use it to say that someone's kung fu is good, meaning that he is skilled (saying that he has done the work needed to be good at what he does).

[xingxing]

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,

[Kill Jill]

I tried to post a reply some time ago, but it got deleted. I'll try again.

Gong Fu is a broad term in both Mandarin and Cantonese to refer to various types of chores. The word 'home work,' or 'housework,' for example, is covered by the term. It was Westernized as 'Kung Fu' as a result of the many martial arts films that came out of Hong Kong. More correctly, to refer to the martial arts of China, the umbrella term Wushu is used, although you will also find there are variations in terminology all over Asia, since Wushu is again a term often misappropriated by the West.

I think this is correct - I have studied both Cantonese and Mandarin and worked in Hong Kong and mainland China!