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Wushu, or Kung Fu, is a general term for Chinese martial arts. Wushu actually means martial arts in Chinese: Wu means military or martial, and Shu means art. The sport of wushu was developed from Chinese martial arts in the 1940’s. The goal was to standardize the practice of traditional martial arts.

Wushu is also a combination of performance elements and martial arts. Wushu focuses on striking, grappling, throwing, quickness, explosive power, and relaxed movement. Contemporary Wushu consist a lot of Chinese martial art styles.

There are two Wushu disciplines, taolu (forms) and sanda (sparring):

• Taolu is a combination of martial art styles and movements in which competitors are assessed and scored according to rules. Taolu consists of basic movements: stances, kicks, punches, balances, jumps, and throws. Contemporary Taolu may be done with bare hands, short weapons, or long weapons.
• Sanda (sometimes called sanshou or Lei tai) is a contemporary fighting style influenced by Chinese boxing. Sanda is more like Muay Thai, but it has grappling techniques.

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Similar Sports

• Sanda — a form of kickboxing from China, which combines full-contact kickboxing, with wrestling, takedowns, throws, sweeps, kick catches, and in some competitions, even elbow and knee strikes.
• Kickboxing — a group of stand-up combat sports based on kicking and punching.
• Drunken Boxing (or Drunkard's Boxing or Zui Quan). It is a concept in traditional Chinese martial arts, as well as a classification of modern Taolu forms.
• Breaking — the act of breaking solid objects like wood, bricks, and ice using strikes.

Related Pages

• More about Martial Arts
• There is a push to get wushu into the Olympics
• Wushu was an Olympic demonstration sport?
• Martial Arts Polls, including a poll about the Fitness Components for Martial Arts
• About sport in China
• Complete list of sports
• The Encyclopedia of Sports